Legal Eagle XL in Pennsylvania

[CHARLES DEBOER]

You are correct on the SQ for the tubing. Square Tubing.

[Poorman2]

Make sure the 4130 is not made in China. USA or German made!

[DA Miller]

C, you might considering going through the prints and identifying where each tubing is used and verifying the dimension of each.  This will really help you get knowledgeable on your XL project.

[Pilotarix]

@Poorman2

This company has "American-made" all over the place. I bet they would get a bad rash when they touch steel from China. But seriously, is there a way to find out for sure where the stuff is coming from? The 4130 tubings that I got from MacMaster for some welding training were labeled with 4130 and some other numbers but not the country of origin.

@Da
I will definitely do that. After talking to you and trying to make a plan for the tubing layout, I realized that I have to go through the plans a couple of times to make sure I really understand what is on there. 

Yesterday afternoon I got the aluminum tubing, actually not all of them. Other than promised, they did not have all of them. Supposedly it will not take them long to get the rest. We will see.

The saga continues by making two simple but sturdy sawhorses for the table.

[Pilotarix]

Hi all,

I got an email from UPS and it appears that Aircraft Spruce shipped the cap strips. Not sure what happens and why this happens so fast now. I just take it.
For some time now I think about how to cut the plywood gussets efficiently and consistent and accurate. From what I have seen many seem to use a paper cutter, some sissors and others had access to a laser cutter.  Making the gussets seem to be a tedious repetitive task. A laser cutter apears to be a good solution, but setup and preparing the files can be time consuming as well.
For now the paper cutter is my favored solution. I assume that there is some kind of way to do it efficient, with minimal waste?
Any thoughts?

Thank you,
Christoph

[DA Miller]

C, do a search on "gussets" and you will find many good ideas on organization and process/

[Pilotarix]

C, do a search on "gussets" and you will find many good ideas on organization and process/

I did; maybe I have not seen the good stuff yet. I will search some more.

I made a drawing from the vertical stabilizer and rudder. That helps me to get familiar with the plans and will serve as a template when I make and layout the pieces on the bench. The gussets are not final.

[DA Miller]

I was thinking of rib gussets.  Some builders with bigger engines(45 hp) made the leading edge of the vert stab of 4130 and rid stitched the vert stab. Most used paper patterns when making the Al gussets.  Most wrapped the gusset around the tube rather than a gusset on top and one below. Three rivets per rib seems to be popular. Make the "U" shaped ribs edges that receive the rivets bigger than 1/4 inch.  Cope the ends of the ribs to match the round tube.  This doesn't have to be perfect. Don't forget,  do the short bottom bend of the stab leading edge first.  Don't worry if the bend is not exactly even with the bottom rib.  There's probably another 50 hints but I can't think of them now. Keep at it!

[DA Miller]

Look at Chuck in Indiana's build log p13.

[jrbirdman47]

I made the gussets of cardboard first, to prove they were right, then duplicated in aluminum. I also found that if I bent the gussets around the next smaller sized tube that it would "spring back' to fit the correct size tube perfectly. Lots of little hints like that buried in the archives.

[Pilotarix]

I was thinking of rib gussets.  Some builders with bigger engines(45 hp) made the leading edge of the vert stab of 4130 and rid stitched the vert stab. ...
Don't forget,  do the short bottom bend of the stab leading edge first. ...

@DA
I may go with a 2 stroke engine. Hirth 23, which comes with 50 hp, but not sure yet. What is the reason for using 4130 on the leading edge of the ver stab with bigger engines?
I am not going to forget any of that. I made a note in the plans.

@jrbirdman47

Carboard is my plan as well. The plans I drew are really only for laying out the tubing and to get a rough idea about the length of the ribs and the gussets.

I picked up the I-joists from the lumber yard today. When the guy came with the forklift, I thought they would never fit in the Sprinter, but they did. Another time I could avoid the delivery cost. 





The aluminum sheet from Online Metals arrived. UPS just threw it on the front porch in the half-hour nobody was home. Seeing the package, I knew that there would be and issues. With lots of dents and ripped open, the content was bent. If I had been home at the time of delivery, I would have refused the delivery. Not sure what to do with that. I hope the cap strips will be in better shape.





I started making two very basic sawhorses, but some house inhabitants felt annoyed by the noise:. This Dewalt Miter saw is really loud, so I had to postpone the work until tomorrow.



The plan is to build the entire plane in the basement, stable temperatures year-round, and all my tools nearby. Here is where the table will go. I need to make a little more room and rearrange my scrap wood.

[Tom XL-7]

when you receive damaged goods contact the seller. do not throw the box away and be ready to photograph everything.

[DA Miller]

C, I'm not sure about the 4130 on the leading edge of the vert stab. Perhaps it's because of more airflow or more turbulant air flow. Maybe someone with a 50 HP engine and 4130 leading edge will chime in and enlighten us.

[Pilotarix]

@Tom XL7
I called Online metals, they asked me to send pictures which I did, and only an hour later, they send me an email saying that they will send me new Aluminium sheets at no cost. Not too bad. I hope they will pack them better, and UPS will be a little bit more careful.

@Da
It would be really interesting to know. I hope that somebody who did that could chime in here.

To the rivets. I will probably use Cherry max aluminum rivets of the appropriate size. They are pretty strong and safely retaining their shank. This will eliminate the whole ordeal with painting rivets and the like. Also, if I am not mistaken, it is not recommended to mix stainless with Aluminum not only because of the potential for galvanic corrosion. Anyhow, on the other hand, this is not going to be a Space Shuttle...

My shop apprentice helped me today to finish the sawhorses. Probably the fastest and easiest to build sawhorses. The whole thing is already pretty level, and I hope that I can get the plywood tomorrow.

In the evening, the package arrived from Aircraft Spruce. About 100 1/4 X 1/4" cap strips. After opening, I realized that the cap strips were not exactly 1/4 x 1/4 or .25 X .25. They were more .22 (.23) X .25. That is clearly not what is on the order... is that normal?

[jrbirdman47]

My cap strips were the same, nothing exact, and as you say, it's not the shuttle. Almost all had one side that was pretty darn close to .25"
However.......Be careful to place the strips in the jig oriented so that the 1/4" dimension is toward the "most correct" side. (Think about it, you'll see what I mean)
I also found that because of this slight dimensional deviance I had to apply layers of masking tape to press the  1/4"parts firmly into the inward jig blocks in the rear spar area so that the correct dimension would result. (the outside doesn't matter, but the inside is where you'll be glueing it to the rear spar, so it needs to be correct. Just remember those slight dimensional differences as you go along and you can "fix" any potential issues. And.....it's not the space shuttle