Wing Stands are Finally Done

One hour spent bracing the corners.
Next: let's see if they work.

Wing Stand Deployment, 7 January 2012

Don and I spent maybe half an hour yesterday evening moving stuff out of the way and positioning the wing installation fixtures for a dry run with an actual Bearhawk wing.
We chickened out when we realized
(1) how heavy the wing is, with no longitudinal crossbracing installed yet;
(2) how high we would need to lift it;
(3) how little time we had.
We opted to delay the first wing lift until we add more bracing and come up with some kind of stable step arrangement.

Wing Installation Fixtures Complete

About an hour and a half spent by Don and I. Brandon helped too. Got the crossbracing on there. Kids were up too late.

January 2, 2012 - Wing Stands on Wheels!

Woke up to a strange sight: really dense ground hugging fog covering the LA Basin, but ending just about a half a mile from my house.  The tops of buildings and a crane were poking above the fog.

Then, after breakfast, took the family to the South Coast Botanic Garden, where I took this idyllic photo of children frolicking along the main thoroughfare through the gardens, laughing and holding hands.

Of course two seconds after this photo was taken, Brandon and Audrey tripped over each other and piled up on the asphalt, skinning Brandon's knee and leaving Audrey with a cut lip, and bleeding profusely from the mouth.  Clearly it was time to change gears and go work on the Bearhawk.

Lisa and I took up where Don and I left off on New Year's Day, installing the leg extenders on Wing Stand #2.  When they were both on wheels, we rolled them out on the ramp for a PR shoot:

The long spindly legs combined with the uneven ramp surface made the fixtures appear to tilt at crazy angles, so we rolled them right back inside.

All that's left now is to complete the crossbracing to give these fellas enough stiffness and strength to roll around with a wing on top.

January 1, 2012 Progress

Lisa, Don, and I Spent about 1.5 hours on the morning of New Year's Day working on the Bearhawk.  First task was installing legs on Wing Stand #2.  This was mostly Don and Lisa drilling indiscriminately while I covered my eyes.

In parallel, we got the Varner miter saw up running, and used it to cut leg extenders from pressure-treated 4x4 purloined from a long-abandoned Swamptooth landscaping project.  Unfortunately we ran out of lumber and had to take a very long long lunch break to steal another 4x4 from my front yard.

After cutting to length, with nice square ends thanks to the Varner saw, we drilled out holes for the casters, using a drill block intended for rivet removal, clamped to the square end of the post:

Next we enlarged the pilot hole with a worn-out 1/4" bit and then a 5/16 spade bit before threading in the caster (obtained at no cost from the Varner Compound).

Next was the tricky part: getting the leg extenders properly positioned onto the fixtures.  To do this we initially eyeballed the height and clamped them up.  By this time it was just Don and me.

We then fine tuned the height of each leg and reclamped everything to drill bolt holes to attach the extenders.  We got one stand done and partially crossbraced before Kent came over and our productivity ground to a halt.

We didn't keep careful track of hours, but the 2nd half was from about 6:30 to 9:30, so 3 hours times 2 belly buttons.  Total project time for the day: 3 x (1.5) + 2 x (3) = 10.5 hours.

Wing Stand On Its Feet

About two hours spent, with DV.  And Audrey.  Some of that two hours was spent setting up the makeshift heater: a heat gun clamped to a light stand.  12/30/2011.

Wing Installation Fixture Hardware

Hit the depot for bolts to install the removeable legs. Maybe 20 minutes of procurement time. $17.88.

Back to the Wing Installation Fixtures

Next step: installing the legs. 10 minutes clamping up the first leg, but now I need hardware. Tomorrow.

Wing Fixture Platforms Are Done

Maybe 30 minutes nailing up the shelves. Up next: installing legs and feet.

Saturday Progress

Forgot to post my 20 minutes of headway from yesterday. At Miramar Air Show Today.

Shelves almost done

About 70 minutes spent nailing on the deck (shelf one) and framing (shelf two).

First wing fixture shelf frame

35 minutes at lunchtime. Still have to nail down the shelf.

10 more minutes of progress on wing fixtures.

Hey, ten minutes is better than none. Also, managed to get more of the frame assembled without breaking any Varner bits.

Another Bit

10 minutes, token progress, but still managed to break another of Don's drill bits.

Framing up the wing fixture "shelf."

About 15 minutes spent on the Bearhawk after work today. Had to spend some time clearing rock and roll paraphenalia our of the work area first.

More Wing Fixture Progress

Spent about 30-45 minutes cutting pieces for the wing fixtures, Will Fischer helping.

Wing Fixture Fabrication, Day Two

Put together eight legs yesterday, and started working on the platform frame today.

Wing Fixture Progress

Building wing installation fixtures. Broke Don's 1/16 bit and then decided to forget about predrilling.

Wing Fixtures and Hangar Inspection

In the process of building fixtures for installation of the wings onto the aircraft.  Because of the lengthened main gears, the bottoms of the wings mount seven feet AGL.

The plan is to finish them tomorrow before the annual hangar inspection by the fire department.

Wing Fixture Plans

Been designing jigs to facilitate installation and removal of wings.