Fuse support question

[Charles in SC]

Hello fellow forumites, I am about to the part of mounting the wings on my qb 7 . When I got my fuse I made some little "shop gears" that bolted to the wood that was sticking out of the spar holes so I could roll it around the shop if needed. Now these have to go. What is the best way to support the fuse while fitting the wings. I tried a saw horse with carpet on top but that seemed kind of tippy.
Thanks for any help!

 

[robertahegy]

I used 2 cement blocks, a 2 X 8 long enough to span the center section, and carpet on top. A small sawhorse with carpet held up the tail. Use shims under the blocks to level from side to side and slide the tail sawhorse fore and aft to level longitudinally.

Roberta

 

[N941WR]

Charles,

Anything that is stable will work, including the blocks Roberta mentioned. I built this simple stand, which allowed me to raise and lower the tail as needed.



Note: In the first picture, the table is taller than in the 2nd picture. I found that the thing was just too tall and I had to cut it down so I didn't need a ladder to work on the inside. The dimensions given in the 2nd picture are for the lowered table, which worked much better.

 

[rv9aviator]

Locking casters

One small tip I might offer is, if you build a rolling table make sure you get casters that you can lock. Otherwise, you will be chasing it around the shop while you're working on it.

 

[rvtach]

Crude, but cheap, easy and efective...

I used some 3/4" angle iron from Home Depot spaced out from the firewall with some wood blocks to support the front of the fuselage and a short sawhorse to support the tail. Just bolt the angles through the engine mount holes at the corners of the firewall.

I was able to get the fuselage level fore/aft and side to side with this. Once the wings were back in the cradle I went back to the stubby wood dealies that you've been using so I could work on the firewall. You could put wheels on this but I just never had much need to move it around. When I did need to move it I used the handles you can see (a couple layers of wire through a short section of hose, passed through a hole drilled in the angle).

 

[alpinelakespilot2000]

Bill's method is, by far, the most flexible type of stand to use and only costs a few bucks to build. It works from the point you flip over the canoe to the time you put it on the gear. It also rolls around the garage which proves useful throughout the build. Highly recommended.

Charles,

Anything that is stable will work, including the blocks Roberta mentioned. I built this simple stand, which allowed me to raise and lower the tail as needed.

 

[N941WR]

One small tip I might offer is, if you build a rolling table make sure you get casters that you can lock. Otherwise, you will be chasing it around the shop while you're working on it.

Jim, you are correct, lockable casters would be best.

In my case I used rubber furniture cups, or whatever they are called, under the wheels. You can see them laying on the table in the picture with the dimensions.

 

[rv9aviator]

Great idea and cheaper too. The reason I mentioned it was because my fuselage is on two furniture dollies bridged together with carpeted 2 X 4's. I swear every time I turn the air drill on the fuselage runs to the other side of the shop. Off I go to Home depot's aviation dept. for some airplane dolly containment devices