Author: "Martin Gomez" <mlg28@...> Time: Wed Oct 6, 2004 7:26 pm PDT Link
Speaking of thin-skinned...control surfaces...
I just got back from a SportAir workshop entitled "Sheet Metal Basics," taught in
Columbus, OH. I wanted to report my impressions for my fellow newbies.
Short version: take the class, it's great!
I was not a rank beginner, because I started building a Bushby Midget Mustang from
scratch a few years ago, when I only had one child. When my second child was born, I
decided I'd have little use for a single-seat airplane, so I stopped, but not before making a
couple of parts and learning a little about forming.
What I wanted to get out of this class was deburring and riveting, because my attempts to
teach myself (on scrap aluminum, not my empennage!) were depressing. I got my money's
worth. I learned that I was missing two key tools: an inline regulator for my rivet gun (a
REGULATOR with pressure feedback, i.e. a spring, not just the ball valve that came with
my tool kit) and the Avery deburring tool. Those made a HUGE difference.
Interestingly, the skill that improved the most over the course of the weekend was my
ability to drill out bad rivets. My early attempts resulted in truly mangled holes, but by the
end I was able to replace them without enlarging the hole...too much.
It was also fun to spend a weekend surrounded by kindred spirits. Everyone's an airplane
geek, obviously, and there are enough older guys around to get some good war stories.
At the beginning we polled the whole class to find out who was building what. The ONLY
airplanes that were mentioned were RVs, except for the instructor, Mark Forss, who's
building a Hummelbird from plans.
I had a great building partner, an RV-8A builder, who was good at the things I was bad at,
so I learned from him, too. The class was taught at a community college that had an
aviation technician program. There weren't quite enough tools to go around, but we made
do. I suspect that the time spent waiting for a tool to become available was time well
spent...it forced me to think about what I was going to do next.
Our little rudder section project turned out pretty well. I had a smiley or two, but if it had
been part of my airplane, I probably would've flown it. The mistakes were cosmetic.
So, I strongly recommend this course, if nothing else as a confidence-builder.
---------------------
Martin Gomez
MLG28@...