Getting a handle on things

I decided to hold off on finish welding the fuselage until my tech councilor could check it over and, if necessary, I could make changes while it was still relatively easy.

So instead I started tackling smaller projects.

I started by welding up the control stick. Then moved on to rudder pedals, torque tube, and the forward torque tube bracket. I bought myself and entry-level TIG welder and after a bit of practice I thought I would try it out on some airplane parts. The rudder pedals, torque tube, and mounting bracket were all TIG welded. The pedals turned out okay, but I had mis-measured the scrap I made them from and they were too short. The bracket turned out great, TIG made welding on the little sheet-metal feet pretty simple.

The torque tube was... not great. All it consists of is a 1" diameter tube with a steel bushing welded on in the center for the control stick to pivot on. But, try as I might, I just could not get that stupid little bushing to weld on right. I welded most of the way around it, but the last little section of weld just kept bubbling and spitting like I had no argon, but I could hear the argon running as I welded. I ground that section out over and over, but couldn't get it to weld. Finally I pulled out the oxy-acetylene torch and welded it up no problem. Well, small problem, the bushing was off center and made the control stick bind. Sigh. I cut it off, made a new bushing but left it long so I could trim it to be perfect. Had the same bear of a time trying to TIG weld the new bushing on. It went better, but was still a pain in the tuchus. This time I realized what I was fighting was probably air trapped in the space between the bushing and torque tube. When I finally got the weld finished I trimmed the bushing, tested the fit, and... somehow I cut the bushing too short. Out came the grinder, away went the bushing. I'll try again later and probably drill a vent hole under the bushing to let any trapped air out. We'll see what that does.

I also took this time to finish-weld the stabilizers, elevator, and rudder, then straighten out the resulting weld distortions and add hinges. Apparently I didn't take any pictures of that; too busy working.

Total Time: 566.5hr

Comments

Fittings. How fitting.

Not much has happened on the Ace this year. The winter was long and spring has been very cold, so I spent a long time waiting for the garage to warm up. Now that there's a little heat down there I've been making some headway on the next step of my wing build: fittings. I copied the parts off the plans into CAD and then printed them onto cardstock to use as patterns when laying fittings out on the steel stock. First I tackled the brackets that will hold the pulleys for the aileron cables. I have a lot of extra material in case I had to remake these. The next step was to bend up my fittings. There is one fitting that mounts to the forward side of the strut which gets bent to a 90° angle. The fitting which mounts to the aft side of the spar gets bent at about an 85° angle. I forget the exact number, but don't feel like looking it up at the moment. Next I cut out the aileron control horns. My Harbor Freight porta-band chucked into my vice works well for cutting thes

10 months in under 10 minutes.

I don't feel like going into depth on every little aspect of work I've done over the last 10 months, so I'll hit the highlights and if anyone has questions, feel free to comment and I'll elaborate. As the year started the garage was cold. With a propane heater it would get warm enough to work for a few hours, but because 4130 steel is an air-tempered alloy, it needs to be sufficiently warm out for welding. Long story short; I can't weld, so I make parts. I plugged away making little bits so I can use them when it comes time to build a new assembly. The landing gear legs and spring struts have metal straps to reinforce the bushings in the ends. I knocked these out in a couple days after work. Likewise, the tabs that will become door hinges and the fittings for the tailwheel were cut, drilled, and deburred. As it warmed up and I got an order of laser-cut parts the aileron control arm and pulley brackets were welded to the torque tube for the control stick. I also cu

3-D and waiting.

On January 18th I posted my last blog update; both fuselage sides were tack welded. That was seven months ago now. I should update more regularly. Okay, self-flagellation over, let's get to the content! Once both fuselage sides were tack welded, I pulled all the jig blocks off the table, elected not to repaint again, and just laid out the stations for the top view of the fuselage. We lay out the top view because the top of the fuselage is flat which makes it a lot easier to jig things up if you lay out the fuselage upside-down. With the top view lofted out on the table I could start adding in jig blocks starting in the cockpit area where the sides are parallel. A stick and some clamps help hold the sides parallel for this photo op. Now may be a good time to mention, if I haven't already, that I am widening this fuselage from stock. The original Jr Ace (Model E) was 33-1/8" between tubing centerlines at the widest point. This makes for a pretty cramped space when two peopl

Aviation Coming Eventually

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