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JB's Sonerai IILS Build

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subnoize1

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2013
Messages
141
Location
Atlanta, GA
I guess the build doesn't officially begin until you either start tacking tubes or you are cutting aluminium for the wings but this is a big milestone for me; getting my shop organized for the build!

I built 3 tables, one of which is for my Small Mill / CNC Conversion to sit on. It will help me shape anything metal under 14" x 6" x 10". It is a 4 axis CNC and is based on a Grizzly branded Sieg X3 with a Sherline PN3700 4" rotary table for the A axis. I run LinuxCNC 2.5.3 as the controller and can dual boot into Windows for Mach3 if the CAD/CAM only supports the older G94 and not G93 Inverse Timing from RS274 NGC.

Notice the two CyberPower Sinewave UPS, I can run the entire setup for roughly 54 minutes during a power outage without losing a single step in the motors. What is amazing it one UPS runs the mill machine, computer and monitor while the second runs the stepper motor drivers only! Yeah, the motors driving the 4 axis really do take that much power!

So, when I finally have everything read to go and in place I will take a few more pictures and post them so I can have a "before" and "after" type page when I finish.
 

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Thanks! Many hours wrapped up in the seemingly small little machine.

The UPS are CyberPower 1500PFC-LCD. UPS are funny creatures and the stuff that plugs into them sometimes will not like conversion to battery power. I found that if you do not have a true sinewave output the stepper motors or their controllers can lose steps during conversion to battery power. You can have all the battery power in the world but if you just lost steps during the changeover you just lost what you were doing anyways!
 
Very cool UPS's. I sell UPS's made by Middle Atlantic Products for the Audio Visual market. Same thing applies, must have true sine wave or it does bad things.
 
While working on my jig I eliminated the wood blocks and will now use 3" long aluminium angle (1" x 16 gauge) drilled so that it can be screwed down to the MDF table top. See the attached photos.

I have a laser level and a blue chalk line to start laying out PG 3 from the plans and add the brackets once I have some tubing to use as a guide.
 

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CAD Drawings of how I will build the jig. Notice the CAD still has the 1" x 1" x 3" blocks which are now the 1" x 16 gauge angle stock.
 

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Progress this week includes my first cut using metal (6061-T6) on my CNC machine (Yea!). Up till now I have been using a home brew formula for machinable wax so this is a huge step for me.

I am also putting my new Ol' Joint Jigger to work with my concept of a "jig" using angle stock cut to size and drilled. What I am doing is building a square box that will loosely simulate the fuselage sides and give me a chance to practice welding these type of joints AND get advice from my EAA tech advisor. Don't worry, I'm not expecting this to go well ;-) it is my first time doing this sort of thing.

I included my CAD work for reference;
 

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Progress on my Jig is going slowly. Using my laser and some thread and tacks I was able to get some work done this weekend. So far it looks pretty accurate.
 

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I can't believe it took me this long to do the stupid jib, but here it is!

It is by no means perfect but it should be "good enough" which is all I care about now. I am long over trying to be perfect. It is my nature to get out the micrometer and spend forever over 0.00065" like I do on my CNC. I have come to the conclusion that is exactly how planes NEVER get built.

SO! Good enough! I now start raising money for the tubing.
 

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BTW, This past Thursday (June 26, 2014) my son Eric solo'd! Yea!

He is 16, he will turn 17 August 3, 2014. He is trying to get his check ride scheduled that Sunday.

Oh, he doesn't have a driver's license yet...

jb
 

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Well, its official! I tacked the longerons yesterday so that makes me a "builder" instead of just being a "dreamer."

This forum limits the image sizes so I will only post specific images here but my Google+ publicly shared photo archive will hold the rest.

You can find my build at: https://plus.google.com/115441894246685371099/posts/AEPbBbkuRwv

jb
 
Yeah, my tacks on the longerons didn't go as well as I had hoped. The inner tube didn't want to heat up and the 3/4" tube just burned away with the first contact of the heat. I guess this is another reason why everyone says to not spend a whole lot of time coping the tubes. If you use a tube notcher the razor thin parts just burn up the moment the torch touches it. It is really better to use aviation snips and get the coping flat and "close enough."
 

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Here's one for you!

I am well into cutting, coping and tacking my fuselage sides and I have begun to notice the wood tables/jig has grown and contracted with the moisture and humidity!

If my plane was imperfect before, its sloppy now!

I have had to cut tacks and re-tack. I have made rather large gaps where there shouldn't be and the process is going pretty badly.

I have learned that tube notchers are worthless on tubing for fuselages. Maybe it will work on exhaust systems. The best tool is a great pair of forged aviation snips. My right hand hurts though.

Anyways, I am almost finished with the first side!!

I have been cutting the tubes twice so the second side should go much faster.

As always, you can see more pictures on my Google+ gallery here: https://plus.google.com/photos/115441894246685371099/albums/6029191704888779233
 

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I figure I am about 12 hours into this, but not more than 16 hours. I have the two sides out of the Jig. I have tacked in the center cross members and today, bent the forward taper inwards for the firewall.

I am considering just working on the front and getting it all cut, coped and tacked before bending the tail and finishing up there. I figure the tail will be harder since you have a longer throw to keep straight in comparison to the cockpit towards the firewall.
 

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This is a major milestone! I have completed the tacking for the fuselage up to the tailpost. According to the construction manual this is where I do the actual welding.

I am going to take a few weeks and practice welding some scrap tube. Get back comfortable with the process. Some time after October 17 I will start digging in and welding from firewall back.

Pictures will follow...

--jb
 
Well, 3 years have past since the last update. My mom died in December of 2014. Just when I started to get the desire back up to build again my dad died next. My mom died of a heart attack so she didn't linger. My dad took the most painful and slow route.

I went and looked at my fuselage I had been working on the other day. I had welded just past the pilots seat and had stopped. The welds looked progressively better from the firewall back but they were terrible ugly over all. I am sure the plane would have flown but about 20 pounds of it would have been filler rod.

Anyways, I loved gas welding back then but this time around I want to try TIG. Tomorrow after I do a few laps around the pattern in a rental I am going to cut the old fuselage up into scrap use it to learn how to TIG weld.

One difference this time around is I will be using my 3D printer to make the jig. I am also going to try and get the tolerances a bit closer. I had a bunch of large gaps last time and I want to avoid that this time around.
 
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