A little progress XL H-58

[Chuck in Indiana]

(donning machinist's cap) Yeah, that's a roughing end mill, called a "corn cob" or "hog" mill. They used to be eye wateringly expensive, but competition from that little town in California.. Chino, I think it is.. has made them affordable for ordinary mortals.
Can you put one in a drill press? Sure. Will it work? Maybe.. You will have to have a *very* rigid setup, and a method of feeding a small amount at a time.
IMHO, it's easier to use a grinding wheel, etc. for the average guy.
I wouldn't attempt what you are talking about without a milling machine.. Just MHO.

[Kevin N.]

I use those fine pitch roughing mills for mostly perpendicular cuts in tubing using my lathe with a Vee block in my milling vise. They got cheap enough that I didn't use oil so I wouldn't have a mess to clean up. One will last about two fuselages without oil. If you are building one L.E. fuselage then aviation snips, a grinder and a selection round files is a better idea.

[Chuck in Indiana]

Station one, welded (sort of)  drilled and reamed 5/16" dia.

Here's a tip for drilling in sheet metal. You know how you end up with a triangular hole, then the drill grabs and sends your workpiece flying, or worse beats the crap out of you?  
This is how you grind a drill bit for doing sheet metal. I have a box full of these, so picked a bigger one so you could plainly see.

You can grind one like this on your bench grinder. The object is to leave the point so it self centers in a punch mark, then the first place that touches is the outer edge of the flutes. It will drill a round hole, and punch a slug out in front of it. No grabbing. No cursing. No bleeding. 

[Chuck in Indiana]

This is about as good as I'm going to get it. No.. it's not perfect.  It's a weldment..

Now, all I have to do is join the front to the back..

[jrbirdman47]

You know how many disasters started out by saying "Now all I have to do is....."

Looking good! Lots of good ideas to stew on. I'm still teaching myself to gas weld (Again, haven't done so since school 40 years ago!) but hope to be at this stage soon!

[Chuck in Indiana]

You know how many disasters started out by saying "Now all I have to do is....."

Looking good! Lots of good ideas to stew on. I'm still teaching myself to gas weld (Again, haven't done so since school 40 years ago!) but hope to be at this stage soon!

Yeah, I left out the last word.. "Somehow."
There's a reason for the old saying, "It's hard to teach an old dawg new tricks.." 

[914pete]

Station one, welded (sort of)  drilled and reamed 5/16" dia.

Here's a tip for drilling in sheet metal. You know how you end up with a triangular hole, then the drill grabs and sends your workpiece flying, or worse beats the crap out of you?  
This is how you grind a drill bit for doing sheet metal. I have a box full of these, so picked a bigger one so you could plainly see.

You can grind one like this on your bench grinder. The object is to leave the point so it self centers in a punch mark, then the first place that touches is the outer edge of the flutes. It will drill a round hole, and punch a slug out in front of it. No grabbing. No cursing. No bleeding. 

I've assumed for years it was my drill press (and lost plenty of skin) LOL. I'm going to try this. Thanks!

[Chuck in Indiana]

The fuselage, much like the "birdcage" on a Cub, has several tubes that meet in the middle of nowhere.  Scratched my head a bit, and built this scaffolding to hold the front cockpit tube in the correct location, and fit up the vertical tubes to it.



Once the next two tubes are fit and tacked, the front part of the fuse will be pretty stable, and I can start fitting the tubes to nowhere at the back of the cockpit. Plumb bob keeps from "losing the rabbit" during this operation.

[Chuck in Indiana]

I've assumed for years it was my drill press (and lost plenty of skin) LOL. I'm going to try this. Thanks!

Ok, dress a radius on the edge of your grinding wheel. That goes next to the point. Then, it's a matter of clearing the flute except for the edge while keeping positive clearance so the back doesn't rub. It's a rotation and moving the shank downward at the same time. Hard to explain, easy to show..
Naturally, try to keep the point on center.
Good luck!

[Chuck in Indiana]

Rube Goldberg has nothing on me.. 



Here's the point in the middle of nowhere where all the tubes join aft of the cockpit. (Well, as close as I'm going to get with square, level, and plumb bob, scratching my head, etc.)



I'll let the T88 set up overnight, and get a well deserved beer.

[Dan_]

It does what it has to do or it gets the hose again...

[Chuck in Indiana]

Wing attach tube located.

Just a little cutting, fitting, and tacking and I can start tearing down this scaffolding. 
It's too nice here today to hang out in the shop. I'm going to play motorcycle and airplane..

[Chuck in Indiana]

Yeah, I've been slackin' again. I've been enjoying our "Spring of deception" while it lasts.  I have managed to fit up some more tubes. Pipe straps keep them located.


I lost a day trying to figure out what was going on with my new found TIG skilz. The more I practiced, the worse I was getting. Frustrating, to say the least. Went back to square one, and found the tungstens that I had just been sharpening were contaminated and causing the puddle to look wonky. (technical term.) I'll practice some more today before tacking these tubes..

[Kevin N.]

Many years ago I bought the cheapie Harbor Freight 1x30 belt sander for exclusively sanding tungsten. Nothing touches the 1x30 belt but tungsten. I have other real belt sanders for fabrication work.  For a cheap tool it has done what I want. Belts are cheaper too. Fuselage is looking good. Going to be on the gear before you know it.

[Chuck in Indiana]

I bought a cheapy Wen belt sander for sanding some of the woodwork, and I'm using it for my "walk of shame"  tungsten sharpening station. I've walked there a lot..

Fuselage is looking good. Going to be on the gear before you know it.

Thanks!  I really thought it would be on the gear by now, but I lost 12 weeks with the hand rebuild.