New Website

The Sonex progress is on a new website.  http://sonex1612.strikingly.com/

Horizontal Stabilizer & Elevator

I'm trying to figure out what I got myself into.

Tail

I've made some progress.  I finally got the horizontal stabilizer and elevators (the tail) mated together.  It's taking a long time mostly due to me stressing over trying to get everything perfect.  

Even when I try to get everything perfect I still make mistakes. I screwed up drilling into the ribs that hold the white fiberglass tips on.  I tried to make some new ribs from scratch I got close but in the end I ordered a new set from Sonex.

While I was waiting on the new ribs to arrive, I decided to get the elevators drilled and put together.  For the most part these went together with no issues. 

 I still had a little bit of time and I've been wanting to add second shelf to my table.  Now I have room for my tools and parts.

 The only hang up was getting the elevator horn aligned just right (the black thing in the middle of the picture).  It needs to be off center to the left just a little bit to allow room for the control rod however I'm about 1/16 of and inch.  I asked my buddy Bob Mika (Sonex builder) to come over and take a look. He rolled his eyes and said drill it your fine. 

I got the new ribs and followed some directions how to drill the tips posted on spoonworld.com from a fellow builder.  I got all the parts aligned and up drilled to 1/8".  Now the fun begins I get to take it all apart and debur all the holes and polish the elevators.  Then I can put it all back together and start riveting.

Shine

I up-drilled all the holes from 3/32" to 1/8" then deburred every hole...  Before and after pictures above.

Now it's time to rub some shine on the aluminum skins. I'll have to apply three grades of polish before I'm done.  This is how shiny it gets after the first pass. 

Rob

My friend Rob was up from Austin and helped me finish the horizontal stabilizer frame.  Rob is one of the best guys you'll ever met.  Thanks for your help buddy.

It's taking a long time just to get the frame done because I'm so stressed about getting everything level and square. 

Midwest 2013 Sonex Fly In

The Midwest Sonex Fly In was held in Topeka on May 25th.  A Fly In is just an excuse for pilots to go fly somewhere and talk about planes.  My buddy Rob and me flew there in the Piper Cherokee with Scott who was the pilot in command.  The flight there and back was awesome however the inflight service was a little lacking no drinks or peanuts. 

The first picture is me giving a presentation about my build.  I was able to fit some parts in the Cherokee and fly them out there so technically my plane has been in the air:)  The following pictures are of Gus and Mark's planes. If I can get my plane to looks half as good as theirs I'll be a happy pilot. I picked up a lot of little tips from fellow builders which was awesome.

1st Big Cut

 I made some progress on the control horn and elevator.  The flush rivet holes are countersunk on the control horn (that was a pain).  I tackled cutting the elevators The cuts are tricky and I was about as  nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.  It's hard to see but there's a slight angle along the edge of the cut (offset by 29/64" to be exact).  I lost count how many times I re-checked the measurements before the first cut. I'm glad it's over, it was a nice confidence booster.

I wish more got done but I was in Austin on a business trip.  Well almost all business, I did mange to have a little bit of fun down in Texas.

While I was in Austin I got checked out in a Piper Archer at Pilots Choice Aviation in Georgetown, TX (KGTU).  If you like to fly, Pilots Choice Aviation an awesome place to hang out. The B-25 named Devil Dog lives there. I got to see her take off she was headed for an airshow in Dallas.

I got checked out in the Archer because I have friends and family in the area and would like to take them flying.  I travel to Austin about once a month for business, might as well have some fun when your on the road.

EAA 868 Meeting 5/6/2013

I took a break from working on my plane and attended the monthly Experimental Aircraft Association chapter 868 meeting.  It was held at David's hanger (black t-shirt in the 2nd picture) who's building a Vans RV-7/A.  If you have the money, the RV 7 is a awesome plane. I can build 3 Sonexs for what he's spending on this plane.

