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I'm Not As Tough As I Once Was

skelrad

Well Known Member
Friend
I was making such good progress, then winter hit! :mad: I grew up working on my family ranch in Colorado at 9000 feet up in the Rockies. In the winter you could find me on my back under the snow cat, 10 miles from nowhere in -30 degree temps fixing a hydraulic line and thinking nothing of it. Now, 25 years later, it's 20 degrees and I'm whining like a baby in my enclosed garage! I had tried to work on my project at least a little bit every single day, and I've largely succeeded since starting 5 months ago. But man, when the pacific northwest took a swing down to colder than usual temps, I just couldn't do it and still have fun. I have a propane heater, but my garage is uninsulated, and even if I can get the chill out of the air, the metal is $@#%*! cold and hard on the fingers! My bigger problem has actually been that I'm at the point where I need to prime wing skins to move on, and nothing I do can bring the temp up enough to do that (aside from making a big painting enclosure and heating it).

So, I guess I'm confessing that my self-imposed requirement of getting some work done every day is no longer a reality. It makes me twitch, because I have a timeline in my head and I hate feeling like I'm losing progress, but I'm trying to remember that the fun of building is most important. First flight one month later because of winter delays is no biggie (I chant to myself over and over). In the meantime, I'm getting more proficient at using Fusion 360 for my supply chain delayed Christmas present (3D printer), which will live in my office that has the space heater running non-stop.
 
There's still meaningful work you can get done, even when you can't have a physical presence in your fabrication space. I struggled with this too, even though I have a heated workshop, especially with priming, which I do in a paint booth I built, but that isn't heated. I figured out a good mix with reducer that seems to work in temps down into the 30s (takes a little longer to evaporate the VOCs, but once the paint is tack-free, I can move the parts into a warmer space to speed up the curing of the epoxy primer).

If you really can't paint, maybe there are other things that you can get done. For instance, deburring part edges. If you have a space in the house where you can lay down some paper to catch the filings, you can get some work done that will have to be done eventually. Might as well do it now.

Or, maybe try to do some planning for the electrical system and panel. Getting that down on paper early will help you when you get to the point where you need to start pulling conduit and wire (ask me how I know).

Don't feel down; look for something to do--the longer you stay away from the project, the bigger a hill it will look like to climb, and you'll be out of practice when you start back up.

I ran into some of the same issues -- especially when I was building the wings. All that deburring and assembly/disassembly was very tedious. But once I powered through and got it done, when I started the fuselage, things really started to click and go together at an astonishing rate. Do whatever you can to advance. It's worth it!
 
I have a big torpedo heater in my garage. It is loud and it smells, but it heats up the space quickly.
 
Tough? Hmmm

We are waiting on our wing kit. We have not planned much on our build, so we're researching like crazy about a bizillion options we don't even fully understand yet... ..there's that education and recreation thing, again....

Anyway, we're reading through the wing kit (word-by-word). We're building the wings in our head as we go. We don't skip steps in this exercise. Believe it, or not, it's a slow process and quite interesting.

We ordered the fuse kit yesterday. When we finish reading the plans and building the wings in our head, we'll start the fuse. With any luck, we'll have some metal by then to occupy our time.

Keep at it!

Mike
 
working in the cold sucks. in addition to your propane heater... get a simple and cheap electric heater from wal mart / home depot. switch it on an hour or so before you start working. should be be fine for an one/two car garage.
 
Paint booth

I made a temporary paint booth for big stuff. I live in CO @ 7500'.
I purchased a bunch of plant hangars. They are steel "S" shaped 1/4" rod. They were slipped over the garage door frames. They allow the garage doors to operate. 3/4" steel conduits are slipped through the hangars. That's the frame. It's super handy for all sorts of uses.
The paint booth is shower curtains hung from the framing. Wife got new ones out of the deal. It takes maybe 10 minutes to set up.
 
Cold chilly frozen etc.

OK it's cold here in Battle Ground WA also. But I'm spoiled in my insulated hangar.
BUT, the first thing I can tell you is get RID of the propane heater. It will sap the energy out of you with carbon monoxide and lack of oxygen.
I don't care how much you think electricity costs, it is really usually less than propane for sure. Buy more than one electric heater if you want to work out there. Oh ya a side benefit is your health will be better.
Look around your garage and stop all the air leaks as they steal heat faster than no insulation. Caulk the sheetrock to the foundation, check the door weather stripping, etc.
I've built homes for 43 years and stopping air infiltration is key to heat retention.
Please stop breathing combustion gases. You might live longer and get the bird in the air.
My three cents worth is what you paid for it.
Art
 
Time to start learning avionics and wiring. It takes so much reading through manuals to really get a grasp of all the avionics concepts, wiring requirements, circuit protection, etc. that I used the winters to focus on that.

I hoped dearly that I could skip all that reading but it’s not possible if your doing it yourself. Just a thought to keep you busy in cold months.
 
