Looking great Bruce. I am loving watching the build move forward.
Once thing to keep in mind in regards to the transport struts...unless you intend to remove the flaperons every time you fold the wings, they aren't going to tuck in quite that tightly. I believe my wings fold to 8'2" from outside tip to outside tip. (This is with the flaperons folded up and one flaperon control arm removed.)
Build Log Discussion - Bruce_L
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Re: Build Log Discussion - Bruce_L
Same with mine.
Re: Build Log Discussion - Bruce_L
Yep, I agree with both of you guys on that fact. I took some width measurements with the wings retracted and even rigged some simulated flying wires from the rudder to the horizontal stabilizer to see what hits first as the wings come back.
That's the bad news.
The good news is that my trailer is a raw chassis only at this point and I can make the walls 8 1/2 feet wide. Same as a race car transporter. But a 22 foot race car hauler weighs 3700 pound EMPTY!! And, the suspension is not set up for a 250 pound load either.
That's a project for another day since I recently discovered there is a grass strip at the airport where I am currently a tenant. I hope that the grass will be a lot more forgiving for this rookie pilot.
I walked it last week and it is very level and should have some nice turf once spring arrives. I even volunteered to be one of the mower crew.
Today I let some ADHD kick in and worked on everything else but never touched the plane not even once!
Trying to get a mental picture of the jury strut arrangement. (ANY GOOD PICTURES OUT THERE???)
Still need to crimp, bend and drill the aluminum tubing.
Cleaning and painting small parts. Got some painted parts baking in the oven right now.
Had a flying lesson arrangement for today, but the instructor cancelled. The plane was a 2 seater with control yokes, not a stick. I basically
was hoping to get some practice for the local traffic pattern at my airport. Very rural field, hardly any traffic,
Taking a few days off from the build as I have to get some things taken care of at home. Will post updates ASAP.
That's the bad news.
The good news is that my trailer is a raw chassis only at this point and I can make the walls 8 1/2 feet wide. Same as a race car transporter. But a 22 foot race car hauler weighs 3700 pound EMPTY!! And, the suspension is not set up for a 250 pound load either.
That's a project for another day since I recently discovered there is a grass strip at the airport where I am currently a tenant. I hope that the grass will be a lot more forgiving for this rookie pilot.
I walked it last week and it is very level and should have some nice turf once spring arrives. I even volunteered to be one of the mower crew.
Today I let some ADHD kick in and worked on everything else but never touched the plane not even once!
Trying to get a mental picture of the jury strut arrangement. (ANY GOOD PICTURES OUT THERE???)
Still need to crimp, bend and drill the aluminum tubing.
Cleaning and painting small parts. Got some painted parts baking in the oven right now.
Had a flying lesson arrangement for today, but the instructor cancelled. The plane was a 2 seater with control yokes, not a stick. I basically
was hoping to get some practice for the local traffic pattern at my airport. Very rural field, hardly any traffic,
Taking a few days off from the build as I have to get some things taken care of at home. Will post updates ASAP.
Re: Build Log Discussion - Bruce_L
Today I had two items I wanted to get started. (sorry about some image quality here, I had a big smudge on my camera lens I found 
out later)
1. Start painting all the items such as rudder/brake pedal, flap actuator handle, bellcranks, etc...
2. Start putting on the aluminum trailing edge stock ( triangle aluminum extrusion) on the flaperons.
Painting was a new color, not the usual white today. Wanted all the control pieces to have a different look. (Will post picks sometime)
So in the build manual, there are two methods for getting the trailing edge extrusion prepped for the flaperons. Keep in mind the flaperons are mostly a rigid foam core in the shape of an asymmetrical airfoil with a few of the airfoils clad in thin aircraft plywood at key locations. One method is to flatten the edge where the rib is (about 1 inch wide) and the other is to trim with tin snips. At first I grabbed the snips but the amount of metal to remove is so small, I bailed on using snips and went with a fine hacksaw blade. I just held the blade in my hand by itself. No hacksaw handle used.
I drew some guidelines parallel to the edge of each foam rib and cut on the line. This wasn't that hard to do as I made me a work area where I could sit
down and have easy access to the extrusion. Just took a while as there are 18 foam ribs with 2 sides per rib (4 cuts in all since there is top and bottom)
After cutting the slits in the extrusion, I now needed to bend the small flap of metal (1 inch wide) up about 35 degrees to be inline with the larger flat surface of the trailing edge material. The metal needs to sit flush on top of the foam rib. To do this I made a specialty tool.
I purchased a metal seam working tool at Horrible Fright that looked like something I could modify to help me do this task. Since there are a lot of ribs on the flaperons as well as capstrips on the wooden wing ribs that also need aluminum trimmed to fit, it would speed things up considerably if I had the right tool to do it with.
Below is the tool purchased. I think it was something under 15 bucks I want to say.
The tool I bought has two aluminum "Jaws" that are held in with two screws. I removed the screws from ONLY ONE of the jaws (upper), laid it on a foam rib on the flaperon and drew lines to mark how wide the new upper jaw needs to be to grab and bend the aluminum tab that was a result of two saw cuts.
I put the jaw in the vice, cut the metal as needed with a hacksaw, and finished up with a flat file. Below you can see the finished upper jaw and the two pieces of metal I removed from the original wide jaw. I did not alter the lower jaw at all. I use it a flat reference for bending the tab that needs to flatten out.
To use the new tool, I put the wide jaw against the outside portion of the extrusion and place the narrow jaw on the tab to be bent, give it a gentle squeeze and the aluminum bends to become flat, same as the entire surface of the extrusion.
