Hi there

[MNBenny]

Hi Everyone!

How was your christmas and New Years? I've decided to try again or resume building the bearhawk. I have plans 1227. Anyways, I'm struggling with cutting the ribs out. Either I'm closing the snips all the way or I'm over cutting. On a happier note I should be soloing by this coming March! By next fall I should have my PPL.

My other question is this. I heard that Bob is going to release the new bearhawk model B. Here's my question is worth my while to wait for the new plans to come out and build the riblett wing or build with the present plans I have already. If money were no object I would by a kit, but can't so. I am watching plenty of bearhawk Videos.

thank you for your time,

Ben
Plan #1227

[Chris In Milwaukee]

I'd say it depends on how far along you are with wing parts. Nothing wrong with the alpha wing 😁

[MNBenny]

Hi chris I only have but a few ribs cut. and I may have to reduce them.

[MNBenny]

Can you take a look at my ribs, and see if they look as crappy as what I am making them out to be?

[Chewie]

Happy New year Ben! I would say sure, post a picture or two.

[Chris In Milwaukee]

Sure, please feel free to post them. If you've only got a few cut, then you're not likely to a point where a change in direction would result in too much rework. Keep in mind your rib patterns are part of that work. Bravo plans won't be available for a few more months at the earliest, so there's that delay as well.

[MNBenny]

I am not able to upload the photos from my phone. If you would like to see them here is my email address.

ben.ramler2010@gmail.com

[MNBenny]

[MNBenny]

There we go. Those are my crappy looking ribs.

[MNBenny]

[Chris In Milwaukee]

Those small ribs (aileron nose/pocket and flap nose) are going to be the hardest to do with snips because of the sharp angles and small radius. The inside corners, as they're currently displayed, are going to crack on you because there is no smooth transition from one edge to the other. They're very sharp, and cause stresses in the metal. Once you get to the large-radius outside cuts, things become a lot easier. Any rough edges will (in most cases) file down very nicely.

Are you familiar with "stop-drilling" a crack? It's essentially where you take a drill bit, go to the end of a crack, and drill a hole. That round hole reduces the stresses at that end of the crack. Your inside corners would be similar. If you got yourself a 1/8-3/16" drill bit and drilled those corners so they're round, it will take care of that problem.

In your third picture in post #8 above, I'd scrap those. At least one inside corner on each of those has overlapping cuts that lead to a sharp corner. Those aren't salvageable.

Using the router, like I did, your inside corners are automagically rounded to a radius that matches the size router bit you're using. No need to drill the corners that way.

Have you seen any of the videos from EAA on working with sheet metal or been to their SportAir workshops on the subject? Very informative, and covers much of what I described above. There's a lot of sheet metal videos here that are very informative:

http://eaavideo.org/channel.aspx?ch=ch_hints_sheetmetal

There's a six-part series related to creating ribs by hand, with the first one here:

http://eaavideo.org/video.aspx?v=1772030477

Feel free to ask any other questions. We're here to help!

~Chris

[Bdflies]

"Automagically"!?
I have to remember that!

Bill

[Bcone1381]

MNBenny;

I am attending the EAA Sport Air Workshop Sheet Metal class on January 28-29 in Oshkosh. Chris attended that class last year. Its a weekend of hands on training with about 20 guys like us. I would love to see more of us Bearhawkers there.

Brooks
Patrol #303.

[MNBenny]

I could never afford to go. Oshkosh from St. Cloud, MN is 8hrs away

[MNBenny]

This was done Masonite. Maybe this will work?