BearHawk 5 school of construction

[davzLSA]

Looking good man!!!

[Sir Newton]

Biult a 49" wide nose forming roller for wing skins, very simple to build. 1" 1/2 & 2" pipe that rotate about one & other with a 0.060 clearance between the two pipes. The pipes are also interchangeable should you require a tighter radius. Forms the nose skin perfectly square in seconds. 7skins per wing 14 skins total. Ignore the unprofessional messy work area!

[Sir Newton]

A milestone has been reached today. Both wing superstructures have had every single 470 rivet bucked & both wings were placed into the skinning jig! Finally!! 996 man hours spent to get to this stage.
Wow 90% complete 90% to go!

[Gerhard Rieger]

Well done. You are progressing well, enjoy

[Sir Newton]

Thank you for the kind words. I am having a great time & learning new things along the way.

[Sir Newton]

Just more general cheerleading about the Bearhawk project. RH wing has skin installed. Now I just have the simple lay out and about 1000 holes to drill & dimple. Skinning the wing is a snap with that wing skin roller I fabbed up. I used a 5/16 tipping die to roll the edges of each skin. The skins lay very nicely up against each other on the one good side. I tried to take a picture of of the tipped edge. Any questions ask away, Love talking Bearhawk.

[Sir Newton]

100% ! I am trying to figure a technique to remove 1" strips of plastic off easily. Without scratching the shine surface finish.

[rodsmith]

Lots of people use a soldering iron to strip the rivet lines.

[Sir Newton]

Genius ! I have a heat gun! Brilliant that will work like a hot dam. Thank you for that drop of ingenuity. "20 hrs per wing" Experience speaks!

[Sir Newton]

Some more BearHawk cheerleading. I have fitted the main wing skins on both wings, using to different procedures. 1st wing RH I only used 3 clecos to mount the skins, the 2nd LH wing I used 5 clecos 2 extra clecos around the nose. There was very little difference in the out come between the two technics. I could only pull the skins so tight. I used 4 - 20lb weights with bungee cords to assist in holding the skins tight while I lined them up with the ribs & do not forget to cross square the wing 1st. Pictures attached of RH/LH wings that have no measurable deficiencies of any kind. Now I am pulling off the plastic & continuing on with rivet layout, drilling & dimpling. This task could take awhile. Best regards to everyone.

[Sir Newton]

Some simple cheerleading! Layout & drilling took 34hrs and that included building the skin stiffeners in the fuel tank bay. That is alot of holes. RH wing is ready to be deburred & dimple. :cool: Now it is rinse and repeat with the LH wing. So for anyone who is reading these post & has seen the picture of Macho BH5 flying showing oil panning between ribs #5, 6, 7, & 8 on the top skin. Imho, the photo is illustrating the loading of the rear spar in flight? Because we built aircraft with an abundance of caution. I have been thinking about up grading the underside skin from 0.020 up one thickness to 0.025 between ribs #5 - #11. Then continue with 0.020 the rest of the span. I would like to have a intelligent conversation regarding that photo and not some hear say conversation. Builder's please ring on this subject.

[way_up_north]

can you include a link to the picture or video you are referring to ,,,of the Macho BH5 oil panning...thanks

[jaredyates]

Love the pics! I would recommend that any structural changes be discussed with Bob rather than with fellow builders.

[Sir Newton]

100% agree, this is a builders forum. Just some simple open dialogue is all. That provides Avery unique perspective that we as builders and owners really never would get to see. Photo is worth a thousand words.

[500AGL]

Bob made a change and added a small stiffener to the top skin addressing this.

[way_up_north]

was this a recent change to the B-wing ..is it in the safety/changes notices..for those of us who would like to check if our plans reflect the change or not...thanks

[Sir Newton]

Hola, I have been working on the fabrication and installation of skin stiffeners. Everything is moving along nicely. Couple pics for those of you who are interested. Any questions. That's what PM's are for. Cheers

[Sir Newton]

Greetings to all Bearhawkers. After I finish off the skin stiffeners I fell down the rabbit hole of final fit up & welding out the fuel tanks. Lots of little dessions had to be made about the fuel system logic so I welded in all the right tank fittings in the correct spots. I attached a picture or two of my RH aux tank. Building the tanks are a little bit tricky. If you have any questions on the how. Get after it & ask. The welding is fun! Been awhile since I struck an arc.
And some of CYQU pilots found time to fly out to Jasper National Park. Really good flight and a good time.

[rodsmith]

Looks great, I found fabricating and welding the 4 tanks to be a very lengthy process. I had a few leaking rivets to re weld but no seam leaks so was happy with the results.

[Sir Newton]

These fuel cells are biult tough as nails. Today I fit up the RH main tank. I hope to get after welding it up tomorrow.

[Gerhard Rieger]

They look great, tight fit though. If I can do it again I would make them a tad smaller. Mine is exactly like yours

[Sir Newton]

Had a rain day today, I got out of doing fall yard work! I got to work on the BH all day. Awesome day. RH fuel cell all ready to weld up.

[Sir Newton]

Just some more cheerleading here. Finished welding out the RH main. For the welding nerds that read this post I averaged 1.7 inches per minute counting 2" per rivet on this tank. Just need to cut/weld in the appropriate sized NPT fittings and a bubble test & wammo finished RH tanks. Also got the fit up done on LH tanks this afternoon they still need the rivets bucked & then welding. Tuesday my 4130 tubing is arriving. I need to decide to finish off the riveting on the skins or to start fabricating the fuselage. 90% complete. 90%to go. Have good weekend.

[Brian Mason]

Looks real good, Bud. Wish I was there to watch.

[Sir Newton]

Some simple cheerleading about the BH5 project. Finished of fabricating 4 fuel tanks & all the tank strapping tighten turn buckles. Finished up fitting RH wing bottom skins. Recieved all my 4130 tubing. Fuselage fabrication will begin after I skin & rivet my LH wing. My post are going to be fewer & fewer, as I start to go off book with the project. Not wanting to russle feathers with the brass on the forum & get myself banned.

[Nev]

My post are going to be fewer & fewer, as I start to go off book with the project.

Please keep posting, I'm very interested in what you're doing. Fantastic progress !

[Bcone1381]

I'd like to validate what Nev has written. Your a fabricator....you fabricators get stuff done....

Your scratch building faster than I can Quick Build and doing it right. We don't want design, strength, or safety compromises. I think Feathers get ruffled by compromises the erode best practices. You might consult with Jared about your off book ventures to see what the boundaries/allowances are and if your have some ideas that would benefit the design, streamline the build, or be a blessing to the group.

[jaredyates]

Going off book won't get you banned. It might get some pushback to help clarify that it is non standard. Grounds for banning include off topic partisan politics, toxic nastyness, etc.