Center Spar - Ready for Drilling and Rivets

Finished ALL the pieces for the center spar assembly.  Next I will clamp the pieces together, mark the drilling locations, and set up the work table for drilling.

Here is the center spar laid out with all the pieces

I will do the same for each wing spar.  Not done fabricating the wing spar vertical stiffeners yet.  Want to concentrate on getting the center spar done.  Two reasons for that; 1 - everything builds from the center spar on the CX4 and 2 - It's good practice to build the center spar first before turning to the main spars.  If I screw up on the center spar I'm out a few bucks and time to rebuild, if I screw up the main spars it's a major expense in materials and time.

Web Spars

As mentioned in the last post - I cut out the web spars today.  Used my handheld jig saw and it was quite easy.  Getting MUCH better at holding a straight line on my cuts.  This was important for the web spars.  Cutting a 93 1/2" length of .040 aluminum to form these webs it is important to keep a true line.  I have some de-burring to do now on the edges.

 One cut - one marked and ready to cut

A view of the spar parts scattered about the work table.  Clamping together and initial setting up is next.

I will be de-burring and getting spar parts ready for assembly next.  Plan to set up for drilling and riveting the parts next.

Thanks for looking.

Center Spar Web -

Cut and finished the center spar web today.  Ready to assemble and drill the center spar. Here are pics of my center web spar:

Cut from .040 sheet per plans page 1.  Found using my hand held jig saw worked great.  Easy to control and kept a straight line.  Will probably cut the wing spar webs tomorrow.  Did goof off a bit today and took the ol' Cessna out for a short flight.

Made a dumb-dumb error.  Ordered a rivet squeezer and sets from ATS.  Now I know it won't work for me on the spars.  Tried to go cheap.  So I'm returning the squeezer and have ordered a rivet gun, sets, and bucking bar in preparation for spar riveting.  Of course I will be doing some practice on scrap to hone my riveting skills -

Stay tuned!

Greg.

Center Spar Work - Continues

It was a little warmer in the workshop today.  So I finished all the parts required for the center spar - except for the spar web.  And just to see what it would look like before drilling - I clamped the pieces together to take a look.

 Clamped the sandwich of materials together - cross checked with the plans and noticed I had it laid out wrong.  Hope I don't make that mistake when I start doing some permanent things - like drilling... Could be costly.  Will take extra care to measure twice (or more) and cut once.

 But I did get the .040 sheet unrolled.  Plan to cut out the center spar web and while I'm at it cut the main spar webs tomorrow.

.040 66061-T6 12x4' Sheet Unrolled and ready for spar web cutting

Temperatures outside should be a bit higher tomorrow.  Should make the workshop bearable.  I did use a space heater today to warm things up a bit.  But I kept blowing the circuit breaker in my power strip. 

Thanks for looking -

*** Update 2/20/13 - Didn't get the spar webs cut from to .040 sheet.  To darn cold in the shop.  Should warm up tomorrow - will try it then.. ;)

A Little Warmer

Per my last post - It is COLD in the workshop.  I did get some insulation around the door.  But the temperature is still running 45F - 50F.  Mostly on the low end.  So it is still a bit rough working in the cold environment.  I did put up with it for some time this week.  I did a lot of re-organizing and inventory of supplies and tools.  Plan to get into cutting the spar caps and tapering the long pieces of extruded angle to form them.  Will probably use the hand held jig saw with an appropriate blade.  Seems to work the best for me.  Also will be unrolling the .020 sheet to start cutting some rib blanks.

Update later on the progress -

Greg.

Too Cold - and On Hold

Geeez! it's cold in the workshop!  45F is a bit chilly and fingers get numb too fast.  Have to insulate the outside entry door to keep some of the heat in.  That's for the weekend.  Also, I have a 7x12' door sitting in my workshop taking up most of the room.

Big door  blocking my work bench

The big door gets installed this Friday and I'm going to Home Depot to get some insulation for the door.

I'll update the build blog later with the result --

Thanks for watching.

Greg.

Back to the cold and back to work - or no work

Hope everyone had a good holiday.  We sure did.  Spent Christmas week in Marathon, Florida.  Beautiful weather.  Good fishing.  Snorkeling, and all kinds of outdoor fun.  Visited the Marathon EAA Chapter.  They have a nice museum.  There was a Beech 18, DC-3 and a few other nice airplanes.  Friendly people.  Nice facility.

This airplane was in the hanger at the Chapter 1241 Museum

I really need to get back to work.  I've finished the spar ends and next will be cutting out the spar webs from the .040 6061-T6 sheet that I have still rolled up.

Rolled up .040 sheet with warning label

Only two things delaying the web cutting.  I need some help with the unrolling of the sheet stock.  It is 12'x4' and wound pretty tight.  Also need to clear some room in the workshop to store the stock once it is unrolled.  Weather, schedule, and a short bout of some kinda flu thing I had last week has slowed me down.  Hope to unroll and cut this weekend.  Until then --

Thanks for checking in!

Greg.

Oh - and Happy New Year!  Forecast for some snow and freezing rain in the next day or so.  Makes me think back to Christmas Vacation in the Keys.....

My beautiful granddaughter fishing off the pier