OK it's cold here in Battle Ground WA also. But I'm spoiled in my insulated hangar.
BUT, the first thing I can tell you is get RID of the propane heater. It will sap the energy out of you with carbon monoxide and lack of oxygen.
I don't care how much you think electricity costs, it is really usually less than propane for sure. Buy more than one electric heater if you want to work out there. Oh ya a side benefit is your health will be better.
Look around your garage and stop all the air leaks as they steal heat faster than no insulation. Caulk the sheetrock to the foundation, check the door weather stripping, etc.
I've built homes for 43 years and stopping air infiltration is key to heat retention.
Please stop breathing combustion gases. You might live longer and get the bird in the air.
My three cents worth is what you paid for it.
Art


Yeah, that's the problem with the propane approach. I keep the garage door and window cracked pretty good for ventilation, so the power of the propane isn't as great as it could be when it's fighting that incoming cold air. Insulating and sealing everything up and putting in a shop heater is on the list, but just didn't happen this year before the winter. Maybe next year.
 
Take some time and get your garage insulated and install a mini split. Heat in the winter and AC in the summer. Makes working much more enjoyable.
 
Plus one on the mini split. Easy to install and very efficient. Bought one for my two shops on line and installed it my self. The air conditioning works great in the summer and you can be more productive. Just shut it off while priming.
 
Plus one on the mini split. Easy to install and very efficient. Bought one for my two shops on line and installed it my self. The air conditioning works great in the summer and you can be more productive. Just shut it off while priming.

I second that .. we built a new shop on our property and installed 3 mini splits hooked to one condenser unit, two in the main shop bay and one in an attic room .. they work great!
 
Definitely install one of the mini split units. I used the 24k BTU DIY kit from Mr. Cool in my shop, it's absolutely the best modification I made to the shop. My only regret is that I didn't do it years ago.
 
Yeah, that's the problem with the propane approach. I keep the garage door and window cracked pretty good for ventilation, so the power of the propane isn't as great as it could be when it's fighting that incoming cold air. Insulating and sealing everything up and putting in a shop heater is on the list, but just didn't happen this year before the winter. Maybe next year.

My landlord sent me a message, saying he wanted to talk about my sky high heating and cooling bills.

I said, "Sure! Come on over. My door is always open."
 
Get ready for some priming work in the next few days

All of the above are great suggestions but in the meantime our local temps should be back in the mid 40’s by tomorrow so get ready for your priming work. I too have been waiting for this freeze to break and the snow to melt. Mid 40’s works for me for priming with a little supplemental heat in my drafty shed where I do the paint work. I have fuse skins, longerons, and side ribs in the queue tomorrow. Build on!
 
Regardless of what is going on in your garage, you will likely finish your project in an unheated/rented hangar. That's where I mostly finished mine, here in the PNW. no way was the airport going to let me install a minisplit, nor did I want to as the hangar wasn't a long term arrangement for me.

My best friend during some of those damp cold days was a heated vest. It was a game changer for me. I'd charge the battery overnight, and be able to work most of the next day in relative comfort. Might not work for the OP now, but something to keep in mind down the road.
 
All of the above are great suggestions but in the meantime our local temps should be back in the mid 40’s by tomorrow so get ready for your priming work. I too have been waiting for this freeze to break and the snow to melt. Mid 40’s works for me for priming with a little supplemental heat in my drafty shed where I do the paint work. I have fuse skins, longerons, and side ribs in the queue tomorrow. Build on!

I think we're getting close to build temps again! I see you're in Ames Lake. I live in Broadhurst, just up the hill from you. Yell if you ever need a second pair of hands. I'm close enough to swing by.
 
Regardless of what is going on in your garage, you will likely finish your project in an unheated/rented hangar. That's where I mostly finished mine, here in the PNW. no way was the airport going to let me install a minisplit, nor did I want to as the hangar wasn't a long term arrangement for me.

My best friend during some of those damp cold days was a heated vest. It was a game changer for me. I'd charge the battery overnight, and be able to work most of the next day in relative comfort. Might not work for the OP now, but something to keep in mind down the road.

Great idea. My body isn't usually cold, but my hands are another story. Even the thickest of gloves don't help. It's been that way all my life. It's possible if the rest of me is truly warm (vs not cold), maybe my hands will go along with it though. I'll check out the vests!
 
<<Mini split>>
I have one in my garage and it works great up until high 20's. Lower than that and you will need electric supplemental heat. Simply no place to put the cold. ;)
 
Mini-splits can be purchased that work down to minus 13F, and maybe colder. I bought one for a workshop at home, and expect the electricity to be about 1/3 of what the 10kw straight electric heater was. I paid $1500 for an 18kbtu model. Power company sent me a $1050 rebate check, and I expect also to be able to claim a $300 federal tax credit, for a net cost of about $150 plus my time to install. I can attest to the fact it works down to -13F and then shuts off. We've had some -30 nights recently... I set the straight resistive 10kw heater to 50 just to cover those days. Bonus will be A/C also. Some websites are smart enough to know what rebates you might qualify for if you enter your address. I got mine from:
https://www.pioneerminisplit.com/

I also highly recommend insulating and at least lining the garage with plastic, it won't cost you that much in terms of airplane monetary units :D You will spend a lot of time there.
 
