Jon Croke's Comments

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At 6:13pm on October 18, 2009, Dr. Edward M. Moody II said…
Just wanted you to know the good news... I finished the forty hours today and I'm looking forward to fly-ins, airshows, and pancake breakfasts around the state. I also hope to visit some builders who are in neighboring states within reach. Rest assured, vigilance and continued tweaking are still on the agenda.

Ed
At 10:55am on September 23, 2009, Don Herbel said…
Jon, I did not get a chance to visit with you at the open house on Saturday. I have a question/ concern/ problem with the 701 nose gear lower bearings (7F8-4 and 5) and the stops (-6). Zenith is now supplying the rear bearing pre-drilled with pilot holes intended to set the location for the bolt holes into the stops. Their photo assembly guide, drawings and also chapt. 4 of your video series all instruct or indicate that the stops are to be drilled for hole locations and then back drilled into the rear bearing. When I followed this with exact dimensions, my holes drilled into the bearing missed the factory holes by 4mm laterally and longitudinally. Also, Zenith is now supplying the front bearing 10mm shorter longitudinally. This caused my holes through the gear stops to come out 6mm from the back edge instead of the required 10mm miniumum. I have talked both with Caleb and Roger and cannot get a sense that there is any procedure in place at the factory to inform builders of these types of changes. They have been good to replace both parts with no pilot holes and at the original dimension at no charge, however. I just wanted you know in case you have a way to change your videos in the future.
Don Herbel
builder 7-5921
Claremore Okla
At 9:16am on September 6, 2009, Dr. Edward M. Moody II said…
I expect that you would do this anyway but please let me know when you receive the SD card Jon.

Thanks,

Ed
At 7:03pm on August 28, 2009, rontheman13 said…
I am waiting for William Wynne to send me my Corvair 3100 and I will begin final assembly.
At 5:42pm on August 28, 2009, rontheman13 said…
Jon will you be producing a finishing video for the ch750?
At 6:02pm on August 11, 2009, Stanley Challgren said…
Jon:
Got the two new DVD's today that you sent because the first ones would not play on my MAC. The new ones would not work either.
Took my MAC to the Apple Genius bar and he said to goggle >VLC MAC<. He downloaded the VLC player for me and that does work all be it with some problems. But it does work.

Stan
At 3:47pm on July 11, 2009, Wayne Bartlett said…
Ah-ha! That makes perfect sense. That's just what I'll do--use the fan to space between the rear-most hole, there at the rear-rib-to-rear-spar intersection and the forward-most hole at the rear-rib-to-forward-spar intersection.

Thanks!...Wayne
At 3:21pm on July 11, 2009, Wayne Bartlett said…
Hi, Jon; Wayne here. Thanks for the quick response.

Uh-oh. You mean that the flange of the rear ribs don't go under the flange of the forward spar?

They have to, don't they? If the flange of the rear ribs don't go under the flange of the forward spar, then I don't see how the forward spar web can be riveted to the rear rib's forward flange.

Hmm...let me take a look at the skeleton...

Ah-ha! I bet you're thinking of the full ribs, the ones that are butted up against the ends of the doublers. Those ribs, one on each side, do not go under the flange of the forward rib, but instead butt up against it and are connected to the forward spar by means of the bracket coming off the ends of the forward spar.

What I'm talking about is the inboard-most ribs, the ones that are only 160 mm away from the spar centerline. Those are the ones where the forwardmost hole's not lining up.

Thanks!...Wayne
At 2:31pm on July 11, 2009, Wayne Bartlett said…
My 10 mm Problem.ppt

Hi, Jon; Wayne Bartlett here with another question.

I hate to bother you, but I've got a bit of a puzzle involving the horizontal stab skin.

I've watched your video for the horizontal stab, and you don't seem to have the problem I'm having. I've attached three powerpoint slides that shows the problem.

What's happening is that I'm laying out the positions of the spars and ribs on the bottom of the skin before starting to drill the holes in the skin. I've drawn a line at 24 mm from the rear edge for the rear rib rivet lines, then started pitching rivet locations at 40 mm for the other components, including the rear ribs, starting from this 24 mm line and going forward.

It's the rear ribs rivet line that's giving me the trouble. When I start the forward/aft rivet line on the bottom skin for the rear ribs from the place on the 24 mm line where it intersects with the rear rib flange centerline (which I've drawn), I end up with the most forward rivet about 10 mm too far forward. It is actually at the forward edge of the forward spar instead of right in the middle of the flange.

I've measured and measured, everything looks right, but for some reason, it's just 10 mm too far forward.