Below you can see how I grab the one inch flap to bend it. If you zoom in and look to the left, you can see one flap I just bent
After bending all the flaps on one side, I flipped the extrusion over, and using the flap edge as my guide, I used the hacksaw blade and cut all the metal on this side. I put a piece of tape on the saw blade to make sure I had the teeth always pointed in the proper direction.
Below, I am now cutting the opposite side of the extrusion. Lots of cuts today !!!!
After all the cutting and bending, I placed the extrusion onto the flaperon assembly and it lined up as planned. The extrusion fit real tight where
the foam ribs are reinforced with the thin plywood. I did not have to trim any aluminum, wood or foam to get the trailing edge extrusion to slide in all the way and fit snuggly. I think making the custom tool was worth the effort. So now, how do I get a patent? (yeah right, I might sell 2 !)
Below you can see I put on a few clamps to see how things line up.
I trimmed about 1/4 inch of excess extrusion from the root side to get it flush with the thin plywood cap on the last rib. I am now ready to clamp and glue the trailing edge to the flaperon.
I had to go buy a bunch of extra clamps since I need to glue and clamp all the ribs with the Hysol adhesive in one pass. The flaperon trailing edge does not use any rivets to hold the aluminum extrusion in place. I plan to scuff up the inside metal with rough sandpaper to give more texture for the glue to grip the metal better.
I need to get all the trailing edge installed ASAP before it gets too warm here and my working time for the Hysol pushes me close to panic mode.
One observation I also made today, was since I really only bent the metal along the slits I cut with the hacksaw blade, the metal was still there and this gives me a lot more surface area for clamping and also more area for the Hysol to have some bite on the aluminum extrusion too.
Hope everyone is doing well.
out later)1. Start painting all the items such as rudder/brake pedal, flap actuator handle, bellcranks, etc...
2. Start putting on the aluminum trailing edge stock ( triangle aluminum extrusion) on the flaperons.
Painting was a new color, not the usual white today. Wanted all the control pieces to have a different look. (Will post picks sometime)
So in the build manual, there are two methods for getting the trailing edge extrusion prepped for the flaperons. Keep in mind the flaperons are mostly a rigid foam core in the shape of an asymmetrical airfoil with a few of the airfoils clad in thin aircraft plywood at key locations. One method is to flatten the edge where the rib is (about 1 inch wide) and the other is to trim with tin snips. At first I grabbed the snips but the amount of metal to remove is so small, I bailed on using snips and went with a fine hacksaw blade. I just held the blade in my hand by itself. No hacksaw handle used.
I drew some guidelines parallel to the edge of each foam rib and cut on the line. This wasn't that hard to do as I made me a work area where I could sit
down and have easy access to the extrusion. Just took a while as there are 18 foam ribs with 2 sides per rib (4 cuts in all since there is top and bottom)
After cutting the slits in the extrusion, I now needed to bend the small flap of metal (1 inch wide) up about 35 degrees to be inline with the larger flat surface of the trailing edge material. The metal needs to sit flush on top of the foam rib. To do this I made a specialty tool.
I purchased a metal seam working tool at Horrible Fright that looked like something I could modify to help me do this task. Since there are a lot of ribs on the flaperons as well as capstrips on the wooden wing ribs that also need aluminum trimmed to fit, it would speed things up considerably if I had the right tool to do it with.
Below is the tool purchased. I think it was something under 15 bucks I want to say.
The tool I bought has two aluminum "Jaws" that are held in with two screws. I removed the screws from ONLY ONE of the jaws (upper), laid it on a foam rib on the flaperon and drew lines to mark how wide the new upper jaw needs to be to grab and bend the aluminum tab that was a result of two saw cuts.
I put the jaw in the vice, cut the metal as needed with a hacksaw, and finished up with a flat file. Below you can see the finished upper jaw and the two pieces of metal I removed from the original wide jaw. I did not alter the lower jaw at all. I use it a flat reference for bending the tab that needs to flatten out.
To use the new tool, I put the wide jaw against the outside portion of the extrusion and place the narrow jaw on the tab to be bent, give it a gentle squeeze and the aluminum bends to become flat, same as the entire surface of the extrusion.
Below you can see how I grab the one inch flap to bend it. If you zoom in and look to the left, you can see one flap I just bent
After bending all the flaps on one side, I flipped the extrusion over, and using the flap edge as my guide, I used the hacksaw blade and cut all the metal on this side. I put a piece of tape on the saw blade to make sure I had the teeth always pointed in the proper direction.
Below, I am now cutting the opposite side of the extrusion. Lots of cuts today !!!!
After all the cutting and bending, I placed the extrusion onto the flaperon assembly and it lined up as planned. The extrusion fit real tight where
the foam ribs are reinforced with the thin plywood. I did not have to trim any aluminum, wood or foam to get the trailing edge extrusion to slide in all the way and fit snuggly. I think making the custom tool was worth the effort. So now, how do I get a patent? (yeah right, I might sell 2 !)
Below you can see I put on a few clamps to see how things line up.
I trimmed about 1/4 inch of excess extrusion from the root side to get it flush with the thin plywood cap on the last rib. I am now ready to clamp and glue the trailing edge to the flaperon.
I had to go buy a bunch of extra clamps since I need to glue and clamp all the ribs with the Hysol adhesive in one pass. The flaperon trailing edge does not use any rivets to hold the aluminum extrusion in place. I plan to scuff up the inside metal with rough sandpaper to give more texture for the glue to grip the metal better.
I need to get all the trailing edge installed ASAP before it gets too warm here and my working time for the Hysol pushes me close to panic mode.
One observation I also made today, was since I really only bent the metal along the slits I cut with the hacksaw blade, the metal was still there and this gives me a lot more surface area for clamping and also more area for the Hysol to have some bite on the aluminum extrusion too.
Hope everyone is doing well.
