DavzLSA progress

[Chewie]

+1 on that!
Dave if your friend is paying such close attention to your welds, would it make sense if he watches you while you are actually in the act of creating a puddle and seeing what that puddle does? That's really where the weld is determined is it not?

[davzLSA]

Hey Mark, Well the jury is in on my fuse and its dead. So here is the plan for now. I will learn how to weld properly and to aviation standards. One of the biggest problems with my welds was that they were too oxidized. They would have corroded from the inside out. My friend will be putting on a welding workshop and I will attend. Then I will practice welding clusters and send them to him for evaluation. And when he decides I have mastered the weld then I will start again on a new fuselage. As I said my friend suggested I just buy a factory fuselage but I want to learn to weld to aviation standard. For me its not about building the airplane its about improving Dave and learning new skills are what I consider improving myself. And besides the EAA ethos is Learn, Build and Fly. That is what Im trying to achieve here.

[JimParker256]

Here ya go, guys...

Please note that the tiny black dots all over everything are NOT corrosion. My next door neighbor has been cutting and burning trees for several months now, and I gave up wiping everything down until he's finished... No matter what I do, everything in the garage (cars, airplane kit components, etc.) gets covered in tiny black ash and soot. Drives me crazy, but he's almost done. (At least I hope he's done!)

[rodsmith]

They do an excellent job at the factory and a lot of people believe gas welding a fuselage leaves it in the best condition, the heat providing natural stress relief.

[davzLSA]

Jim I think Ill get these pics blown up to poster size and put them up in my shop for inspiration.

[davzLSA]

Hey Jim, can you get some good pictures of your gear leg attach points, Id like to see how the factory welded them on, the plans are not very clear on that either.

[davzLSA]

I love those factory welds, but if you think about it, if you could weld 8 hours a day 5 days a week how good could you get?

[JimParker256]

Kind of exactly the point. Those guys at the factory in Mexico get more practice every day than I could in a week. I trust their work a LOT more than mine – even if the "instructor" says mine is "good enough". It's my wife, kids, and grandkids that will be flying with me... They do darn good work!

[Bdflies]

Welding is like a lot of trades/sklls. Watching one whose really good, it looks really easy... Until the unskilled one gives it a try. A while back, I had a concrete slab formed and poured. I watched the crew, in awe. They worked efficiently and quietly. No fuss, no muss. In no time they had the 30x50 slab floated and finished. I'm overwhelmed when I mix a sack of Quickcrete! That's hard work! Those guys were good at their trade!
You don't need to spend hundreds of hours welding (although that helps). Get somebody who has spent hundreds of hours welding to give you some tips and tricks. Then refine what you've learned.

Bill

[davzLSA]

Hey Bill, basically that is my plan. Im going back down to Florida on my next stretch of off days from work and get some good one on one instruction and Ill come back and practice. Im not going to attempt to weld another fuse until I am confident i can do it to airworthy standards. I have a good instructor and if he says I am able to do that then I have confidence I can.

[davzLSA]

HI Guys, I just ordered a new tubing kit, so I will be back to building again by August at least and I will be posting as I go.

[davzLSA]

HI Guys, Im back, But you all are probably going to kick me out of the plans built group. This past Sunday I took delivery of a beautifully welded fuselage from Mark. I got a great deal on it and I feel much more comfortable with the welding job. I will be posting more regular again and I want to start by posting a lot of pictures of the beautiful welds on the fuselage. I know when I started welding the tubing kit I needed to see what the welds were supposed to look like. I hope this will be a service to those who are welding a tubing kit.

[sbmurphey]

Looking forward to the pictures!! That kit will save you a ton of time and give you the peace of mind you were looking for.

[davzLSA]

If there is anything in particular you want to see Steve just let me know and I make a special effort to get a picutes of it.

