Brodhead Pietenpol Association

Original Posted By: Greg Cardinal
My two bits.I nailed all my ribs. Ribs were 1/2 x 1/4. I'd use the same dementionsagain I were to do another. Ribs weighted about 8-9 oz each finished ifI remember right. With a finished weight just over 600lbs while usingDoug Fir throughout, It isn't worth the trouble trying to squeeze out apound of wood from the ribs IMHO. Many other places are bettercanidates for weight reduction. (Spars for example: I saved 4 lbs perspar ((16LBS!!!)) for the wing by routing.) I used aircraft nails,which by the way are brass plated, cement coated, steel nails. Theydon't rust and *don't* work out. Just try pulling one and you will seewhat I mean. They are very small however (20gauge) and I can't holdthem. I devised my system thusly. I went to Sears and bought the bestpair of small needle nose pliers I could find ( ones with the grip teeththat lined up, and a spring return) and then used them to hold the nailswhile I drove them with a 5oz tack hammer. Cheap and worked great. Theonly faster way would be if you had a very light duty staple/ or nailgun. I looked (briefly) and couldn't find one that would handle suchlight work. Besides I was on a budget. After driving nearly 200 nailsper rib, pulling them didn't seem realistic especially when you thinkthat 1 pound of 20gauge 3/8" nails is over 9000 nails! I'll take theextra peace of mind of having 12 - 16 nails per cluster thank you.Another advantage nailing has over staples is splitting. I triedstapling on one rib and found the my gun excerted too much force and thestaples would split my wood. With a hammer you can varry the power witheach blow.If anyone finds a very light duty, variable pressure staple/nail/bradgun let me know. It would speed things up if you can afford to swallowthe investment cost.Stevee________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: Steve Eldredge
Steve,How do you feel about your choice of wood? It seems like you came in aboutwhere Spruce ships do. And I'm guessing the cost was 1/10 or less. Did youhave to look through huge stacks of wood to find the good stuff? And wasthere a certain dimension of stock that you usually chose?ThanksBrent ReedWith a finished weight just over 600lbs while using>Doug Fir throughout________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: Steve Eldredge
Brent Reed wrote:> Steve,>> How do you feel about your choice of wood?Just fine. I will not hesitate to use fir again on any a/c. Unless theprice of sitka spruce comes down.> It seems like you came in about> where Spruce ships do. And I'm guessing the cost was 1/10 or less.Yep. I think the most I paid was $5.25 per board foot and as low asabout $4.60.> Did you> have to look through huge stacks of wood to find the good stuff? And> was> there a certain dimension of stock that you usually chose?>I did have to go to a mill rather than a regular lumber yard. These aretypically the cabinet and specialty supply sources. Once I found thesources of rough sawn lumber their wood was easy to sort through and Ifound several satisfactory pieces. I looked for eight quarter (milllingo for ~2" rough lumber. they measure thicknesses in number ofquarter inches) by 6" by 14' boards so that I could get a spar out ofit first with several usable dimensions left over. To build myaircamper I used a total of 8 or so 2 by 6's varying in length from12-14' totalling 108 board feet of rough sawn lumber. 14' lengths arebest if you can find them. I had to scarf my four fusalage longeronsbecause my stock was too short, but I'm pretty proud of my joints.Stevee________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By:> Steve Eldredge
Steve,The stapler that came with the Team vertical stabilizer kit is a BostitchT10 and use 1/4" staples. Nothing fancy, plain jane, works great. Get oneand test it on some gussets and capstrip. I goes fast. One staple isapproximately equivalent to two nails and they are the perfect length andno hassle to hold. Cheap.I really enjoyed following your accounts of your first flight. Youraccomplishment inspires the rest of us wannabes. I've been following thediscussion group for the last couple of months and have been collecting thecomments and information into a text file that will end up lookingsomething like a construction manual. I don't know if anyone has done thatyet. It would be nice to know so as not to reinvent the wheel.On Thanksgiving day I went out and bought a Hitachi 10" compound miter saw(C10FC) as a result as a result of some of the discussions regarding toolsand really like it. I finished up cutting all of the rib braces today andwill start glueing up this week.I don't understand all of the fuss over boiling the capstrip for the ribs. I am certainly no expert but I found that my capstrips became piable enoughafter putting the ends into a deep bucket of very hot tap water for about1/2 hour. Am I doing something wrong? So far I haven't seen a need to boilthem.Randy Green from Greenville, SC

Original Posted By: Ian Holland
> > Brent Reed wrote:> > > Steve,> >> > How do you feel about your choice of wood?> > Just fine. I will not hesitate to use fir again on any a/c. Unless the> price of sitka spruce comes down.> > > It seems like you came in about> > where Spruce ships do. And I'm guessing the cost was 1/10 or less.> > Yep. I think the most I paid was $5.25 per board foot and as low as> about $4.60.> > > Did you> > have to look through huge stacks of wood to find the good stuff? And> > was> > there a certain dimension of stock that you usually chose?> >> > I did have to go to a mill rather than a regular lumber yard. These are> typically the cabinet and specialty supply sources. Once I found the> sources of rough sawn lumber their wood was easy to sort through and I> found several satisfactory pieces. I looked for eight quarter (mill> lingo for ~2" rough lumber. they measure thicknesses in number of> quarter inches) by 6" by 14' boards so that I could get a spar out of> it first with several usable dimensions left over. To build my> aircamper I used a total of 8 or so 2 by 6's varying in length from> 12-14' totalling 108 board feet of rough sawn lumber. 14' lengths are> best if you can find them. I had to scarf my four fusalage longerons> because my stock was too short, but I'm pretty proud of my joints.> > Stevee________________________________________________________________________________