Re: Build Log Discussion - Bruce_L
Today I wanted to get a least one of the flaperons fitted with the aluminum trailing edge material. Before I started with the adhesive I figured I might want to first go ahead and do all the saw cuts and bending for the other trailing edge. I wanted to get another trailing edge prepped today so the next time I work, all I have to do is glue it on.
I made a change to my process today, and it worked out much better. Much quicker and less noise from the cutting of the metal with the hacksaw blade.' Here is what I did differently. The problem yesterday was that as I pulled the saw blade across the thin aluminum extrusion, the blade would snag and pull the metal trying to deform it as well as make a horrible grinding noise. My solution was super simple. I took a scrap piece of wood that I used earlier as a shim when setting up the wings and cut a slot in it.
The wood is a bit less than 1/4 thick. About the same size as the gap in the extrusion.
I then slid the wood into the slot in the extrusion, pull the metal together to grab the wood and saw away.
This worked so much better and I discovered I didn't need to flip the extrusion to cut the slits on the other side. I just used the first slit I cut as a guide for the sawblade and zipped right through all the cuts much faster. I can do the same thing on the trailing edge for the wing itself. Actually, the wing will be much easier since there are a lot less ribs on the wing than the flaperons have. I got the tough cuts out of the way first it seems.
Next, I put a small roughing bit in my Dremel tool and roughed up the smooth aluminum on the inside of the extrusion where the "Flap" is.
You think I have enough clamps now?
Below is a close up of the etched aluminum. It got scuffed up pretty good. Since the adhesive is the only fastening method, I wanted it to adhere well.
( Note: I blew out a lot of metal shavings/bits with compressed air before I got ready to glue on the trailing edge)
Since this was my first try at putting Hysol on a flaperon with 18 ribs, I didn't have a clue how much adhesive it would take to get the job done. I didn't want to mix up too much and end up wasting the expensive stuff. At first I pumped out 6 good globs about the size of a Hersheys kiss.
I mixed it up and used a popsicle stick to put a small glob of the adhesive on each rib. I did not spread out the glob as I was hoping the glue would be thicker that way and would fill any gaps where I might have bent the metal incorrectly. You can see the brush in the picture that I almost used and it would have spread out the Hysol too thin I think. It turned out that I did not mix up enough Hysol so I made 3 more "Kisses" worth and got all the ribs ready. I made sure to put plenty on the wooden plywood caps on the end of a few ribs since these were more critical high stress area I Ifigured. I also put plenty on the outside corners at each end of the assembly.
Next, I slid the extrusion onto the ribs until I felt the metal contact the hard plywood capped ribs and added a ton of clamps.
In the picture below, you can see the grey Hysol oozing out at the corner. I made sure to use plenty of clamping power at the corners for sure.
The orange clamps are metal and are the strongest ones I have. (leftover clamps from another previous wood working project)
I scraped up the excess Hysol wherever it was present and used it it to add to any spots that I thought were rather lacking adhesive.
After I got all the clamps in place, I cleaned up any glue mess with some acetone and I was FINISHED !!!!!
If you look at this view below, you can see that the gap in the aluminum extrusion is almost closed up all the way. Notice I used the metal clamps where the foam ribs are capped off with the thin plywood.
Since it was such a nice day and not cold at all, I managed to get the last of my control pieces painted. These are the rudder pedals.
If you zoom in a lot you will see the paint has a hammered metal look to it. This color is called antique pewter. I think the contrast against the white fuselage will look good. I like the industrial look and this paint is very tough and resistant to wear and tear. I painted a metal workbench with it years ago and it still looks great after all kinds of abuse. I put on 2 heavy coats about 45 minutes apart and let them dry in the sun today. Not a cloud in the sky all day. Would have been a perfect flying day! If only I had an airplane...
My only problem is I know I am running out of Hysol so I will order 2 more cartridges I guess. Well, there goes my Hawaii vacation fund.
I made a change to my process today, and it worked out much better. Much quicker and less noise from the cutting of the metal with the hacksaw blade.' Here is what I did differently. The problem yesterday was that as I pulled the saw blade across the thin aluminum extrusion, the blade would snag and pull the metal trying to deform it as well as make a horrible grinding noise. My solution was super simple. I took a scrap piece of wood that I used earlier as a shim when setting up the wings and cut a slot in it.
The wood is a bit less than 1/4 thick. About the same size as the gap in the extrusion.
I then slid the wood into the slot in the extrusion, pull the metal together to grab the wood and saw away.
This worked so much better and I discovered I didn't need to flip the extrusion to cut the slits on the other side. I just used the first slit I cut as a guide for the sawblade and zipped right through all the cuts much faster. I can do the same thing on the trailing edge for the wing itself. Actually, the wing will be much easier since there are a lot less ribs on the wing than the flaperons have. I got the tough cuts out of the way first it seems.
Next, I put a small roughing bit in my Dremel tool and roughed up the smooth aluminum on the inside of the extrusion where the "Flap" is.
You think I have enough clamps now?
Below is a close up of the etched aluminum. It got scuffed up pretty good. Since the adhesive is the only fastening method, I wanted it to adhere well.
( Note: I blew out a lot of metal shavings/bits with compressed air before I got ready to glue on the trailing edge)
Since this was my first try at putting Hysol on a flaperon with 18 ribs, I didn't have a clue how much adhesive it would take to get the job done. I didn't want to mix up too much and end up wasting the expensive stuff. At first I pumped out 6 good globs about the size of a Hersheys kiss.
Next, I slid the extrusion onto the ribs until I felt the metal contact the hard plywood capped ribs and added a ton of clamps.
In the picture below, you can see the grey Hysol oozing out at the corner. I made sure to use plenty of clamping power at the corners for sure.
