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Hello I am an A&P IA looking to build the 4 place. I am embarking on the journey with my girlfriend and my stepdaughter. Both of them eat sleep and breathe aviation.
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What part of the country?
Living near Aircraft spruce locations or Wicks makes life simpler.
B-spot has a lot of videos
Stan
Austin Tx -
Welcome aboard scratch builder. There are lots of us here.Comment
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As an A&P, you def have a leg up on the average builder. I'm fortunate to have paired up with an IA after the project started. Carlo is a career A&P-IA that has scratch-built a couple other airplanes, so he keeps me straight on acceptable practices/best stuff to use in the airplane and I handle the engineering questions on his mods (e.g., wet wing; Super Cub overhead flap system for Patrol) and some of the jig building/custom 4130 forming (aero engineer/woodworker). Having a family that thinks airplane stuff under the dining room table is super-cool helps... that in itself is a major win. Good luck going forward, and there is a lot of stuff here on wing ribs, etc. to get you going if you have not had a chance to do component fab since A&P school (assuming you were not doing mil stuff at depot or patching up combat damage).
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I am currently in central Pennsylvania. I am 50 years old and retired from farming. I started flights training after selling my farm and I worked as a GA apprentice while flight training. Now I run a small GA shop and my stepdaughter is my apprentice and my girlfriend loves helping me fix up my Beechcraft travel air. I figured this would be a great family project and I still have my farm fabrication and repair shop. Can someone direct me if someone has a file for a cnc router or plasma cutter to cut the wing ribs I’m not partial to sitting for hours on end with a hand snips.Comment
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plasma cutter would not be a good idea.
My snips probably date back to World War II. They knew how to make a great way of cutting sheet metal by hand.
These snips are the way to go. You are only crudely cutting out the shape of the blank.
Probably only a minute to do a rough cut within a 1/4 inch of the line.
The only way to get efficeint placement of blanks is by hand.
This kind of snip would be horrible to useVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV.
This kind of snip would be horrible to useVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV.
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This kind of snip would be horrible to use ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^.
This kind of snip would be horrible to use ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^.
On ebay they are under the category of antique or retro
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Then you take 4 or 5 crude blanks and sandwich them between two pieces of mdf then use a trim bit.
The router makes the edge. At this point the blank is then placed on another mdf form and the edge is bent over
mass production using a router with trim bit
This will remove the jagged edge and make perfect duplicate blanks that will then be bent.Last edited by sjt; 04-25-2025, 03:22 PM.Stan
Austin TxComment
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No files... but keep asking. I keep promising myself to get things done up in Fusion, but building and our current excitement/'use the bridge while we rebuild the bridge' in the DC area gets in the way. FWIW, you have a couple Patrols being scratch-built and a 4A scratch fuse/kit wings in Frederick MD... not a horrible drive and an easy flight to visit. Carlo has his Patrol on the gear and nearly done wiring plus wings 90% done. I'm way behind him with buildup on the wings going on and the basic fuse weldment hanging in the garage. The 4A is in paint and getting close to inspection if not already there. Check the builder map for others in your area. Always amazed at what I get out of builder visits.Originally posted by WOODYANDTHEGIRLS View Post
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Since introducing myself the girls have already talked me into the model five rather than the 4 because we have dogs to take with us. My stepdaughter is also considering the LSA or the patrol to build side by side with mine. Hopefully we dont bite off more than we can chew. I also wanted to offer anyone in the area I do really well with figuring out avionics so if any help is needed in that regard I would be happy to lend my knowledge and/or helpComment
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Woody--- the nicest way to cut your ribs (imho) ---- rough them out with a pneumatic body saw--- about an inch oversize.
then cut them out on a router table with the sheet (or 2 or 3 or 4) bolted to an MDF form. That gets them all exactly the same. Lots of tiny chips flying in your hair and up your nose--- but there is NO warpage. You make the for from the master wing form and add 5/8 to account for the flange that gets bent. You can watch my video on YT ( hydroforming bearhawk wing ribs) but it is only an extension of one of the other fellows that figured out the hard parts before I came along. i cant remember his handle but he is on youtube and on here too. Learned everything I know from his fine videos.
I think he is in Ohio if I remember right.Comment
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Routing is fun... those chips are tasty, so save your appetite by wearing a mask as well as good eye protection. My router table is in the same space where I fab acoustic guitars, so keeping chips under control is important. Redoing a finish on a guitar due to a tiny embedded aluminum chip is a NO-GO.
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Never saw any noticeable warpage with the rib blanks flat (routing, etc.), but they do want to warp coming out of pressing. Once fluted, there's just the usual detail work to do with VAF flange straightener (90 degree) and tweaks with fluting pliers, some flat/smooth pliers made up out of Crescent 317's (trim the serrated parts off and radius the edges, then polish... add tape), and my Delrin 'Bob Sticks' made from jig offcuts. Unmodified 317's shown as example... good pliers, but better sheet metal tool once modified. Also handy for all those flange tweaks on flaps/ailerons.
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Ditto on the vids and prior articles re: press methods - my own article gives credit where due, and just highlights how important community is to scratch builders.Last edited by SpruceForest; 05-02-2025, 07:06 AM.Comment
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