Original Posted By: "Brants"
Subject: Pietenpol-List: Test PilotTo all ya'll Pieters,Boy did My test pilot give me the works today. He came out with his flashlight and mag glass. He has as much ahead of me to correct as I have completed during the last two years. It's ok as I need as much close inspection as I can get. He did ask me if I had consulted the list about my 2 degree dihedral. All ya'll give me your feelings about that. I can cut it down to 1 1/2 if need be. I really like the cock of angle at 2.Corky in La trying to decide what to use for the final coat to give me a gloss________________________________________________________________________________Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 22:47:13 -0500
Pietenpol-List: Test Pilot
RE: Pietenpol-List: jigging of fuse sides
Original Posted By: "Bert Conoly"
Hi Tom,I was where you were at about 6 weeks ago. Joining the fuse sides was amajor accomplishment! Maybe some of my thoughts will be of help.First order of business is to strike a chalk line on the center of yourtable to align everything to. Then, I made some 3/4" MDF squares at requireddimensions that I secured to the table, and then clamped the sides to them.This guaranteed a square fit.As for tail post, I pulled the tail post together after it was all jigged upon the table and marked the angled lines by looking down from the top. Iused a belt sander with 50 grit paper and made an easy go of it. Took about20 minutes and I had a perfectly mating tail post area.Some say to only glue the first few stations then pull the tail posttogether after the first few in the front have dried. I say no. I do it allin one shot. What I did was a dry fit with the MDF squares in stations 0, 1,2 & 3 and then clamped the tail post together with C-Clamps. I then cut thecross sticks at all the stations to the required size and angle. Think aboutit, as the tail narrows the fuse sides are NOT parallel to each other, theyare only parallel at one point and not for long. If you don't pull the tailpost together you won't get the cross stick ends at the front stations atthe right angle. Even if you don't want to do it all on one shot, at leastpull the tail posts together to find the proper size and angle for the crosssticks.Once all the sticks were cut I called my dad and girlfriend over to helpout. One thing about joining fuse sides is you can't have too many people.Extra eyes, hands and opinions are welcome! We took apart the dry fit fuseand commenced to gluing. We started at station 2 then went to 3 and then 1and 0. Last was the tail post. All sorts of clamps were used in theprocess, but the best clamp for this job was the Pony strap clamp. Wrap itaround the fuse at each station and torque it down. Because of the MDFsquares attached to the table the fuse has no choice but to be square.One thing you'll find is that when gluing the cross sticks to the fuse sideswhere the fuse sides are at an angle, i.e., aft of the rear seat, the stickswill want to pop out away from the angle. I solved this by placing 2"spring clamps on the longerons to keep the sticks from sliding.You'll want to check for square every few minutes. I must have checked atleast 30 times. But in the end my fuse is as square as square gets and whenI look back at it, it was not hard at all. It just requires a bit ofpatience and careful planning. The night before you do it, just sit for ahalf hour and think of exactly what steps you will do and it what order...what tools you will need, clamps, etc. Make it a days project and startfresh in the morning with a good clear mind. Within a few hours you'll haveyour fuse jigged, clamped and gluing. Success!I put my 3mm Okoume ply sides (see www.noahsmarine.com for great prices onOkoume marine ply) on after joining the fuse and it was not difficult atall. It makes no difference if you do it now or later, but my thought is todo it later because it makes pulling the tail post together a tad easier andgives access to put in control stick assembly. In the end I ended upputting the sides on before I put my controls in and I'm not finding it hardto do, but I'm tall (6'4) and I have long arms.Hope these tips help... You can see a ton of pics on my site atwww.imagedv.com/aircamper just go to the log and select the day I joinedthe fuse.ohhh one other thing... leave the fuse clamped for at least 24 hours... 36is better. End grain joints are prone to popping loose so let the gluefully cure.DJ VeghMesa, AZGN-1 Builderwww.raptoronline.comN74DV________________________________________________________________________________
Hi Tom,I was where you were at about 6 weeks ago. Joining the fuse sides was amajor accomplishment! Maybe some of my thoughts will be of help.First order of business is to strike a chalk line on the center of yourtable to align everything to. Then, I made some 3/4" MDF squares at requireddimensions that I secured to the table, and then clamped the sides to them.This guaranteed a square fit.As for tail post, I pulled the tail post together after it was all jigged upon the table and marked the angled lines by looking down from the top. Iused a belt sander with 50 grit paper and made an easy go of it. Took about20 minutes and I had a perfectly mating tail post area.Some say to only glue the first few stations then pull the tail posttogether after the first few in the front have dried. I say no. I do it allin one shot. What I did was a dry fit with the MDF squares in stations 0, 1,2 & 3 and then clamped the tail post together with C-Clamps. I then cut thecross sticks at all the stations to the required size and angle. Think aboutit, as the tail narrows the fuse sides are NOT parallel to each other, theyare only parallel at one point and not for long. If you don't pull the tailpost together you won't get the cross stick ends at the front stations atthe right angle. Even if you don't want to do it all on one shot, at leastpull the tail posts together to find the proper size and angle for the crosssticks.Once all the sticks were cut I called my dad and girlfriend over to helpout. One thing about joining fuse sides is you can't have too many people.Extra eyes, hands and opinions are welcome! We took apart the dry fit fuseand commenced to gluing. We started at station 2 then went to 3 and then 1and 0. Last was the tail post. All sorts of clamps were used in theprocess, but the best clamp for this job was the Pony strap clamp. Wrap itaround the fuse at each station and torque it down. Because of the MDFsquares attached to the table the fuse has no choice but to be square.One thing you'll find is that when gluing the cross sticks to the fuse sideswhere the fuse sides are at an angle, i.e., aft of the rear seat, the stickswill want to pop out away from the angle. I solved this by placing 2"spring clamps on the longerons to keep the sticks from sliding.You'll want to check for square every few minutes. I must have checked atleast 30 times. But in the end my fuse is as square as square gets and whenI look back at it, it was not hard at all. It just requires a bit ofpatience and careful planning. The night before you do it, just sit for ahalf hour and think of exactly what steps you will do and it what order...what tools you will need, clamps, etc. Make it a days project and startfresh in the morning with a good clear mind. Within a few hours you'll haveyour fuse jigged, clamped and gluing. Success!I put my 3mm Okoume ply sides (see www.noahsmarine.com for great prices onOkoume marine ply) on after joining the fuse and it was not difficult atall. It makes no difference if you do it now or later, but my thought is todo it later because it makes pulling the tail post together a tad easier andgives access to put in control stick assembly. In the end I ended upputting the sides on before I put my controls in and I'm not finding it hardto do, but I'm tall (6'4) and I have long arms.Hope these tips help... You can see a ton of pics on my site atwww.imagedv.com/aircamper just go to the log and select the day I joinedthe fuse.ohhh one other thing... leave the fuse clamped for at least 24 hours... 36is better. End grain joints are prone to popping loose so let the gluefully cure.DJ VeghMesa, AZGN-1 Builderwww.raptoronline.comN74DV________________________________________________________________________________