The orange clamps are metal and are the strongest ones I have. (leftover clamps from another previous wood working project)
I scraped up the excess Hysol wherever it was present and used it it to add to any spots that I thought were rather lacking adhesive.
After I got all the clamps in place, I cleaned up any glue mess with some acetone and I was FINISHED !!!!!
If you look at this view below, you can see that the gap in the aluminum extrusion is almost closed up all the way. Notice I used the metal clamps where the foam ribs are capped off with the thin plywood.
Since it was such a nice day and not cold at all, I managed to get the last of my control pieces painted. These are the rudder pedals.
My only problem is I know I am running out of Hysol so I will order 2 more cartridges I guess. Well, there goes my Hawaii vacation fund.
Re: Build Log Discussion - Bruce_L
Today I removed all the clamps to see how well the left flaperon turned out. It turned out good. No gaps or issues on both top and bottom surfaces.
Below is a shot of the detail where the metal flap I made and folded out (with the homemade tool) meets the rigid foam. No major lip or snags.
The Hysol is pricey stuff but does the job well. Scuffing the aluminum with the dremel tool worked good.
Here is a completed left flaperon. I circled the corner that I cleaned up with a flat file today. I left it untrimmed before I applied the epoxy so that there would not be any voids there. The corner looks good, surface is flush. I know any imperfections will show up clearly when the fabric covering is shrunk. I want my plane to look good, so a little extra effort is worth it to me.
The flat file cleaned up the corner as well as the aluminum flaperon spar tube that was protruding out past the plywood spar cap about 1/8 inch. Everything is nice and flush with the plywood.
Wouldn't a carbon fiber end cap look wicked covering this area?
Since I am waiting on more Hysol adhesive to arrive, I can't do much else. I decided to re-read the build manual section regarding the flaperon droppers (basically tubular hinges) and see how they attach to the rear of the wing. There are 3 droppers per each flaperon. Two are already
installed but you have to install the last one that is closest to the wing root. I had painted these a while ago so why not prep them now. All that really involves is placing the plastic bushing in a hole that has some Hysol applied to it. The bushing has a lip on one side to center it in place and also act as a bearing surface to keep the side of the flaperon from rubbing on the metal dropper bracket.
This picture shows the lip sticking out since I have not pushed the bushing all the way into the white bracket.
The control arm is the lever that moves the flaperon when the flaperon drive cable pushes or pulls the lever arm. These look like some fancy aluminum CNC pieces for sure. (see picture below)
I mixed up a tiny bit of what little Hysol I had remaining and put some on the inside of the white bracket.
I put on enough that when I slid on the bushing, the excess oozed out. I know now that there are no voids or gaps where water or moisture can accumulate under the bushing leading to rust years later.
Wiped up the excess and made sure there was no epoxy inside the bushing surface, That would not be good!
Went ahead and did both for LEFT and RIGHT flaperons since I already mixed up the magic goo!
PAY ATTENTION WHEN GLUING IN THE BUSHING AND DON"T MAKE 2 IDENTICAL BRACKETS, they are opposites!
Wish I would have accomplished more today, but every little bit I do is getting me closer to the finish line. Gotta keep up the momentum here.
I do have a good picture in my head of the woodwork I have to do to the wing ribs to fit the rest of the aluminum flaperon plates,
Below is a shot of the detail where the metal flap I made and folded out (with the homemade tool) meets the rigid foam. No major lip or snags.
The Hysol is pricey stuff but does the job well. Scuffing the aluminum with the dremel tool worked good.
Here is a completed left flaperon. I circled the corner that I cleaned up with a flat file today. I left it untrimmed before I applied the epoxy so that there would not be any voids there. The corner looks good, surface is flush. I know any imperfections will show up clearly when the fabric covering is shrunk. I want my plane to look good, so a little extra effort is worth it to me.
The flat file cleaned up the corner as well as the aluminum flaperon spar tube that was protruding out past the plywood spar cap about 1/8 inch. Everything is nice and flush with the plywood.
Wouldn't a carbon fiber end cap look wicked covering this area?
Since I am waiting on more Hysol adhesive to arrive, I can't do much else. I decided to re-read the build manual section regarding the flaperon droppers (basically tubular hinges) and see how they attach to the rear of the wing. There are 3 droppers per each flaperon. Two are already
installed but you have to install the last one that is closest to the wing root. I had painted these a while ago so why not prep them now. All that really involves is placing the plastic bushing in a hole that has some Hysol applied to it. The bushing has a lip on one side to center it in place and also act as a bearing surface to keep the side of the flaperon from rubbing on the metal dropper bracket.
This picture shows the lip sticking out since I have not pushed the bushing all the way into the white bracket.
The control arm is the lever that moves the flaperon when the flaperon drive cable pushes or pulls the lever arm. These look like some fancy aluminum CNC pieces for sure. (see picture below)
I mixed up a tiny bit of what little Hysol I had remaining and put some on the inside of the white bracket.
I put on enough that when I slid on the bushing, the excess oozed out. I know now that there are no voids or gaps where water or moisture can accumulate under the bushing leading to rust years later.
Wiped up the excess and made sure there was no epoxy inside the bushing surface, That would not be good!
Went ahead and did both for LEFT and RIGHT flaperons since I already mixed up the magic goo!
Wish I would have accomplished more today, but every little bit I do is getting me closer to the finish line. Gotta keep up the momentum here.
I do have a good picture in my head of the woodwork I have to do to the wing ribs to fit the rest of the aluminum flaperon plates,
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Re: Build Log Discussion - Bruce_L
Really nice work. I love the "L" and "R" on the flapperon parts! Excellent!
Todd
Todd
Re: Build Log Discussion - Bruce_L
My extra Hysol that I ordered came in so I can now mix up a batch and finish putting the trailing edge on the the right flaperon.
