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Stockmanreef

Well Known Member
Early in my build, I photocopied all of the plans from 2 sided to single sided. I leave the bound copy in the house to read before heading to the garage, then I mark up and sign the unbound pages in the garage. This allows me to see two or more pages at a time without having to flip back and forth between pages and allows me to move around only a couple of pages in case I want to have the plans on or near the work.

In the end I will have a complete set of untouched plans to put on my coffee table and a sign set of plans for review by the inspector.

Does/did any one else do this?

cheers
ken
 
I'm going to use the original plans. By the end of the build, the fact that they'll be ratty, dog-eared and smudged with air tool oil and Torque seal will hopefully add credibility!

Being able to view multiple pages at once does give the big picture, though.
 
I photocopied and scanned the originals, then put them away for safe keeping. I then laminated the copies for use in the shop and the scanned .PDF's are on my tablet.
 
Scanned both instructions and plans, then ran 'em through OCR. Printed instructions and used as a build log (dated each item or crossed out, etc.). That was nice, but having PDFs of the plans which could be searched for parts numbers, AN numbers, etc., was really helpful!
 
Plans

I would love a set of full size plans scanned as pdf files but sadly my full size set is out in the shop getting dirty.:(
I do use a poster plastic over them so I don't get them too nasty.
Luckily I had a manual before buying my empennage from another builder so I keep one inside and one in the shop.:D
 
Plans in pdf rock. I can blow up the detail on my computer or even the iPad in the garage. It definitely makes things easier to see.

Bob
 
I had a reduced-size copy made, shrunken so that they'd fit my work table. The full size ones are handy for the rare times I need a full size view.

They also made me a PDF set but it's not so helpful using my iPad 1. I haven't found a PDF reader that doesn't get blurry when I expand the view to see a detail. On my full-size Mac, all the detail is plenty visible. I've tried iBooks, Kindle and Goodreader apps and Kindle, poor though it is, is the best of them.

What's really handy, though, is having a spreadsheet for the part numbers. It includes the material, thickness, and best of all, what drawing page it was mentioned. That's really useful. Of course though this is for an RV-3B, which has plans that are not necessarily up to the same level as the newer aircraft.

Dave
 
I scanned the smaller set of drawings that came in the manual into a PDF on high resolution (1200 dpi) and you can zoom in rather easily and see detail. My full-scale drawings lead a hard life in the shop and occasionally I'll reprint one on my office plotter from the scanned drawings.
 
Thanks Ken,

That's sort of why I was asking. I noticed on their website that they will only issue amendments now in PDF format so was wondering if they would give builders a full set of PDF plans with a printed set. Save each builder having to scan them for themselves. PDF plans created from the original drawings are always going to be more accurate and readable if enlarged than ones scanned.
 
David Paule said:
...They also made me a PDF set but it's not so helpful using my iPad 1. I haven't found a PDF reader that doesn't get blurry when I expand the view to see a detail. On my full-size Mac, all the detail is plenty visible. I've tried iBooks, Kindle and Goodreader apps and Kindle, poor though it is, is the best of them...

Dave
Click to expand...

It's probably the resolution they were scanned at. I typically blow mine up to 200% or 400% sometimes, just to see the detail. IT's great for drawings that have a lot of detail close together. Since I load them into the iPad as pdf's they display in iBook. I've never had an issue with the quality of the drawings in zoom mode.

Bob
 
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