Damon Brantley
  • Mcloud, OK
  • United States
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Damon Brantley's Discussions

Project Management Software

Started this discussion. Last reply by Carl Orton Jul 8, 2018. 9 Replies

I was wondering if anyone has evaluated any project management software for planning and tracking progress in building a homebuilt. Being a software developer, I routinely deal with Jira and…Continue

650 Side Skin Diagonal Stiffener Placement

Started this discussion. Last reply by Damon Brantley Apr 4, 2016. 2 Replies

I am trying to figure out the rivet hole placement for the diagonal L-angles on the side skins.The diagonal that is between the horizontal tail frames is well specified. However the placement of the…Continue

Scratchbuilding firewall tips?

Started this discussion. Last reply by Damon Brantley Nov 18, 2015. 4 Replies

I am trying to form my firewall. I have made the form according to the plans. However it looks like the forming process is going to be a little different than that of forming the ribs.From what I…Continue

 

Damon Brantley's Page

Latest Activity

Damon Brantley posted a blog post

Keeping Parts Organized

One thing that has often been a problem is trying to keep parts from getting lost as they wait to be added to larger assemblies. While I am scatchbuilding, the problem is no doubt worse for someone building from a kit because they get all their parts at once.Something that has recently been quite useful for me is to use mini-stretch wrap.Mini-stretchwrap is just smaller…See More
May 11
0 Comments
Damon Brantley posted a blog post

Panel Hacksaw

A panel hacksaw is a special type of saw for making long cuts in pieces of sheet metal. By using a piece of spring steel sheet to support the blade allows the saw to make unrestricted cuts.A demonstration is made of trimming down a wing skin.See More
May 6
2 Comments
Damon Brantley posted a blog post

Vacuum Lifting Frame for Wing Skin

From what I have seen, moving a wing skin tends to be a two person operation. The videobelow is a demonstration of a vacuum lifting frame I constructed to allow one person toeasily moving a wing skin between a worktable and the wing skeleton.See More
Feb 24
2 Comments
Damon Brantley posted a blog post

Using Jira to help manage my aircraft build

Several months back I had posted that I was experimenting with using a project management software package called Jira to help manage tasks in my scratch build. After about 6 months of use I think I can say it has been very helpful for tracking what I have done, what I am currently doing and what still remains.While I am building my aircraft from plans, I think Jira would also be helpful for kit builders as well.The video below is a demonstration of how Jira has been adapted for use in helping…See More
Feb 13
0 Comments
Damon Brantley posted a blog post

Flexible Friction Arm Workholding

A few weeks ago in a prior blog post I had posted a picture of using a modified camera friction arm as a flexible workholder. I have added a youtube video showing some examples of its use.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmRu5991VGUSee More
Jan 23
0 Comments
Damon Brantley posted a blog post

Starting wing skins and a few tips

It was back in June that I finally finished the wing spar. However there were numerous little details I found myself having to work through before I was able to finally start laying out the wing skins. While I wanted to  have both wings setup together, even with the size of shop I have there just was not quite enough space to have both wings plus an additional table to work on the skins. The first wing I will work on is the left side.One issue I had to figure out was how was I going to safely…See More
Dec 21, 2018
0 Comments
Damon Brantley posted a blog post

Using Jira for Managing My Aircraft Build

One of the problems I have run into in the course of this project is being able get an idea of how muchis left for me to do on my plane and what needs to be done next.I have various notes and spreadsheets scattered around, but nothing has ever seemed to really pull everything together for me into a coherent whole.In my day job as a programmer I use a project management software package called Jira. I have found Jira to be a pretty flexible software package, so I decided to see if I could use it…See More
Aug 23, 2018
0 Comments
Damon Brantley posted a discussion

Project Management Software

I was wondering if anyone has evaluated any project management software for planning and tracking progress in building a homebuilt. Being a software developer, I routinely deal with Jira and occasionally  Microsoft Project. I know there are builders logs out there, but I think they just track what you did and not what you will be doing.See More
Jul 1, 2018
9 Comments
Damon Brantley posted a blog post

Main and Center Spar Layout, Alignment and Drilling

I finally drill out the holes to final size for attaching the main and center spars together.The video below describes the process I went through. Hopefully other scratch builderswill find a few useful tidbits of information when they get to a similar point.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O-31YmQzhgOn to assembling some airplane sized parts!See More
Jun 25, 2018
0 Comments
Damon Brantley posted a blog post

Compact Drill Guide

Below is a link to a video of a small drill guide I constructed to help ensure I drill the wing bolt holes perpendicular.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfXiJ0Kga6YSee More
May 28, 2018
4 Comments
Damon Brantley posted a blog post

Preparations for joining main spar to center spar

The joining of the main spar to the center spar is something that I have thought often about over the time that I have been working on this project.I am finally to that point. There is also very little information describing how others have tackled this important step.In the video below I describe some of the preparations and setup I am doing for maximizing the chances of getting this important step correct. Hopefully the information presented will be usefulThere will be one or two additional…See More
Apr 1, 2018
0 Comments
Damon Brantley posted a blog post

Making Angle Gages

While making the bends for the front and rear center spar uprights, I had a problem trying to take measurements with any of the numerous protractors I had. The angles I was trying too measure were to acute for any of my protractors to fit. So I decided to make a set of simple angle gages.The gages were made using .025 aluminum scraps that I had laying around. The key to setting up the angle is to use a machinist tool called a sine bar. Referring to the picture below, the sine bar is the bar…See More
Oct 29, 2017
1 Comment

Profile Information

Aircraft Model
Zenith CH 650
Project Status
Less than half
Building From
Plans-only
Engine installed (or plan to install)
Corvair
Building Experience
No Experience
Flying Experience
Private Pilot

Damon Brantley's Blog

Keeping Parts Organized

Posted on May 11, 2019 at 9:00pm 0 Comments

One thing that has often been a problem is trying to keep parts from getting lost as they wait to be added to larger assemblies. While I am scatchbuilding, the problem is no doubt worse for someone building from a kit because they get all their parts at once.

Something that has recently been quite useful for me is to use mini-stretch wrap.…

Continue

Panel Hacksaw

Posted on May 6, 2019 at 5:21pm 2 Comments

A panel hacksaw is a special type of saw for making long cuts in pieces of sheet metal. By using a piece of spring steel sheet to support the blade allows the saw to make unrestricted cuts.

A demonstration is made of trimming down a wing skin.

Vacuum Lifting Frame for Wing Skin

Posted on February 24, 2019 at 9:05am 2 Comments

From what I have seen, moving a wing skin tends to be a two person operation. The video

below is a demonstration of a vacuum lifting frame I constructed to allow one person to

easily moving a wing skin between a worktable and the wing skeleton.

Using Jira to help manage my aircraft build

Posted on February 13, 2019 at 10:01pm 0 Comments

Several months back I had posted that I was experimenting with using a project management software package called Jira to help manage tasks in my scratch build. After about 6 months of use I think I can say it has been very helpful for tracking what I have done, what I am currently doing and what still remains.

While I am building my aircraft from plans, I think Jira would also be helpful for kit builders as well.

The video below is a demonstration of how Jira…

Continue

Comment Wall (1 comment)

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At 3:15pm on July 31, 2016, Normand Lambert said…

Hi Damon,

I just bought a used 8 feet Sheet metal brake - condition like NEW ! Used to borrow someone else. I got mine and it works great. When I saw the plans for the trim tab I was not sure I could bend it in one shot. But I did a trail run with scrap aluminum and then did it for real.

One shot did the trick.

Regards,

Norm

 
 
 

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