The service from this vendor is excellent and they also have the best price. It's half the price they charge at "Amazing" as in Amazingly expensive.
Before I mix any epoxy, I use a pencil and trace a line where the edge of the metal flap lands on the foam. This gives me a target location of where I need to put my glob of the grey epoxy mixture. I use pencil so I don't worry about some sharpie ink bleeding through my fabric finish as I apply the finish and you see marker lines bleeding through all over a pretty covering job. Kind of a precaution I suppose, it might not even be an issue.
I mixed up this much (9 squirts) today, and still added about 1/2 a KISS (hersheys) more to finish up. Recall that my initial mix for the left flaperon was six kisses and not even close to being enough for all the glue joints for foam to metal. One full squeeze of the glue dispenser gun yields one nice kiss of glue.
Here it is all mixed up. I saved up a bunch of take-out food lids just for mixing my epoxy on this project.
I put extra on the corners, as well as any foam ribs with the thin plywood doubler there.
Each foam rib gets some, making sure I don't put any on the wrong side of my pencil mark I drew earlier.
Add a ton of clamps and it's complete.
(If you zoom in on the corners you will notice there is some clear polyethylene plastic there to help trap epoxy in the corners and keep the epoxy off the clamps. Epoxy does not bond to polyethylene at all. The clear bag my Hysol was packaged with is an example of such a plastic.)
I am done with flaperon fabrication. Honestly, there really is not much to do for the flaperons. Badland does all the tricky work for you with their fancy alignment jigs. All the work for me was prepping the aluminum trailing edge to fit the foam ribs. I can use this newly acquired skill to do the trailing edges of the wings next. Should be a lot less work since there are fewer ribs to glue onto.
So before I started working on my plane today, I made a one hour flight in this plane. It is an Aeropilot L600.
Its a 2 seat LSA, Rotax 100HP injected motor. I flew for a while and then did a simulated engine failure, steep turns both left and right and even flew over my neighborhood. We cruised at about 100mph ground speed. My instructor demonstrated a side slip to scrub some altitude quickly without adding speed to the aircraft. That was neat to experience. He had the rudder pedal all the way to the right the whole time with the yoke cocked sideways. It was pretty turbulent for most of the flight as we just had a front come through and we got some bad weather/storms as a result. I noticed how sensitive the controls were. Very little movement yielded big changes in attitude/roll. This was a very nice plane, but it does not check off any boxes from my wish list "Dream Airplane" It is mostly marketed as a flight school trainer aircraft. I can clearly see why.
Fancy glass cockpit. Dynon 7 inch display had a ton of information on the screens. At first, I was visually overwhelmed to be honest!
I flew left seat. Right hand for throttle, left hand on the control yoke. I was not ready for this, I thought I would be using my right hand mostly. I know when I fly my Badland, my right hand is going to be on the stick with my left used for throttle, flaps, and switches. I did use the rudder pedals a few times to stay coordinated in the turns. The turn slip indicator was a small circle on the Dynon screen.
Even though this plane is nothing like mine, I still learned a lot today. I wanted to at least get the sight picture of the local airport pattern and see the approach procedure at the same airport where I am building my plane at. And besides, you could not have picked a more beautiful day to make a flight!
The service from this vendor is excellent and they also have the best price. It's half the price they charge at "Amazing" as in Amazingly expensive.
Before I mix any epoxy, I use a pencil and trace a line where the edge of the metal flap lands on the foam. This gives me a target location of where I need to put my glob of the grey epoxy mixture. I use pencil so I don't worry about some sharpie ink bleeding through my fabric finish as I apply the finish and you see marker lines bleeding through all over a pretty covering job. Kind of a precaution I suppose, it might not even be an issue.
I mixed up this much (9 squirts) today, and still added about 1/2 a KISS (hersheys) more to finish up. Recall that my initial mix for the left flaperon was six kisses and not even close to being enough for all the glue joints for foam to metal. One full squeeze of the glue dispenser gun yields one nice kiss of glue.
Here it is all mixed up. I saved up a bunch of take-out food lids just for mixing my epoxy on this project.
I put extra on the corners, as well as any foam ribs with the thin plywood doubler there.
Each foam rib gets some, making sure I don't put any on the wrong side of my pencil mark I drew earlier.
Add a ton of clamps and it's complete.
(If you zoom in on the corners you will notice there is some clear polyethylene plastic there to help trap epoxy in the corners and keep the epoxy off the clamps. Epoxy does not bond to polyethylene at all. The clear bag my Hysol was packaged with is an example of such a plastic.)
I am done with flaperon fabrication. Honestly, there really is not much to do for the flaperons. Badland does all the tricky work for you with their fancy alignment jigs. All the work for me was prepping the aluminum trailing edge to fit the foam ribs. I can use this newly acquired skill to do the trailing edges of the wings next. Should be a lot less work since there are fewer ribs to glue onto.
So before I started working on my plane today, I made a one hour flight in this plane. It is an Aeropilot L600.
Fancy glass cockpit. Dynon 7 inch display had a ton of information on the screens. At first, I was visually overwhelmed to be honest!
Even though this plane is nothing like mine, I still learned a lot today. I wanted to at least get the sight picture of the local airport pattern and see the approach procedure at the same airport where I am building my plane at. And besides, you could not have picked a more beautiful day to make a flight!
Re: Build Log Discussion - Bruce_L
Today my goal was to start figuring out the way I am going to trim a small amount of wood from a total of 6 ribs altogether. The ribs need trimming to allow the aluminum flaperon mounting brackets the ability to sit flush with the top surface of the rear most portion of the cap strip that sits on top of the plywood wing rib. The capstrip is a flat piece of thin wood that provides a wide area for the covering fabric to have something to rest upon/adhere to. These capstrips are not plywood, but a narrow strip of some lightweight wood instead.