These meetings are a great place to pick up some building tips and do some hanger flying (standing in a hanger talking all things flying).  I brought a couple of parts and building plans with me to get some advice from a couple of Sonex builders at the meeting.  The learning curve is straight up when building a plane so I jump at any chance to talk with other builders.

The Little Things

With all the activity we had this weekend and the little things that pop up with building a plane I didn't as much done as I would have liked.

My goal was to get the elevator control horn put together.  The control horn is a critical piece because it connects to the control stick and elevator.  This makes the plane go up and down which is a handy feature to have when your flying.

The black piece of steel in the picture requires up-drilling from 3/32 to 1/8" (or for those following along that's from a #40 to a #30 bit).  Well it's hard to do if you don't have the right drill bits or don't know what you are doing.  I ruined one of my good #30 bits by drilling too fast and got the bit super hot which dulls the blades.  So I got one of my cheapo bits and slowed down but it wasn't cutting and I put too much pressure on it and the bit broke which caused me to nick in the steel plate. Man... that was not cool!!! I then went to Home Depot and bought a couple of nice cobalt bits made for steel. Oh geez what a difference the right tools make.

The control horn requires 4 flush rivets along with the other 30 standard rivets that attach the two ribs. The rivet on the left is a standard blind rivet and the other is a flush rivet.  A flush rivet sits flat with the surface.  This requires the material to be countersunk to make room for the "cone" on the bottom of the rivet.  Sounds great but how do I countersink a piece of steel? I called my friend Scott which told me how to do it and he has a micorset tool that he is going to let me borrow.  I'm going to pick it up tomorrow at our monthly EAA (Experimental Aircraft Assoication) chapter 868 meeting which will be at David Hahn's hanger he's building a Van's RV-7.  Good place to get some advice.

To make some progress I polished some pieces that will be visible on the plane.  Pictured is the initial polishing I still need two additional steps before they are complete.  It's similar to sanding wood you start with rough sandpaper and move your way down to finer and finer grit sandpaper.  In this case, the polish I started with is gritty Nuvite F9 polish its rough but still puts on a nice shine. Next steps require the C and S grade polish.  I got the F9 from Bob which he had left over from his plane he only uses the S grade polish now.  I need to replace the F9 with some S grade polish which I'll pick up at Oshkosh. However I had to go pick up some material before I could start.  I needed a small palm polisher, wool pads, microfiber cloths and mineral sprites. Going to pick up all this stuff took a few hours on Saturday.

I replaced the table top today which I was planning on doing because the table wasn't completely flat.  Assembling the large parts requires a flat work bench (talk about an adventure try flying a crooked airplane).  The table had a high spot in the frame which caused a 1/8" dip in the old table top and was little wavy.  I took the old OSB top off and fixed the high spot in the frame however I still couldn't get the top to sit flat. Frustrated and tired of all the splinters in my hands I decided to go get some 3/4" particle board. Wow what a difference. There's one little spot that's about 1/16" off other than that the table is perfectly flat and level.

All the little things add up. The wrong drill bit, the tool to countersink steel, having the polish and no supplies to polish with and a 1/8" dip in the table.  Hopefully I'll get all this little stuff taking care of and get to building a plane....

Busy Weekend

It was a busy fun weekend.

We had a going away happy hour event at Howl At The Moon piano bar in Power in Light on Friday for our friend Jo.  Unfortunately she is leaving the Human Society of Greater KC. She has done a great job with the animals and keeping the place running, she will be missed. 

Then on Saturday we went to our friend Cynthia's annual Cinco de Mayo party (always a good time).

Bright and early on Sunday we ran the Outpacing Melanoma 5k. Our neighbor's husband passed away a few years ago from skin cancer at the age of 44.  He went to the doctor in January because he was having trouble breathing and by the end of February he was gone. So to celebrate his life and help educate people about skin cancer his wife and kids started the 5k race.  Angela and I both ran it in 35 minutes.  Life is short get out and enjoy it while you can!!!

I was able to get a little work in on the plane. Not as much as I would have like.