Tell us what you did today on your Bearhawk Project

[Chris In Milwaukee]

I have not yet cut all of my beater forms, I notice a bunch of people one of each 1/8 or1/4 undersize for better access for forming the radius, is it worthwhile doing this?

Mileage varies, I suppose. My backing board is the same size as the one I'm bending against. I did it that way just in case the one piece is damaged for any reason, I can switch to the other one without much effort.

[Deftone]

Great idea Bcone, I have some epoxy lying around, I might try that on the edges. Will bondo be tough enough to take a beating?

Like yourself and Chris, I decided to just go with the same size for the form and the backer, my first delivery of alum arrives tomorrow from ACS, exciting time!

[Chewie]

I found it's worth while to make it smaller because since I did my side flanges first, I could then fit the rib around the smaller backing board which clears the flutes and use it as the female base for pressing the lightening holes. Let me know if this doesn't make sense and I'll send a pic.

[Deftone]

Hey Chewie, your way also sounds like a good option, it makes sense, but if you want to post some pics anyway that would be great! Its really helpful to learn all the different methods people are using.

[Deftone]

I didnt make any progress with building today, but I did take advantage of the 25% coupon that Harbor Freight has for today. Got myself a 20ton air/hydraulic jack to replace the manual hydraulic jack on my press. I plan to press my ribs and didnt feel like developing popeye arms over the next few weeks, definitely worth the $90 investment. Will get it installed this afternoon!

[Chris In Milwaukee]

It's a great investment, for sure!

[N3UW]

I didnt make any progress with building today, but I did take advantage of the 25% coupon that Harbor Freight has for today. Got myself a 20ton air/hydraulic jack to replace the manual hydraulic jack on my press. I plan to press my ribs and didnt feel like developing popeye arms over the next few weeks, definitely worth the $90 investment. Will get it installed this afternoon!

good investment!

[Deftone]

The first time I came across the idea was from your youtube video! When I seen Chris go down the same route with good results I was sold!

[Chris In Milwaukee]

I didnt make any progress with building today, but I did take advantage of the 25% coupon that Harbor Freight has for today. Got myself a 20ton air/hydraulic jack to replace the manual hydraulic jack on my press. I plan to press my ribs and didnt feel like developing popeye arms over the next few weeks, definitely worth the $90 investment. Will get it installed this afternoon!

Be sure that you bolt that baby to the press, lest it become a 70-pound missile driven by 20 tons of pressure! It has no holes in the mounting plate, and certainly none that will line up with the existing holes that are there. I drilled through flat spot on the back of jack, and then through the plate on the press, and bolted it down with a 1/4" bolt.

http://bearhawkforums.com/forum/tools-technics-and-best-practices/21495-one-shouldn-t-use-a-20-ton-jack-with-a-12-ton-press?p=21540#post21540

You could probably do one on the front side of the jack, too, but this will keep it from moving around.

~Chris

[Deftone]

I got it all fixed up today and tested. Thanks for the link to your install, it looks like I have mine drilled/bolted in pretty much the same location. I just need to get my hands on a a couple of steel plates now...

[Deftone]

While most of my progress today was with tooling, I was pleased to see the UPS man drop off my shipment of aluminum for my ribs this morning!
IMG_20160328_152454213.jpg

[EricP]

Brent and I finished prepping the steel parts for painting. Fuselage and gear and other steel parts. Tomorrow we do some "touch up" work and then we will paint on Saturday. So big day! We will use a silver Mercedes paint for the steel.

[Chris In Milwaukee]

Wing ribs are done! Family photo:




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[Chewie]

Deftone, here are those photos to illustrate my form block sizing (although you're probably past that point by now!). These are the same two form blocks, so parts count was (4) MDF form blocks for cutting and bending, plus the lightening hole male dies which is the route I took.

[sbmurphey]

Jigged, fitted and installed the pilots seat.

[EricP]

Prepped, Primed and Painted fuselage today. Long Saturday work day for us.

Pics show start of primer on tail, Brent shooting primer, Eric doing prep work on rear seat while Brent primes, Eric shooting silver paint, Brent shooting silver, finished fuselage looking from work shop.

Pictures by my younger daughter.

[EricP]

Thanks! A big day for us.

[marcusofcotton]

Big day is right, nice. I particularly like your rear pivot point in the hstab mount.

[Bdflies]

Looking great!
That thing looks almost like a spray gun - only smaller... 😎

Bill

[rv8bldr]

Well, after getting lots of really helpful comments from the group on my single trim tab/overhead trim wheel design, I now have a DUAL trim tab/over head trim wheel design .

The biggest difference (since I hadn't made any changes to my second trim tab yet) was making a new trim tab bellcrank and installing a second push/pull cable. This is what that looks like:

trim bellcrank2.jpg

The rest of the day was spent finishing up the installation of all of the side windows and window trim. I really like the big windows that Jared has put in his 4 place so I decided I wanted something similar. The design criteria were:

1. Maximize the amount of glass without compromising any strength
2. Make the rear window shapes blend in with the front window/door lines as much as possible (especially the bottom of the window). The tops of the rear windows are constrained by the shape of the right side (cargo door) window. I made the left side window frame match the right just for symmetry.

I think they turned out alright.

Pilot door.jpg


Copilot Door.jpg

[Chris In Milwaukee]

Spent the day noodling, measuring, and counting. Got a lot of angles to cut and bend, not to mention spars of every color. 174 rib stiffeners, 261 attach angles, and 16 spar blanks to do. Gonna be a busy week ahead.






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[Bdflies]

Today, I placed an order for covering supplies! In the past, I'd done some covering, using the Polyfiber (Stits) process. Watching friends, more recently, cover projects, with Superflite, I'm a convert. It just seems to be a better system. I'll post my impressions, as I make progress.

Onward!

Bill

[Deftone]

If you need a hand with the covering give me a call, I have never worked with fabric before, would be good to see it first hand rather than 100 YouTube videos!

[Bdflies]

Steve,
Ron is in the process of covering right now. Fuselage is mostly done. Anytime you'd like to see it, come on over!

[Deftone]

Sounds good!

[EricP]

The actual installation of systems started tonight. While I did stringers Brent installed the fuel selector panel so we have our first installations on the fuselage tonight.

[Mark Moyle]

Today, I placed an order for covering supplies! In the past, I'd done some covering, using the Polyfiber (Stits) process. Watching friends, more recently, cover projects, with Superflite, I'm a convert. It just seems to be a better system. I'll post my impressions, as I make progress.

Onward!

Bill

Superflight system 7. Great finished product...high gloss. Use two inch paint brushes for the glue. If you have the glue applicator from Superflight....pitch it!

[Bdflies]

Yeah, I kinda got that impression. Looks like keeping that applicator clean, would be way more work than benefit derived...