I thought about how am I going to remove the necessary material. I ended up digging through my assorted tools and found a new pack of small round sawblades I had laying around. I recall buying these in order to try to make a tiny electric table saw for cutting large balsa wood planks into thinner strips for my model airplane builds. My focus has shifted to larger planes I get to ride in so I never built the saw. So I had these. I took one of the larger blades and put it in my drill and did a test cut on a pine 2x4 scrap. Below is a picture of the blade.
I then made some guidelines on the area to be removed from the capstrip and cut into it with the saw. The saw did a good job of quickly cutting the capstrip material. I made my marks a bit wide so the saw would not end up cutting into the plywood rib under the capstrip.
Below is a picture where I stopped cutting to check I was not accidentally sawing into the plywood rib. I slid a thin piece of metal in the saw kerf and I had no issues cutting to close to the plywood, so I kept on cutting. I wanted to use the saw to get a good start removing most of the wood, but not all of it.
Since I used to spinning saw to do most of the cutting, I would finish up more precisely using a utility knife with a new sharp blade. This worked great but every now and then I had the grain of the capstrip wood want to steer the blade in too deep. So, all I did was to reverse my cutting direction to avoid chasing the grain with the blade and taking too deep a cut by mistake. I took small slices until I had the capstrip trimmed flush with the plywood rib. You will see in a minute why I had to do this.
Below is a picture of a capstrip where I completed removing the wood from the left side of the capstrip. Still have to finish the other side.
In this picture you can see how the aluminum flaperon bracket needs to sit flush with the top surface of the capstrip material.
This bracket will have another that is a mirror image of it on the other side of the plywood wing rib.
Here is the same bracket from another viewpoint. You can see the 90 degree notch I cut at the top. I did this with a hacksaw blade.
The black line at the tail end of the rib is where the edge of the aluminum trailing edge extrusion will come to when it is installed.
Here is another view, you can really see how flush the aluminum bracket is with the wood capstrip. The small holes in the bracket are where rivets will be placed to create a sandwich of BRACKET-PLYWOOD-BRACKET at this location. This will be very strong to handle any aerodynamic loads from the flaperon in flight.
Here is a picture of one capstrip that is trimmed and ready. Both brackets fit flush.
One rib down, five to go. Six pairs of aluminum brackets will go on the rear of the wings. Three pair per side.
There is another smaller bracket that will connect to the "Bracket Sandwich" that is here. These brackets get installed after the covering fabric is installed and painted. It will be a while before I post any pictures of a covered wing. I am trying to go fast on this project but as usual other time thiefs pop in and steal me away from my progress. Gotta try and keep up the momentum here. I want to fly this thing.
Oh and just to help out those that don't have the fancy round blade, I did a test cut with the hacksaw on the other side of the capstrip and it can be done, just takes more time. Still finish up the final trimming with the utility knife.
Some of you may have one of those powered oscillating cutters like carpenters use to flush cut wooden trim moldings with, I bet that's probably an even better tool for this job.
Hope everyone is doing well.
I thought about how am I going to remove the necessary material. I ended up digging through my assorted tools and found a new pack of small round sawblades I had laying around. I recall buying these in order to try to make a tiny electric table saw for cutting large balsa wood planks into thinner strips for my model airplane builds. My focus has shifted to larger planes I get to ride in so I never built the saw. So I had these. I took one of the larger blades and put it in my drill and did a test cut on a pine 2x4 scrap. Below is a picture of the blade.
I then made some guidelines on the area to be removed from the capstrip and cut into it with the saw. The saw did a good job of quickly cutting the capstrip material. I made my marks a bit wide so the saw would not end up cutting into the plywood rib under the capstrip.
Below is a picture where I stopped cutting to check I was not accidentally sawing into the plywood rib. I slid a thin piece of metal in the saw kerf and I had no issues cutting to close to the plywood, so I kept on cutting. I wanted to use the saw to get a good start removing most of the wood, but not all of it.
Since I used to spinning saw to do most of the cutting, I would finish up more precisely using a utility knife with a new sharp blade. This worked great but every now and then I had the grain of the capstrip wood want to steer the blade in too deep. So, all I did was to reverse my cutting direction to avoid chasing the grain with the blade and taking too deep a cut by mistake. I took small slices until I had the capstrip trimmed flush with the plywood rib. You will see in a minute why I had to do this.
Below is a picture of a capstrip where I completed removing the wood from the left side of the capstrip. Still have to finish the other side.
In this picture you can see how the aluminum flaperon bracket needs to sit flush with the top surface of the capstrip material.
Here is the same bracket from another viewpoint. You can see the 90 degree notch I cut at the top. I did this with a hacksaw blade.
Here is another view, you can really see how flush the aluminum bracket is with the wood capstrip. The small holes in the bracket are where rivets will be placed to create a sandwich of BRACKET-PLYWOOD-BRACKET at this location. This will be very strong to handle any aerodynamic loads from the flaperon in flight.
Here is a picture of one capstrip that is trimmed and ready. Both brackets fit flush.
There is another smaller bracket that will connect to the "Bracket Sandwich" that is here. These brackets get installed after the covering fabric is installed and painted. It will be a while before I post any pictures of a covered wing. I am trying to go fast on this project but as usual other time thiefs pop in and steal me away from my progress. Gotta try and keep up the momentum here. I want to fly this thing.
Oh and just to help out those that don't have the fancy round blade, I did a test cut with the hacksaw on the other side of the capstrip and it can be done, just takes more time. Still finish up the final trimming with the utility knife.
Hope everyone is doing well.
