Need advice

[Chris In Milwaukee]

One other thing worth noting. Most of us who are routing ribs are using a router table, where the router mounts upside down in the table top with the bit facing upward. That means the router is fully supported, and you have both hands to (very) firmly hold your routing forms and move them around the blade. This yields really good results.

You can, however, use a router from the top, but you have to be really careful. The routing form with your aluminum in between will have to be firmly attached to the tabletop while you move router around it. There's an EAA video in where Earl Luce routed out a nose rib (albeit a wooden one) with a small laminate trim router from the top. With this method, you'll only want to do one or two ribs at a time. You probably won't want to great brave (dumb) like me and do 10-12 at a time.

[Chewie]

I just realized something. My dad does have a router. What kind of a bit do I need for it? Would I need a special table for it. Harbor Frieght wants only $50 for an electric shears.

Ben, here some chit chat on router bits fwiw:

http://bearhawkforums.com/forum/tools-technics-and-best-practices/4677-router-bit-recommendation-this-thing-eats-aluminum-like-nobodies-business

[MNBenny]

I'm not sure what I'll do if I can't figure how to cut these ribs.......may have to abandon the project. For the record I have built wood ribs before the Piet aircamper. Those ribs were truss and gusset style ribs though.

[MNBenny]

My dads router is mounted upside down on the table. I'm just not sure what to do about the forms.

[Chris In Milwaukee]

You can always buy a spar and rib kit from AviPro

[MNBenny]

I don't have that kind of money. Have you seen how much it costs?

[Chris In Milwaukee]

That was kind of tongue-in-cheek, but they don't make a smiley for that. And it's why I made my own. If you read back through the history of our group, the conversation of "how much is your time worth" comes up at least once a year. This is one of those cases. In my case, I have plenty of time. But I don't know if I'd have been this brave and ready to take on as complex a project as a Bearhawk without the SportAir Workshops at my disposal. It gives a great hands-on approach to building.

I know you said you live a long way away, but it's definitely worth the time to go and learn these invaluable skills if you can find a way to make it work. I grew up in a residential construction family, so I had lots of opportunity to work with hand and power tools growing up. Some folks grow up in a different family dynamic and don't have ready access to that sort of stuff. SportAir helps to bridge that gap.

[Chris In Milwaukee]

My dads router is mounted upside down on the table. I'm just not sure what to do about the forms.

Eric's book, Chapter 1 And my KitLog site above. Lots of guidance there. You may have to use your imagination on some things as you figure out your working style. But I'm confident that you can do it. Give those references a thorough read, and feel free to come back with questions. There are lots of great resources here to help you through your project!

[MNBenny]

How do I transfer the the drawing from the vallum on to the MDF?

[BTAZ]

Use spray adhesive and glue it directly to the board and cut it out.

I actually glued it to a piece of .062 aluminum and cut it out. The resulting aluminum piece was used as a router template to make the various MDF routing templates, form blocks, and backer blocks.

[S Lathrop]

How do I transfer the the drawing from the vallum on to the MDF?

I had the vallum printed and then glued the drawing to a piece of 1" thick maple to use as the form block for the ribs. My local FedEx store does blue prints.

[MNBenny]

Would AS&S MDF? Or would a place like Menards or Mills Fleet sell MDF? Also what thickness do I need?

[MNBenny]

MOrning All,

Chris this going to sound insanely dumb that I ask this so sorry in advance.......When you cut the ribs out from the plans did you cut right on the line, and for the Aileron pocket rib did you leave the dashed line on the form block? It didn't look like it to me, but maybe I have to look again. Also I still can't find the bearhawk manuals. I bought them and downloaded them but can't find them. Will have to check my laptop once,

thank you in advance for the bandwidth.

[MNBenny]

Well I'm not sure where the manuals are at the very moment. I have on more place to check if it's not there then I will have to wait 2 weeks when I get paid.

[MNBenny]

Didn't someone say they traced there's to aluminum? I'm going try that. See what happens also what are people's thoughts on increasing the size of the flange? The plans say (I think 9/16) what about full inch or so?