Post Turkey Update

Hope everyone had a safe Thanksgiving.  Back to the shop tonight.  Bought a bench grinder from The Home Depot.  This will help with the parts fabrication.  The hand filing is S L O W.  Now if I can just keep my fingers away from those spinning wheels... :)

Here's what I purchased:

Ryobi 8" Bench Grinder

I will start shaping the 4130 Steel parts for the spar tomorrow.

2hrs spent assembling and testing/aligning new grinder.

** Update ** Parts missing for the left side guard and work rest assembly.  Contacted the manufacturer since that's what is says to do in the documentation (do not return to place of purchase if parts are missing)

So a quick email to Ryobi.  They responded telling me parts were on their way.  Need to wait for those parts to use the grinder.  So no spar ends work tonight.  Will turn to other tasks.

Spar End Fabrication - Slow and steady hand filing - 4hrs

Started spar end fabrication today.  About 4hrs work and I still have five more blanks to cut/shape.  It's slow going without a bench grinder.  I'll need to invest in one.  Been hand filing all the ends and still have to shape and smooth them.  Tomorrow I will finish the five remaining 1/8" pieces and then start milling the end shapes and finishing.  Here's what I have so far:

Three of the eight 1/4" pieces

I have been getting consistent with my cuts.  Using a hand orbital jig saw with a metal blade to do the cuts.  I rig up a guide for each cut to help me keep it square.  Less filing that way :)

Makeshift guide to keep things square when cutting

Progress at last!  I am starting to understand that this is going to be a long process.  But a little at a time. That's how I'll take it.  I'm sure the work today would have gone faster with a bench grinder to do the finishing and shaping.  However with a hand file it is likely I won't over shape or remove too much material during the shaping.  Heck, the Wright brothers didn't have electric grinders did they?  Well, maybe they had some steam or foot powered tools in their shop.  

6061-T6 .040 and .020 Unwrapping - Not yet

I received a sheet of .020 and a sheet of .040 6061-T6.  I was going to unroll it and start tracing out my spar webs and ribs.  But I think I'll wait until I have a second set of hands to help me given this warning on the roll:

I was able to get a 2'x3' 26 gauge galvanized steel from The Home Depot for the firewall - so think I'll trace the form onto that stock and cut out the firewall tonight.  Pictures to follow.

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" - 3hrs

 Lao-tzu
(The Way of Lao-tzu)
Chinese philosopher (604 BC - 531 BC)

After a couple of months planning, reading, and studying - started on construction of the spars today.  Wanted to get more done but time passed so quickly this weekend.  

What I did get done - I built the jig that will be used to align and clamp the main and center spar pieces together for assembly.  Spent about 2 hours on this piece.  I think the second one should take half the time.  A lot of time was spent measuring, checking, measuring, clamping, checking, and re-measuring.

Here's what I ended up with after two hours:

Will make a second jig tomorrow evening and then start putting the spar parts together.

A long journey ahead indeed.

Stay tuned.

Thanks ---  Greg.

**UPDATE**
Yes, I was right.  Made the second jig in about 30 mins.  And yes - I made the jig wider than the plans. 

CX4 Step One - Build a work table

I think that is what is says in the construction manual.  First - build a table ...

Well that's what we did today.  My son and I built the work table for my CX4 project.  Greg (my oldest) is great with wood and he pretty much free-handed it.  Told him what I needed, we got the wood, and two hours later we had the table.

The table is a little over three feet high and this one is eight foot long.  We're going to make another one to extend the total length to 12' or 13' depending on how much work-around room that leaves me in the garage/workshop/CX4 Factory :)

The table is stable, strong, and quite level - which is important.  I should have my aluminum (sheet and angle) and other materials required for the main spar and center spar sections soon.  So construction will  commence shortly.  Meanwhile I'm going to continue making bulkhead and other forms from the leftover plywood like I did for the ribs:

Here are a few more pictures of the work table construction:

Stay tuned!  More to follow -

BTW - Thanks Greg for your help!!