On the skeleton, I'm measuring 210 mm of open space between the forward edge of the rear spar and the aft edge of the forward spar. This distance is defined by the forward/aft size of the rear spar, I don't see how that can be off.

My solution is just to move that forwardmost hole 10 mm back so that is placed at the intersection of the centerlines of the rear rib and forward rib--that way the rivet will catch both of those structures--but I'd like to know where I'm going wrong.

I bet you can tell with a single look--it's probably something stupid I'm doing.

Thanks!...Wayne
At 10:39am on July 9, 2009, Bob Simmons said…
Jon,

When I was at the factory last year I mentioned to Sebastian that all that extra space behind the seats was less useful with only a 40 pound capacity. He responded that as long as the CG was correct, the 40 lb limit was more a limitation of the floor structure rather than the aircraft itself. As such, I've been tossing around ideas in my mind on how to strengthen the floor without adding too much weight. Since you're now much more familiar with that structure, could you provide any input on that?

I'm also trying to figure out where I could install a roll servo. Doesn't look likw much space for that.
At 8:36pm on July 5, 2009, Wayne Bartlett said…
Hi, Jon; Wayne here.

I watched your video again, and now I see where I'm going wrong. I wanted to put the brackets so that the flanges point inboard on the spar, and that's not the right way.

I puzzled over the plans and Zenith photos for a while, but your video cleared it up for me in 10 seconds. I see now that I can't use the existing holes, but that's okay.

Thanks!...Wayne
At 3:07pm on July 5, 2009, Wayne Bartlett said…
Hi, Jon; Wayne Bartlett here. I went to the rudder workshop last weekend and brought home a tail kit.

I'm working on it now--I've got the photo assembly guide and the plans, but I don't think I would be able to do it without your videos, so thank you for those. I have the horizontal tail video, the wing video, and the forward fuselage video, and I'll be getting all the others for the 701 pretty soon.

I do have a question about the two horizontal stab front mounts brackets (the ones that get the 35 mm/10 mm trim job) and how to get them located correctly on the forward stab.

I want to be able to use the existing rivet holes that hold the upper and lower doublers in place, and it seems to me that this can be done. There's a hole 120 mm from the centerline on each side as part of the pitch 40 mm series of holes that extend from the centerline on the upper and lower doubler. If the flange of the mount is wide enough to allow a rivet 6 mm from the corner--and it seems to be--then that would put the space between the mounts right at 252 mm.

Do people normally just use these holes? Of course, three more holes (for a total of five) will have to be put there in the spar web, but it just seems to much neater and more elegant to use the top and bottom doubler holes if this can be done while maintaining the 252 mm separation between the two mounts.

I thought you might be able to answer this off the top of your head.

Thanks!...Wayne
At 9:11pm on June 29, 2009, Tom Anderson said…
Hi Jon, it was nice seeing you in Mexico, MO. I have finished watching 2 of the videos and they are great....very nicely done. Now I am glad I brought my wallet to Open Hanger Day.

Tom Anderson
At 8:17pm on June 28, 2009, Donnie Moore said…
Hi Jon,

Just finished watching all the 750 build videos. Nice job! They will be very helpful in selecting the proper sequence of steps. I had just finished the Horizontal Stabilizer when I received the dvd's. It was fairly easy, but I saw a few things in your video that would have made things go quicker and smoother if I had watched it first.

Will there be a final assembly video?

Again nice job on the videos.

Thanks,
Donnie Moore
At 1:20pm on June 2, 2009, Thomas Richardson said…
It is enough of a chapter to take some of the mystery out of it or just enough to maake me dangerous?
At 12:45pm on June 2, 2009, Thomas Richardson said…
Hi Jon. I was wondering if the new 912 installation video is different from the one shot in California during their workshop. The one showing on your page now shows alot of electrical wiring that wasnt on mine. Am I dreaming or is this the case?
At 4:58pm on April 15, 2009, rontheman13 said…
Jon,
I was just wondering if you have an update on the release of any of the 750 videos.
At 7:12pm on April 6, 2009, Pedro Rivera said…
Hello Jon

I see that you are busy ! , did you received the cuatro music cd ? . I am going to check here from time to time .

Pedro
At 8:50pm on March 26, 2009, Wayne Lyons said…
jon,don't know if i could have done this without the 701 videos,well done and thanks.
wayne lyons
At 8:37am on February 13, 2009, Richard Benson said…
Hi Jon,

I have been admiring the matched-hole construction on your 750. I have just ordered the wing kit for my 650 project and I was wondering if the 650 wings will have the same matched-hole assembly as the 750, or will just the skins be pre punched?

Thank you for HomebuiltHELP. I would not have considered this project without it.

Rich

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