A lot of the cheaper brands out there have absolutely no service parts available after only a few years old. I highly recommend buying a major brand as they are only a few bucks more and well supported. We wont even work on the Pioneers and Mr. Cool as they are poor quality and impossible to work on. The good one operate at 0 or below with a low ambient kit. Mitsubish, Fujitsu ,and Carrier are the best
 
Great to read all the tips and suggestions for all of us working in our garages this time of the year. Thank you for those!

For now I am getting by with two electric space heaters. They do ok, I can usually get the space to 10-15 degrees warmer than the outside ambient temp. That obviously doesn't work when it gets down below about 20F outside. I have a fairly small paint booth, maybe 7'x7'x7' so I can heat it effectively when I need to. I usually bring the parts to be painted inside first to bring them up to room temperature and then quickly get them primed before they get too cold. The stuff we do for this profession!

Probably go the mini-split route after this winter as the wing kit doesn't arrive till late summer so I have some time to kill after I finish the last couple structures of the empennage.
 
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I was also tougher when I was younger. But I also always knew that if my airplane building shop wasn't comfortable, the project would just be a lot less fun. So before I even got my tail kit I insulated my garage, tacked on a small temporary addition, and made sure I had plenty of space heaters and outlets / amperage to support the load along with the compressor. I also told my wife that she'd just have to get used to higher electrical bills especially during the one winter when I did my canopy work.

That along with good lighting and a nice stereo made for a place that I wanted to spend time in rather than one I had to force myself to go to, and helped the project be an enjoyable experience overall.
 
If you have an un-insulated aluminum garage door, insulate it! Makes a huge difference!

Buy a few sheets of the 4x8 rigid insulation board at Home Depot or Lowes, for like $9 per sheet. Comes in pink or blue foam, usually with a foil backing. Cut it to 'snap' into the rectangular openings of your door sections. If it doesn't stay put, use a few dabs of Liquid Nails to hold them into place. I found that it helped the temps in my garage BIG TIME.
 
Quit whining! Invest in a space heater! (.....sorry about that...)
I know, I often inspect EAB aircraft in freezing cold hangars, my 71 year old fingers don't write as well in those temps as they used to! I enjoy the 68 degrees at my home hangar! Worth the extra natural gas!

DAR Gary
 
Electric radiant heat panels

Brandon,

I empathize with your reduced tolerance for cold. I used to be one of the few people skiing without a hat on a cold (but not frostbite level cold) day. Now I get chilled pretty easily.

My hangar has a radiant tube heater next to the ceiling. I can walk in on a cold day, turn on the heat, and take my coat off in about ten minutes. The air in the hangar is still cold, but the radiant heat warms people and eventually metal.

Consider some electric radiant heat panels. They are usually placed in the ceiling, but can be arranged as you like. One on either side angled down from above might be ideal. They can be moved around to wherever you might need them.

Get one of those electric warming trays for food. Put your tools and any small parts you'll be working with on it. Your hands will thank you.

Hope this is some help to you. Hang in there; only 10.5 weeks until the first day of Spring.
 
Quit whining! Invest in a space heater! (.....sorry about that...)
I know, I often inspect EAB aircraft in freezing cold hangars, my 71 year old fingers don't write as well in those temps as they used to! I enjoy the 68 degrees at my home hangar! Worth the extra natural gas!

DAR Gary

Hahaha! I'm not really in whining mode, just sarcastic and rolling my eyes at how my perspective has changed over the years (I'm not even old enough to where I should care about a little cold weather yet!). I'm not pinching pennies or dragging my feet. I have a way to take the chill off, but it needs to be better. In a perfect world I would have had the garage insulated and heated before winter, but it was tough to do before owning the house....;)
 
Brandon,

I empathize with your reduced tolerance for cold. I used to be one of the few people skiing without a hat on a cold (but not frostbite level cold) day. Now I get chilled pretty easily.

My hangar has a radiant tube heater next to the ceiling. I can walk in on a cold day, turn on the heat, and take my coat off in about ten minutes. The air in the hangar is still cold, but the radiant heat warms people and eventually metal.

Consider some electric radiant heat panels. They are usually placed in the ceiling, but can be arranged as you like. One on either side angled down from above might be ideal. They can be moved around to wherever you might need them.

Get one of those electric warming trays for food. Put your tools and any small parts you'll be working with on it. Your hands will thank you.

Hope this is some help to you. Hang in there; only 10.5 weeks until the first day of Spring.

I have kicked around the idea of radiant heaters since I think that would make a huge difference with handling the tools and metal bits. Lots of things to think about for next year. The good news is that the cold temps in this area are pretty short lived, so while I will stomp my feet, it's really only typically a few weeks that are really all that bad. Temps are up in the 40's today and projected to stay that way for a while now! That is warm enough to get the garage heated up and comfortable for some work sessions finally!
 
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