Re: Build Log Discussion - Bruce_L
I had a bit of free time today so I worked on the left wing some.
The left flaperon is finished and ready to test fit on the wing. I used a few clamps and the aluminum brackets to rig up the flaperon mostly to see what it looks like hanging off the back of the wing. I also wanted to make sure the flaperon droppers (the white painted brackets) lined up with the center of the 3 ribs that the brackets get bolted on to.
Everything lined up great, no problems. The flaperon pivoted with no excessive friction for full travel both up and down.
I removed the temporary flaperon and got to work test fitting the aluminum trailing edge extrusion. I made alignment marks with a sharpie pen just like I did for fitting the same trailing edge material to the flaperons as I did earlier.
I trimmed the trailing edge extrusion using the same method I used for the flaperons and did a test fit. I found a small problem with
my process. It seems that the locations to cut slits in the aluminum were traced by me using the wooden capstrip as my width guideline for the hacksaw cuts. (Then use my homemade flattening tool to bend the flaps to match the profile of the wing rib) The problem arises when I did a test fit with the two flaperon dropper brackets that slot into the rear of the rib where I removed some of the wood to allow the pieces to be flush with the capstrip. The width of the two brackets (that attach to the center plywood rib) is much wider than the width of the capstrip and my slots are in the wrong place. The metal trailing edge does not allow the brackets room to enter the extrusion so the fit at the top is also off. OH NOooooooo
!!!!
Below, you can zoom in and look at the red arrows next to the rib and you can see the problem.
Luckily they make a tool called pliers and I just bent the metal on the other side of the small slits I cut earlier. Problem solved,
I will make sure I cut the slits for the right wing trailing edge to accommodate the width of the metal brackets correctly. Easy fix.
Below, you can see how I bent both sides and now the brackets fit as needed. They are now flush with the wood, no problems.
Here is another view of the same location. Notice that bending the metal with the pliers did not cause any height issues with the metal being higher than the top of the wooden capstrip.
After getting the trailing edge in place, you can see how the wooden capstrips ( both upper and lower) meet up with the taper of the aluminum extrusion that makes up the trialing edge. I will need to pay attention to this when I get ready to apply my Hysol adhesive to join the trailing edge to the ribs, otherwise I could end up putting glue where the metal and wood don't connect at all.
This is at the outside corner at the wingtip.
Here is the extrusion at the root end of the wing. You can really see how the trailing edge extrusion completes the airfoil shape of the wooden rib.
The camera angle here is not dead on so the bottom edge may not look proper, but it is actually Ok here.
All that is left is to mix up some Hysol epoxy, and glue the extrusion in place. The build manual calls for a few rivets as well to retain the extrusion.
(I went ahead and roughed up the inner surface of the extrusion to give the epoxy a good surface to bond to)
Now that I figured out the left wing trailing edge, the right wing should be easier, no mistakes.
For most of this airplane build, I have noticed that a lot of the time is spent figuring out my approach to getting a task done. Doing things like test fittings, assorted measurements, temporarily clamping things, plenty of "What-ifs" and visualization too, and lots of blue painters tape on standby just incase.
The left flaperon is finished and ready to test fit on the wing. I used a few clamps and the aluminum brackets to rig up the flaperon mostly to see what it looks like hanging off the back of the wing. I also wanted to make sure the flaperon droppers (the white painted brackets) lined up with the center of the 3 ribs that the brackets get bolted on to.
I removed the temporary flaperon and got to work test fitting the aluminum trailing edge extrusion. I made alignment marks with a sharpie pen just like I did for fitting the same trailing edge material to the flaperons as I did earlier.
I trimmed the trailing edge extrusion using the same method I used for the flaperons and did a test fit. I found a small problem with
my process. It seems that the locations to cut slits in the aluminum were traced by me using the wooden capstrip as my width guideline for the hacksaw cuts. (Then use my homemade flattening tool to bend the flaps to match the profile of the wing rib) The problem arises when I did a test fit with the two flaperon dropper brackets that slot into the rear of the rib where I removed some of the wood to allow the pieces to be flush with the capstrip. The width of the two brackets (that attach to the center plywood rib) is much wider than the width of the capstrip and my slots are in the wrong place. The metal trailing edge does not allow the brackets room to enter the extrusion so the fit at the top is also off. OH NOooooooo
!!!!Below, you can zoom in and look at the red arrows next to the rib and you can see the problem.
Luckily they make a tool called pliers and I just bent the metal on the other side of the small slits I cut earlier. Problem solved,
I will make sure I cut the slits for the right wing trailing edge to accommodate the width of the metal brackets correctly. Easy fix.
Below, you can see how I bent both sides and now the brackets fit as needed. They are now flush with the wood, no problems.
Here is another view of the same location. Notice that bending the metal with the pliers did not cause any height issues with the metal being higher than the top of the wooden capstrip.
After getting the trailing edge in place, you can see how the wooden capstrips ( both upper and lower) meet up with the taper of the aluminum extrusion that makes up the trialing edge. I will need to pay attention to this when I get ready to apply my Hysol adhesive to join the trailing edge to the ribs, otherwise I could end up putting glue where the metal and wood don't connect at all.
This is at the outside corner at the wingtip.
Here is the extrusion at the root end of the wing. You can really see how the trailing edge extrusion completes the airfoil shape of the wooden rib.
All that is left is to mix up some Hysol epoxy, and glue the extrusion in place. The build manual calls for a few rivets as well to retain the extrusion.
(I went ahead and roughed up the inner surface of the extrusion to give the epoxy a good surface to bond to)
Now that I figured out the left wing trailing edge, the right wing should be easier, no mistakes.
