Cutting More Ribs

I actually like cutting sheet metal. It isn't always easy and the pieces can be very hazardous to one's body (I wear tough gloves) if one isn't careful. I learned about sharp edges when I was young, cutting fallen tree limbs after a northeast hurricane back in the 80s. The tree saw went neatly into my thumb and now I am smarter. Funny how that works?

The pictures show the .020 aluminum sheet on the living room floor. The living room is about 30 degrees cooler than the garage, which is nearly 120 degrees. I keep a fan in there but 120 degrees blowing around may as well be 120 degrees not blowing around. I just make sure I keep some paper on the floor so that my bare feet don't find any aluminum slivers later!

I have all the rib blanks cut and now I just have to clean them up and give them the tabs. The tabs will then be the surface that the wing skins will be riveted to. More cutting! Woo hoo!

Bad Flanges

I tried out the new hole flanging tool from Aircraft Spruce, on a piece of scrap aluminum. I wasn't terribly impressed by the results. The metal tends to warp considerably and the flange itself has this wavy edge that just doesn't look right. I'm sure it would be acceptable but for the time it took to do the flange this way, the results are just not very positive. So I don't recommend doing your hole flanges with this kind of tool. I am sure someone could argue the point but I don't like it at all.

I don't consider this a failure, just part of the learning process that will go into my future projects! I went back to my home made dies and the test piece was nearly flawless! The die is made of hardwood so I have no idea how long it will last but the .020 aluminum is nice and soft so I can't imagine it really beating up the die, at least not in the short term. The added benefit is that the die cost me less than $5! It's hard to argue with that price! I may find some use for the tool I bought, but at this point I don't know where it will be used.

New Flanging Tool

Well the progress on construction came to a slowdown! I'm not behind schedule, as I figured this was the pace I would be working at. I had cut a bunch of ribs but had avoided making the lightening holes because I don't have a way to flange the hole edges. The original plan was to use a wooden die but I have put off making the die in favor of using a special hole flanging tool purchased from Aircraft Spruce and Specialty. The tool was back ordered for well over a month so I have done little since ordering the tool. Good news came a couple of days ago however and I can expect to see the new tool in just a couple of days! I can't wait to start flanging!

Teenie Two DVD

I requested the Teenie Two DVD that Ron Dixon, the owner of the T2 plans, gives out now with the plan set. In the video footage Jack Dernorsek explains his airplane in great detail. I particularly liked the way he described how he mass balanced his flight controls, specifically the ailerons. He used a (pair?) weighted tube attached to the aileron, positioned inside of the outer wing panels. He then explained that a possibly better alternative would be to attach a weighted arm to the edge of the aileron, which would be extended out to the wing tip. The advantage of using the arm is that a long arm can have a smaller weight on the end to accomplish the goal of mass balancing while not adding a signficant amount of weight to the airplane. This is something I intend to do to the ailerons and elevator of my airplane.