Zenith Aircraft Builders and Flyers
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Building Hints, Tips and Tricks
Building Hints, Tips and Tricks. We invite you to share you "building tips, hints, and tricks" in this new discussion forum.
Note: This is non model specific forum: If you have a building tip, hint, and trick that is specific to a model please post to model specific forums.
Note: This is non model specific forum: If you have a building tip, hint, and trick that is specific to a model please post to model specific forums.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Juan Vega on -
tip number one from Juan Vega:
when commencing your build, it is important to do and aquire certain things prior to starting;
1-Get the wife's permission, I got mine and she has been a huge fan of the build.
2- get a frig to install in the area where building. Two things go in there, epoxies and glues, and Beer. If the FAA comes asking about the beer, tell them it is used as a hardener.
3- A good stereo with good music blaring
4- flat screen t.v. to watch the ball games while buiding and copmlaining your team is out of the play offs.
5- store all axes and chainsaws away and lock them, as the build progresses you will get to a point of Nadeer and frustration,, and will be glad the chainsaw and ax are locked up.
6- a camera will be required. for recording of the build but mostly to collect pictures of screw ups no body will believe someone could do.
7- Bandaids, lots of them. If anyone questions your ownership of the plane, have them do a DNA test on the airframe as I personally left plenty of skin and blood on the frame. Metal is sharp incase you don't know.
8- Practice early on in making stupid airplane motor sounds. Reason is sound, when you want to test the plane prior to the engine running, the sound gives you realistic flight simulation.
8- do not set a completion date for the plane, al of the dates you set will go by in a flash, as the old yidish proverb says " to hear God laugh, tell him your plans"
9- a good sense of humor.
have fun
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Permalink Reply by German Serrano on -
Nice list. I'm working on the wife's permission.
Good idea locking up the chainsaw, I recomend a soft sandbag to relieve the frustration, work bench kicking or punching could be dangerous too.
Practice different faces for your photos, concentrated, interested, smart, surprised, etc. otherwise you run the risk of looking silly on all of them.
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Permalink Reply by Chumphol Sirinavin on -
Thanks for your 'tip number one', Juan. I like them all from 1 to 9.
May I add these :
- Do not ask your wife to take picture of you showing off your work. I got only low to medium quality photos. Get her an apron, not unlike the one she uses around the kitchen or garden, with 'Happy Home-builder' screened or hand painted on it, and ask her to be your proud model. You will see her bright and shine in pictures. Then she will ask: would you like me to take photo for you?
- Ask her opinion on baggage compartment, seats and seat cushions. My wife, an ex-airline stewardess, is not eager to fly with me in my two-seater. But she gives her good opinion on comfortability, color, size and shape.
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Permalink Reply by david junkins on -
I love this advice!! Can't wait to get my wife involved. Dave
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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Porter on -
Sharpies (trademarks and copyrights respected): 'sharpies' indelible pens are perhaps the most useful tool we posses - but do we make the most of them? Since we train people who before coming to us have probably never even seen an aircraft or held a tool, we think about making our life easier - and sharpies have saved us from soooo many mistakes!!!
WRITE WITH THEM: - I think we all use them to mark up, but it is worth remembering that it is really OK to write things like 'Top', 'Bottom', 'Left', 'Right', 'Inside', 'Outside', 'top left rear longeron'. etc to remind you - and arrows pointing up on all parts is really useful on the horizontal tail feathers since they are built and installed in a tradtionally 'upside down; aerofoil. I am sure we have all marked the no-rivet zones but what about writing on the areas appropriate 'do not put these rivets yet' - it can stop an enthousiastic helper riveting off the cover plate for the electric trim too soon!
When we unwrap parts we generally wipe them down with thinner to take off any dust, sticky marks, etc and then if they are not easily identified write the part number on (plus a description if necessary). It saves tiime and mistakes.
USE COLOURS: When we centre mark the flanges we prefer a RED sharpie. It is easier to see a coloured line through the rivet holes than the black one. If you haven't done so already TRY IT. In fact even brown is easier to see than black (which can be really hard to spot). If you have a red flange line you can 'spot' through the rivet pilot with a black sharpie to mark a position also. - oh and a slightly thicker line is OK - a slightly wider line (just less than the width of the pilot hole is good).
FILING WITH THEM: When filing a small amount off of a part mark the area to be filed with a sharpie on the actual filing face and then simply file off the sharpie marks (really useful on the gear!).
RUDDER PEDALS: If you spend your time lining up those ridder pedals nicely ready to mark out the steering rods save yourself time from doing it again and simply mark on the centre bearing a line that runs down onto the rudder pedal (one left and one right) - it gets you back lined up quicker when you hit it with your elbow next time and the time after that!!!
CONTROL DEFLECTIONS: When you set your elevator and flaperon deflections - mark reference points and write on the
degrees - up and down (just like Mr Boeing does). If you set each flaperon to zero independently it makes it easier to see how to adjust them.t We remark them after painting and leave them on - it provides a quick check if anything is amiss and helps to show others what is happens and why. (the elevator is great since the numbers dissappear behind the hinge plate!
CAP-EM: We cannot purchase Sharpies in country - and it is really annoying when a cap gets left off (again). A quick albeit temporary solution for a small mark is to dip the tip in thinner - not great but when WALMART is a few thousand miles away (too far for a CH701 shopping trip).... it gets you out of the situation.
and they are great for writing on scraps of wood - including the workbench - when working out or setting out - especially when bending the fuel sensors!
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Permalink Reply by Taylor Ogden on -
Remember, you can sharpen a Sharpie too! Don't give up on it if the tip dulls, you can just give it a spin on the grinder and it's good as new! (as long as you follow the last step! CAP-EM when done!)
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Permalink Reply by david junkins on
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Thanks Jonathan. Great advice as I am now working on the flaperons. Dave
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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Porter on
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MARK UP YOUR WORKBENCH: I missed out one of the ones we are now introducing it involes marking a line square down the middle of the workbench - and a couple across the workbench. It especially speeds up lining up fuselage and other parts - and is a quick square check when laying out parts. You can also mark on the lengths of AN bolts to quickly identify their lengths - we have a seperate 'parts identifier' board - a piece of plywood with holes on it, sample hardware and an area marked up with a sharpie with length checkers plus a AN coding helper. (we are working on a CAD drawing of this which we will post once we work out how to send DXF files to the system for others to download).
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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Porter on
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Here is the AN bolt guide we produced for in house use. When you print it out just check that the 1", 2" and 3" lines are just that, then you know you have the right scale. W have about 4 of these l;aminated and placed around the workshop - they save a lot of time and avoid mistakes.
- Attachments:
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AN BOLTS.pdf, 12 KB
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Permalink Reply by Eugene Meintjes on -
Thanks for this AN bolts Chart , we in Zambia use Metric so have no Cooking clue about Y/8 my 750 is build and need an Engine >
Eugene (justafarmer)
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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Porter on
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Thank you Eugene, you are most welcome. I enjoyed working in Zambia a few years back! Enjoy the weather and the countryside. Fly safe and remember that you are welcome to come to Ghana to do a building course and flying in our CH aircraft. We are about to install a 912iS into a CH750, and if you are interested, we just posted some interesting thoughts on fuel systems on this site... http://www.zenith.aero/profiles/blogs/research-and-results-for-fuel...
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Permalink Reply by Kenneth Buchmann on -
Hi Jon:: Correct me if I am incorrect but the Y dimension is the length of the bolt grip metric.
KenB
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