[davzLSA]

Here are some pics of the factory welded fuselage

[davzLSA]

more pics

[davzLSA]

Hi Guys, I have an update, I got my shock struts assembled. I had to come up with a special little rig to compress the die spring to get the piston assembly far enough into the cylinder to get the top plug in. If anyone is interested in it let me know.

[jaredyates]

On the 4-Place I use a socket as a spacer, and a bolt with the same thread as the rod end bearing.

[davzLSA]

Hey Jared, I used a similar set up, but I used a piece of tubing and a check nut on the rod end bearing and washers. I was just wanting to find a way to do it without damaging anything.

[whee]

Dave, Good for you for doing what you feel is safe! That's a big part of building an airplane. I really really curious though; could you share some pics of the welds that condemned your fuselage? I had some welds on my fuselage that I didn't like but the A&P that inspected the airframe before I bought it said they were ok. I had a couple guys come over and they said the same thing, tottaly safe but not real pretty. I couldn't stand leaving them so I ground them out and rewelded.

I'd hate to hear what your friend has to say about Stinson fuselages. They were stick welded and some clusters look downright scary. But they are 70y/o and still going strong.

[davzLSA]

Hi Whee, I dont have the fuselage any longer. I just left it in Florida. I really don't have the space for 2 fuselages. It wasn't just the welds there were some other issues that I caused in my attempt to weld it. I just look at it as an expensive lesson. There are pictures I have posted in the past. The welds that worried me the most were the ones around the landing gear attach points and the one's at the top of the fuselage where the wing attach points would be. I really feel better about having the factory welded fuselage because I never have any doubts about its safety. And Mark made a good point about it too, and that was that if I ever wanted to sell it I could ask for a higher price since it had a factory welded fuselage. I don't know if you looked at the pictures I have posted of the factory welded fuselage but they look great. I am very pleased with it. And it is soooooo straight, I couldn't believe how straight it was. Ill be making more post when I get more parts from Mark.

[davzLSA]

Hi Guys, I finally have some progress to report, this is the first time on a long time Ive had a chance to work on my plane. ATT is trying to work me to death I think. Anyway I got my main gear and tail wheel fitted and bolted on to the fuse. I had to grind a little off the inside of the main gear connection points to get the main gear legs to slid up into the brackets on the fuse. I didn't have to remove very much metal at all either. Also I drilled the holes for the fitting per the plans. With that I would like to promote a product Ive been using. It is the drill doctor, the thing cost me about $150 bucks but it has paid for it self many times over because drilling work hardened metal breaks drill bits very easily. The holes in the tail spring are undersized. Per the plans the holes are supposed to be 5/16 but it comes with 1/4 holes. So now I am the proud owner of many little bitty short 5/16 drill bits.

[davzLSA]

Hi Guys, And yet more progress today, its amazing what you can do when you spend 10 hours straight out in the shop. Got the front and rear rudder peddles attached. Have a question about brake calipers, I chose to put mine on the rear of the rotor mainly because I was not able to find any info about which side to put them on. So I just made a command decision I just hope it is correct. If anyone know for sure which side they should be on please let me know. I have pics this time too. Hope you like them.

[davzLSA]

HI Guys, Progress today, I got the vertical stab attached to the tail post. I wanted to show a clamp I made for the tail post. It is a splint of sort to keep the tail post straight while I welded the ribs to it. The splint is made from a length of 3/4 inch angle with a piece of square tubing with one side cut off welded to it. Here is the procedure I used to get the vertical stab welded on, I first tack welded the leading edge tube on, then I cut notches the diameter of the tube that the rib would join, then I tack welded the ribs in. After that I fitted and welded in the diagonal tube from the leading edge tube to the root of the tail post. I had to cut a hole in the center rib to get the diagonal tube fitted. You may notice my vertical stab is not offset like in the plans. The reason is that I am using a Corvair engine and it rotates opposite of a regular aircraft engine. I plan to put a trim tab on the rudder or maybe a rudder trim system, the jury is still out of which way I will go on that. Got pix so if you have any questions fire away.