Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Thomas Richardson on March 26, 2009 at 10:15am

Need Help!!!!!! was trimming the top rear of my windscreen yesterday using a cut-off wheel(same one I used to trim the sides), got to the middle and the windscreen split. Needless to say after the first wave of Nausea followed by anger and then self loathing I continued on for practice. I believe my error was not in clamping the loose trailing piece that had already been cut causing stress at the middle point when it was reached. Does anyone out there have advice for cutting the plexiglass that is safer (for the Glass). I think that as i cut/melt I will add small clamps about every 10 inches or so to relieve that stress. Any tool that is better than the cutoff wheel that anyone has found so I can avoid another $300.00 error? thanks.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jonathan Porter on March 26, 2009 at 2:12pm

Dont worry we did that too - it made me use somw naughty words....and one of the girls we are training to build is still upset months later... We found it better to use a small hand grinder with a grinding wheel (for steel) rather than a cut off and melt back sequentially, with lots of support (a three person job) and although it takes a little longer it saves money in the swear box!

Also be careful when fitting the shield, do not over tighten the screws or the screen will crack then too... Take your time, and order a new screen, you will get a good result in the end!

We say Sh** hapens, it is how you turn it into manure that counts!!! Why not trim up nicely and give a half screen to each of two schools engineering departments to get them interested in aviation - that would be a pretty good good manure option!!!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Debra and Patrick Nesbitt on March 26, 2009 at 7:18pm

Hi Thomas, something more or less happen to me too. When I was test fiting window to mark out where to cut a small piece about 1/2 by 4 inch's long broke off, lucky for me where it broke was going to be trimed off and hidden by window trim. Anyway I was really careful and trimed off what needed to be trimed. Perfect no propblems. As I am drilling 1/8 holes up near where the window wraps the wing attachment the window was formed out a bit and when I drilled here it cracked. I was nausea and sick at the same time. The window is $300.00 but the shipping if I remember right was about the same. Lucky for me the crack is a small one which I am going to drill a small 1/16 hole at the end to try and stop going further. Anyway thats my story and I am sticking to it.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Chumphol Sirinavin on March 27, 2009 at 12:15am

I have a cracked up bubble windshield that the previous owner wanted to part with. There are two cracks with stop drill holes on both ends, plus a more serious crack that take a big piece, about1 1/2" X 6"on the lower edge of the pilot side, off the remainder. I plan to use epoxy to tack the break-off in place and fill all the line cracks with automobile windshield repair kit(s). The auto windshield repair material should make the repair less conspicuous.

Sorry, I have not got around to do it. So, no picture of the result at the moment. For a $300-600 saving, I intend to put good effort on this repair job.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Robert McNaught on March 30, 2009 at 9:25pm

Try using a cast castcutter wheel or a rotary file.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Perry Delano on June 8, 2009 at 8:07am

I helped a friend cut his RV-7 winshield in two as prescribed by Vans (apparently one of the most nerve racking jobs in building an RV as there are many stories of failure and the winshield is expensive). We taped both sides of the mark for the cut well and then proceeded with the cut by making many light passes deeping the cut ever so slightly each time with a zip cut on a die grinder. in the end the two pieces fell apart into the two required pieces, no cracks.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Bennett Scheuer on May 23, 2009 at 10:38am

Anyone planning on using a Dynon Pitot tube, and looking for a mounting should go to : www.Safeair1.com.
But only if you want to save a lot of $$

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by david shrader on June 17, 2009 at 1:49am

i cant say how much i love using the router for lots of duplicate pieces like ribs after hand cuting all the ribs in the tail i tryed the router with a streight bit,....Nirvana.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Craig Smith on October 7, 2010 at 9:53pm

Get the best tools you can afford, and don't scrimp on your drill.
Your drill will get more hours of use than any other tool on your bench. Get a good one. The $30 HF or off the back of a guys truck will slow you down at best, and shut you down at worst. Aircraft quality drills pay off in more ways than just reliability. they use less air, are quieter, produce less vibration and therefore less fatigue.
I started out building with a cheap pneumatic I used in machine tool fabrication. It seemed to be making holes just fine.
I later needed to get some angle drills, found used professional grade tools on eBay at a decent price. The difference in used AC quality tools and my shop floor drilll prompted me to buy an new 3K rpm drill from ACS in Florida. The ACS drill makes an amazing difference. Hard to put into words, until you spend a whole day drilling with one. The knurled chuck needs no key.
You can accumulate a decent set of the 1/4 20 base AC drills (for the angle drills) from eBay too. I found about 40% serviceable bits from several different sellers, after I did some sorting and cleaning.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Lee Loker on February 3, 2011 at 9:42am

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Lee Loker on February 3, 2011 at 9:49am

Is anyone out there interested in full sets of flanging dies? A machinist freind of mine is making me a set and said he could make more if there is an intrest....they are machined from 6061 billet stock and bolt together so you dont have to beat your flange in. I have modified the dimensions to inches so hole saws can be used if wanted

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by keith bennett on February 8, 2011 at 6:39pm

Hi Lee,

 

I am about to start scratch building a 650.

How much will they cost, rough idea on weight so I calculate postage to Australia.... How many and what sizes are in the set..

 

Regards Keith

• ▶ Reply

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• Next ›
• Page