It's shocking how out of date I've let this become.  We were at the point where we were considering giving up on the project.  Then a friend came by and sparked the dream again.  He said, "You have to do this!  If you don't, it will haunt you."  So we decided to enlist the assistance of Synergy in Eugene.  Wally Anderson (the owner of Synergy) said he thought we could finish it up in a few weeks with their help.  So June 13th Bob and I drove the whole project down to Eugene.  Wally tells us that it will go faster than he thought, because "you've already done all the hard stuff".  We will be working on it thru August and expect to have it finished by September.

Back in the air

I got fed up with this not flying thing. So I went in and hired a CFI to help me make sure I'm still safe. We did about 1.5 hours on the ground and 1.8 in the air. I was pleased to still know what to do.

So I reserved a plane for Saturday to fly to Scappoose. Then this morning the weather was marginal and so was my health. I decided to stay on the ground today.

Wrapping up the Roll bar

We've gotten the roll bar all riveted together, and now we are working on the custom fit with the brackets. Here are a few shots of the process.



First we started by clamping the parts to a rigid board. Then we secured the parts to the board with clamps and clecoes. We tried to be very careful with the width and the height. Also we measured the mid-point as a control.





We measured carefully to space the holes properly. Nobody is better at careful measurement than Bob.










Then we riveted the F-631 plate to the channels. We chose to pop rivet the assembly to the board so it wouldn't move while we were working on it.









We used a clamp to hold the pieces in the proper place.

After we got the back side all drilled, we determined that the flanges of the channels were not at a 90 degree angle. The reason we were concerned is because there was a gap between the flange and the strap. So we tried to fix that by bending with a spanner wrench. This proved to be effective but a little tedious.
There were many iterations of adjusting, checking and marking. Then do it again. Finally the fit was darn near perfect. One concern was the marks left in the radius of the bend by the spanner wrench. We were able for the most part to scotch brite out these marks.




When it came time to drill the front side channels, we made a tool to keep a 1.5" total thickness. For the most part it worked well, but we found that when it was all riveted together the bottom of the bow was 1/10" wider than expected on both ends (1.6"). There isn't much that can be done at this point, but we decided it will be okay.



We press on. Now we are working on the attachments to the fuselage. As you know they are a custom fit.

Starting on the roll bar

Bob got back from three weeks of traveling last night. Master Chief is still missing in action (on a cruise).
Tonight I worked at my tube bending technique. Still needs work.
The 21' of new tubing and the screws I ordered have arrived. I am not too sure about the tiny little allen heads. I'm afraid I may break an allen wrench if I have to torque on these to get them set.



I bought a plastic covered piece of shelving material for laying up our roll bar. The board is really stiff. I think it will work well. I was glad that Bob and I were working together; instead of 'close enough' We came close to breaking out the micrometer.



Here's a picture of the tunnel mod we finally settled on. It's a little embarrassing to think how much time was spent doing this. The benefit will come if we ever need to access where the fuel line come out of the tunnel.



As you may know, I've been kind of consumed with the idea of rolling my own lights with LED's. So while I was at Sun n' Fun a few weeks ago, I snapped a couple pictures of interesting applications. I'm still fussing over how I want to do ours.

We continue to work

Most recently Bob has been working on the center section between the fuel selector and the firewall. He has devised a plan to modify the access panel below the cabin heat distributor box. He is working on the finer points of that.

Last night I was working on the rudder pedals; installing the cotter pins in the castle nuts. Also, getting the brake lines ready for installation. I still wrestle with the idea of spending more money for better brake lines, but see lots of big ticket items still looming on the horizon.

I've been researching LED's and how to design the wingtip lighting.
Also, I've been reading up on the roll bar and how it goes together. I need to come up with a board that will be suitable to clamp the roll bar down and keep it straight.

We are often anxious to make better progress, but take solace in the knowledge that this is not a race. It is a hobby, and we are constantly learning new skills in the process of building. We can't help but be eager to 'gitter done'.

Heater

Bob is working on the pieces that will become our cabin heater. It will also, be the cover for our fuel lines.

A welding we will go...

We had an informative presentation about welding at the chapter meeting Tuesday evening.

After the presentation, those that wanted could try their hand at striking an arc.

For myself, I found the information interesting, but I'm happy that I have friends who can weld.