table height

[sjt]

I have finished the 4 x 18 foot table surface. All that remains is how high to make it. I saw a video from alaskabearhawk and his table seemed to be about 30 inches off the ground. My ceiling is over 9 foot.

I can not find it now, but I think another builder suggested a 28 inch height. Does that seem about right?

stan
bearhawk patrol plans build 284
austin tx

[Craig C.]

Stan: You should make it to fit your working style and your height. I've used tables that were of different heights for various projects, based on parts size. What you may find is that you need the table to be taller when working the top and bottom sections of the fuselage and then shorter when assembling the complete fuselage.

As an example, I have a welding table that was made for someone that was over 6'4" tall. The surface is at 43" and works fine for me when I am standing or using a tall bench chair and the part is not too tall. If the part is very tall, it gets to be hard to deal with and is a problem in the low height garage I have right now.

[John Bickham]

Hey Stan,

Not real sure the exact dimensions of the Patrol vs Bearhawk but think they are very similar.

Having passed the jig table phase of my Bearhawk fuselage, I would suggest the following for consideration of table height.

Rudder tailpost height vs ceiling height: When you jig the top and bottom of the fuselage up, the tailpost gets up there. Don't think you would have a problem with your 9" foot ceilings unless you leaned toward a higher table. Too high and you'll have to stick through ceiling.

Body position for tacking center of fuselage: There are quite a few center intersections that have to be tack welded. This gets even more challenging as the height increases when you jig up the top/bottom and start putting in the verticals. I had to climb up on the table to do the center of the top of the fuselage. For me, good tacks and welds are all about good,comfortable body position. In other words, make the table height fit you, whether you are a tall drink of water or a bit on the stumpy side.

Welding method (gas vs tig): I am tig welding. Tig welding throws in the feet for amp control for most of us weekend welders. Pro's have torch amp controls. Gas welding, just need to get your eyes and hands in correct position. There were times when I was stretching toward the center and wished my table was a little lower to reach the tig foot control.

For reference: my table height was 37" with a 9 foot ceiling. This was for the Bearhawk fuselage.

[LukeS]

Rudder tail post height is one thing I forgot to consider when I built my table, so when I get to the fuselage I'm going to have to modify my table.

[sjt]

I appreciate any and all advice. I made the top using a torsion table technique. It is flat and stiff. Unfortunately, it is incredibly heavy. It follows my usual pattern. I keep working on something until it is to heavy to move - at which point I paint it to blend in with the background.


I have never seen a fuselage in its final state on a table. Do you have to allow for the horizontal stabilizer to be attached while on the table? The patrol would require 5 feet from the center of the table to the wall if it did. Also, the pictures in Bob's manual show the plane being built with the tail post up in the flying level condition. I think that would put the rudder 80 inches above the table surface.

Again, I do not know what is attached during the welding phase, and what is attached after it comes off the table.

stan

[Craig C.]

Stan: Pop over to youtube and pull up alaskabearhawk and check out his fuselage welding videos. There is at least one that shows an entire fuselage on the table.

[John Bickham]

Stan,
Are you familiar with Kitlog sites? If you are looking for more pictures of the build process, there are a couple of Bearhawk scratch builders that have a lot of useful information.

​http://www.mykitlog.com/

Just type in "Bearhawk" for aircraft. Paul Minelga (aka Alaskabearhawk) and Paul Massey are two sites that I have used as great resources for my fuselage build. Of course, that is in addition to Russ's CD and Eric's Manuals.

Unfortunately, there are not a lot of Patrol specific scratch builders on the Kitlog site. Basic techniques should be the same.

Hope this is helpful. link to my kitlog site in signature