For most of this airplane build, I have noticed that a lot of the time is spent figuring out my approach to getting a task done. Doing things like test fittings, assorted measurements, temporarily clamping things, plenty of "What-ifs" and visualization too, and lots of blue painters tape on standby just incase.
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Re: Build Log Discussion - Bruce_L
Bruce, your attention to detail (both in your build AND in your documentation) is astounding.
Future builders are going to be very lucky to have both your log and Kurt's. I imagine they would be able to build without the manual if need be!
Future builders are going to be very lucky to have both your log and Kurt's. I imagine they would be able to build without the manual if need be!
Re: Build Log Discussion - Bruce_L
Today I prepped the trailing edge extrusion for the right wing. This time I made sure I made my cuts for the ribs to also include the
width of the 2 aluminum flaperon brackets for the upper capstrip clearance cuts. I made my marks with the brackets temporarily in place.
Below you can see the wider cuts I made.
The build manual states you can also bend the metal to make it fit but I wanted to cut mine for making a tighter/neater fit and better glue contact too.
Keep in mind the bottom capstrip has no metal in the way so it is still about 1 inch wide for that cutout area.
The capstrips where there are no aluminum brackets are wood only so the cutout is narrower on those.
Here is the size I measured for a typical capstrip.
Since I trimmed the wooden capstrips on both wings, I went ahead and put on some polyurethane to protect the exposed wood. When I went to scuff up the wood on the left wing to bond the extrusion with the Hysol, I noticed the polyurethane was not completely dry so I will wait a few days just to make sure. I want a really good bond at that location.
Since I still had some work time available, I wanted to join the left wings trailing edge extrusions to make one continuous piece the entire width of the wing. The extrusions are made in 10 foot sections so In order to do a 12 foot wing you have to add a short piece to the 10 foot section. To join the 2 pieces, the build manual shows how the cut/trim one piece to make it slide into the longer piece, then rivet it in place. I decided to do it differently. Again, my reason is to make it look smooth and a good connection too.
Here is how I joined the 2 extrusions for the left trailing edge.
First, I dug through my scrap pile and found some aluminum sheet about .030 in thickness. I then used the tin snips and cut out a rectangle. I drew a centerline on it and bent it over in the vise until it was 90 degrees. I used a soft plastic mallet to do this. I then took it out of the vise and bent it over into a Vee shape that was close to the shape of the trailing edge material.
I was worried the aluminum would crack with such a severe fold in it but it was fine.
I slid it into the extrusion to check for fit and adjusted it until it was a snug fit.
Because I knew there also going to be an aluminum flaperon bracket close to the splice, I made sure the Vee piece I bent would not contact the bracket. Otherwise this would make the trailing edge have a high spot in that area. I am glad a caught this possible conflict before i drilled my #30 hole and riveted in my custom piece. The red arrow in the picture below points to the location where the 2 pieces almost touch but don't.
Because of the issue with providing some clearance, My Vee piece was offset to one side (there was more of the folded metal sticking out on one side when I went to rivet it in place, so I could have actually made my splicer Vee piece a little narrower to start with)
Once I was sure there were no conflicts, I drilled the #30 hole through both pieces at the same time.
Next, I pulled a rivet on the splice then drilled the left side hole and put a rivet in there next. The final splice is very neat and flush. I like the look.
Didn't get too much done today, but I am slowly creeping forward on the project. Gotta keep up the momentum. It's about to get pretty hot in the hangar soon. We already have temps in the 80's already.
Hope everyone is doing well and getting ready to start building their kit soon!
width of the 2 aluminum flaperon brackets for the upper capstrip clearance cuts. I made my marks with the brackets temporarily in place.
Below you can see the wider cuts I made.
Keep in mind the bottom capstrip has no metal in the way so it is still about 1 inch wide for that cutout area.
The capstrips where there are no aluminum brackets are wood only so the cutout is narrower on those.
Here is the size I measured for a typical capstrip.
Since I trimmed the wooden capstrips on both wings, I went ahead and put on some polyurethane to protect the exposed wood. When I went to scuff up the wood on the left wing to bond the extrusion with the Hysol, I noticed the polyurethane was not completely dry so I will wait a few days just to make sure. I want a really good bond at that location.
Since I still had some work time available, I wanted to join the left wings trailing edge extrusions to make one continuous piece the entire width of the wing. The extrusions are made in 10 foot sections so In order to do a 12 foot wing you have to add a short piece to the 10 foot section. To join the 2 pieces, the build manual shows how the cut/trim one piece to make it slide into the longer piece, then rivet it in place. I decided to do it differently. Again, my reason is to make it look smooth and a good connection too.
Here is how I joined the 2 extrusions for the left trailing edge.
First, I dug through my scrap pile and found some aluminum sheet about .030 in thickness. I then used the tin snips and cut out a rectangle. I drew a centerline on it and bent it over in the vise until it was 90 degrees. I used a soft plastic mallet to do this. I then took it out of the vise and bent it over into a Vee shape that was close to the shape of the trailing edge material.
I was worried the aluminum would crack with such a severe fold in it but it was fine.
I slid it into the extrusion to check for fit and adjusted it until it was a snug fit.
Because I knew there also going to be an aluminum flaperon bracket close to the splice, I made sure the Vee piece I bent would not contact the bracket. Otherwise this would make the trailing edge have a high spot in that area. I am glad a caught this possible conflict before i drilled my #30 hole and riveted in my custom piece. The red arrow in the picture below points to the location where the 2 pieces almost touch but don't.
Once I was sure there were no conflicts, I drilled the #30 hole through both pieces at the same time.
Next, I pulled a rivet on the splice then drilled the left side hole and put a rivet in there next. The final splice is very neat and flush. I like the look.
Hope everyone is doing well and getting ready to start building their kit soon!