Bill Boyd
Well Known Member
and despite having literally read every post of every thread in the -10 forum in the last two years to get prepared for my build, I find sometimes there are more questions than answers. Until you actually hold the parts in your hands, it's not always clear what the answers and advice mean, or what the questions/difficulties were to begin with.
I did all the composite work on my 6A two decades ago, and I'm sure I did it "wrong" compared to best practices, but somehow I powered through and made something that worked well enough for me. I want to do my best this time. I can't put it off any longer, having run out of non-composite tasks I can do on the build for now
Last night I pulled the cabin top out of the corner, brushed off the shop dust and cobwebs, and studied it in some detail, picking out scribe lines, cross-referencing the plans, looking at some VAF threads about how to scribe and cut and rout things to fit. Lots of heat but a disappointing amount of light and clarity -- seems like I'll have to jump in and figure most of this out as I go, hoping that having read the VAF archives will be like a med student taking gross anatomy: you won't possibly remember much of it, but you'll be a better builder for having been immersed in it at one time.
The scribe lines are there on my specimen, which is a relief. They aren't very straight, and they disappear altogether in places, but I think I can eyeball it closely enough. When I settle on a way to do the door seals, I am hoping I'll have the beginnings of a clue how to trim the door opening. Some of the better threads are missing photo links that probably would have answered a lot of questions.
I plan to buy a carbide perma-grit type blade at Lowe's aviation tonight for my 20v oscillating cutter tool, and have a HF pneumatic 3/8" belt sander for inside corners. Still lack a lot of good composite tools in the shop.
That brings up a bigger question for the guru's like DanH:
What shopping list would you recommend for a guy starting over with nothing in the way of composite tools and materials? I need to purchase some of everything I'm likely to want for the cabin, cowl, tips, pants and fairings. Resin, hardener, scales, cups, sticks, spreaders, fabric, peel-ply, cutters, mat, brushes, fillers and thickeners, release agents, foam, clay, sanding and shaping tools and supplies, personal protective equipment - the whole shebang. I'll figure out a way to get the order past the CFO, but I want to outfit the shop to the level of no-regrets from the outset of the composite phase.
If this has been answered elsewhere, forgive my waste of our bandwidth - and shoot me the link
I did all the composite work on my 6A two decades ago, and I'm sure I did it "wrong" compared to best practices, but somehow I powered through and made something that worked well enough for me. I want to do my best this time. I can't put it off any longer, having run out of non-composite tasks I can do on the build for now
Last night I pulled the cabin top out of the corner, brushed off the shop dust and cobwebs, and studied it in some detail, picking out scribe lines, cross-referencing the plans, looking at some VAF threads about how to scribe and cut and rout things to fit. Lots of heat but a disappointing amount of light and clarity -- seems like I'll have to jump in and figure most of this out as I go, hoping that having read the VAF archives will be like a med student taking gross anatomy: you won't possibly remember much of it, but you'll be a better builder for having been immersed in it at one time.
The scribe lines are there on my specimen, which is a relief. They aren't very straight, and they disappear altogether in places, but I think I can eyeball it closely enough. When I settle on a way to do the door seals, I am hoping I'll have the beginnings of a clue how to trim the door opening. Some of the better threads are missing photo links that probably would have answered a lot of questions.
I plan to buy a carbide perma-grit type blade at Lowe's aviation tonight for my 20v oscillating cutter tool, and have a HF pneumatic 3/8" belt sander for inside corners. Still lack a lot of good composite tools in the shop.
That brings up a bigger question for the guru's like DanH:
What shopping list would you recommend for a guy starting over with nothing in the way of composite tools and materials? I need to purchase some of everything I'm likely to want for the cabin, cowl, tips, pants and fairings. Resin, hardener, scales, cups, sticks, spreaders, fabric, peel-ply, cutters, mat, brushes, fillers and thickeners, release agents, foam, clay, sanding and shaping tools and supplies, personal protective equipment - the whole shebang. I'll figure out a way to get the order past the CFO, but I want to outfit the shop to the level of no-regrets from the outset of the composite phase.
If this has been answered elsewhere, forgive my waste of our bandwidth - and shoot me the link