Hard to figure out exactly where to start this Blog again. Recap - I screwed up the inner and outer skin of my left wing LE Mode in April of 2019. Tech Counselor came out and we discussed using a planishing hammer and dolly to reform the damage to the outer LE skin and inner subskin. I bought the hammer and the dolly, and was about to attempt the task of re-forming the skin, when I had yet another epiphany.
1. I realized that positioning the dolly had to be done exactly right in a very tight spot inside the LE, and I determined that this would just be next to impossible for me.
2. After having a very honest conversation with myself, I also realized that even if I managed to reform the skins correctly, this mod went wrong almost from the start where I did not create the wood form blocks for the sub skin properly. This meant that curve of the LE of the subskin has NEVER been formed exactly as it should, and leaves a gap between the outer Le skin and the subskin that then causes issues with how the removeable plate would sit when screwed onto the subskin. It also puts additional stress on the rib flanges underneath. IOW, the removable plate will NEVER sit flush the outer skin because of the subskin deformity, and the added stress in the rib might lead to other structural problems later. I should have taken much more care and ensured that the wood form blocks I used to bend the subskin EXACTLY matched from the curvature of the LE Rib so that the radius would have mated with the LE skin correctly.
3. The final straw for me was the realization that, after seeing it all come together, there was a much easier way to approach this whole thing, without the need to use the massive subskin and all the forming, measuring, bending, cutting, laying up, and riveting that was involved. I also realized that I could still attempt this mod AFTER the plane was built per the plans that would take very little time, and could be done using much simpler techniques than my original design.
As a result of this, I decided to abandon the entire mod and order the necessary new parts, including a new left wing LE skin and some ribs to build a stock LE. The only thing I will still do differently is order a left wing LE skin from Vans WITHOUT the cutout for the stall warning vane service access plate.
It is sad to have spent so much time and effort on this, only to reach the conclusion that I need to abandon it. It is even more sad to come to this decision only after assembling and almost completing it. However, I am not sad about having made the attempt, as I learned tons about airplane design in the process, and I now have a very deep appreciation for those that undertake the challenge of designing airplanes from scratch. So my only regret is the time I have lost, but nothing else. Basically it was not until seeing entire mod coming together to figure out that there was a much easier, simpler, less invasive and less time-consuming way to do this. I'll keep the details of that to myself for now.
So what happened after all that?
Instead of working on the fuel tank as I previously stated in my last post, I spent the next couple of months working on some mods for my 14 inch RIGID bandsaw. This saw became notorious for not being very well built to the point that it vibrated so badly that it was difficult to make fine, accurate cuts. With the forming of the forward Fuel tank mounting brackets looming in the distant future that would require the use of my bandsaw, I decided to spend the time to perform several well-documented mods to reduce the vibration and turn it into the tool that it should be. There are numerous You Tube videos on the subject and I watched all of them.
I needed to purchase some new Neoprene tires for both wheels, some longer mounting bolts for the motor as well as the saw base itself, a custom cut piece of 3/4 inch plywood to fit over the top of the mounting stand, and some new composite saw guides. After much work on this, I ended up with a good saw that passes the "nickel" test, where you place a nickel on the saw table on its skinny edge, then turn the saw on. If the saw is balanced properly, the nickel will stay on its edge without falling over. I was able to achieve this to my satisfaction.
The end result was that I could now cut the 1/4 inch thick Fuel Tank Angle Mounting brackets with reasonable accuracy on the bandsaw to reduce the amount of forming work to do after the initial cuts. One of the most challenging parts of the saw mod was the need to trim the 1 inch wide neoprene tires down to about 7/8 inches so that they fit in the wheel tracks properly. This required making a special wood frame and using my belt sander to trim the edges accordingly. That, balancing the wheels, and adding the 3/4 inch plywood base and a new composite "link" belt all contributed to solving the vibration problems with the saw. Unfortunately this was yet another delay in the build.
Then, my wife and I needed to take a much needed vacation together, so spent the next couple of months focusing on a multi-faceted trip the New York for the first time. We spent one week in New York City and did all the NYC things a newbie would want to do - Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island, 9-11 Memorial and Museum visit, which I highly recommend to any red-blooded American, went to a Broadway show, Times Square, Stood outside during a Today Show airing, had a real New York Pizza slice, learned how to ride the subway, went to Grand Central Station, Went to Battery Park, the Fashion district, visited the famous toy store FAO Schwartz, and much more.
Then we flew off to Buffalo and took a shuttle to Niagra Falls, Ontario to see the falls for the first time. We had so much fun there, and the falls were so beautiful, that we both want to go back someday. this all happened in early September of 2019. As the whole world now knows, only a few short months later all of New York and the rest of the world would be shut down and fighting for its life due to the COVID pandemic. I have not been back on the build ever since May of 2019 as the the wind just went out my sails after coming to decision about the mod, and too many other things got in the way. After our vacation, winter and the cold set in yet again, and I still had no heat in my garage.
Then COVID showed up in the spring of 2020, and the massive wild fires in Colorado soon followed, and it was a struggle to stay alive and to breathe through smoke and ash all at the same time. I almost lost relatives in the Troublesome Fire in Grand County - very scary. So airplane building was not on my list of things to do throughout that entire period.
I endured multiple furloughs and layoffs at work last year, only to find myself working 15 hours days, 7 days a week, for at least a couple of months. So you could say that yes, I kept my job, which was a good thing, but at great personal cost to my overall health and well-being. Now we are in 2021, where winter is once again upon me, and still with no heat in my garage. What a wildly exhausting time it has been over the past year and a half.
Is there a plus side to any this? Well, in the interest of counting my blessings, both kids have graduated college, have jobs, and are out of the house and successfully on their own. Several major financial burdens have ended, I have not contracted COVID nor have any of my family members, and COVID vaccinations have begun. Aside from politics and some extremely idiotic people in this world, it seems like the sun may be trying to shine on the world again. So I decided it is also time for me to re-engage with the plane project again. I need to order parts from Vans and finish the wings.
More to come..... Sorry for the long hiatus. Stay safe, respectful, and peaceful everyone. Life is too short. I'll have pics of the bandsaw mod, planishing hammer and dolly, and some other stuff in the next post.
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