Wed Jun 06, 2007 3:16 pm
Glad to see that the ol' girl can't keep a good man down.
Wed Jun 06, 2007 4:59 pm
I suspect that we are like brothers, travelling a path we would prefer not to, on the personal front.
As my counsellor said to me a while back, be gentle with your self and very slowly it will come together. What you are trying to do at the moment, is to duplicate a action, that Consolidated did in a blink of an eye.
I admire that you are doing, it shows a dedication that few have.
Just wanted you to know someone was thinking of ya.
Every best wish
Col
As my counsellor said to me a while back, be gentle with your self and very slowly it will come together. What you are trying to do at the moment, is to duplicate a action, that Consolidated did in a blink of an eye.
I admire that you are doing, it shows a dedication that few have.
Just wanted you to know someone was thinking of ya.
Every best wish
Col
Wed Jun 06, 2007 11:25 pm
Gary, maybe I missed it? Why is the window frame so deep? Are you putting an inner skin on the door?
Hey Scott and roommate, Thank's for all the work you have done!! The seats look great and you are a pretty good "Tinpecker" but I won't tell the guys in Tulsa.
Dave
Hey Scott and roommate, Thank's for all the work you have done!! The seats look great and you are a pretty good "Tinpecker" but I won't tell the guys in Tulsa.
Dave
Thu Jun 07, 2007 12:38 am
Gary is right, I was in a cranky mood last weekend. A good portion of it I blame on SLEEP DEPRAVATION! We had to drive instead of fly for the third weekend in a row, so we worked our normal jobs for 8 hours, loaded up some B-29 parts in Tulsa, drove for 8 hours, and then showed up at the hangar and I got crabby. I really was an a-- for the entire time and have to apologize to everyone that was there. Gary isn't entirely correct about the seat installation, I really didn't mind doing it at all but probably acted like I did. It really doesn't matter what the job assignment, it all has to be done before she flies.
Dave--so far, so good, I'm still working on greasy parts in Tulsa!
Scott
Dave--so far, so good, I'm still working on greasy parts in Tulsa!
Scott
Thu Jun 07, 2007 7:51 am
Gary, I am stunned at the amount of work you have done, almost singlehandedly. I think anyone who has ever done even a small amount of work on machines would be deeply impressed at the time needed to do that much detail. You've basically been doing what a flight crew would have originally done, had a B24 come back shot to hell and been salvageable. Plus, instead of unpacking parts and slapping them on, or cutting them off a deadlined bird, you are fabricating them--again almost all on your own. I can only say that I am deeply moved by your dedication. I'll be keeping an eye out for you, here in Los Angeles. And next time I drive back home (New Orleans) you might find me looking for you at the museum so I can grab a hand shake!
Clay
Clay
Fri Jun 08, 2007 9:10 am
Muddyboots (Clay), thanks for the kind words and you are welcome to come to the museum anytime.
Dave, the window is obviously flush with the outer skin. There will be a inner skin that will attach to the inner (window frame) angles and the outer angles, that will help strenghten the door, with minimal weight. I hope that answers your question.
Gary
Dave, the window is obviously flush with the outer skin. There will be a inner skin that will attach to the inner (window frame) angles and the outer angles, that will help strenghten the door, with minimal weight. I hope that answers your question.
Gary
need this Gary??
Fri Jun 08, 2007 3:02 pm
Mon Jun 11, 2007 8:49 am
Gary, I just received Warbird Digest #15 with you on the cover, well done.
Lynn
Lynn
Thu Jun 14, 2007 4:26 pm
Lynn Allen wrote:Gary, I just received Warbird Digest #15 with you on the cover, well done.
Lynn
Did I say something wrong?? No updates...nothing
Lynn
Thu Jun 14, 2007 4:31 pm
Lynn
I doubt it was anything you said, Gary had formation school over the weekend, then he turned around and headed to Reno in the Cassaut. I don't suspect we will hear from him until next Wed. or Thursday. I do know that Daniel has been working on the airplane and had finished the storage bins and was working on the door when I saw him on Sunday.
Flyingsailor
I doubt it was anything you said, Gary had formation school over the weekend, then he turned around and headed to Reno in the Cassaut. I don't suspect we will hear from him until next Wed. or Thursday. I do know that Daniel has been working on the airplane and had finished the storage bins and was working on the door when I saw him on Sunday.
Flyingsailor
Thu Jun 14, 2007 11:18 pm
headed to Reno in the Cassaut
That makes me A$$ numb just thinking about it
Fri Jun 15, 2007 12:44 am
We're going out again this weekend and can give a mini-update then, but I suspect Gary will give an official update sometime in the near future. Ztex, I can't imagine shoehorning myself in that little thing for a cross-country either--I get uncomfortable in our old Mooney after a couple of hours!
Wed Jun 20, 2007 4:40 am
Well, when I last updated y'all, I was working on the R/H waistgunner's door. I actually started working on it again yesterday and I'll pick up where we left off........
Now that the inside angles were all made, they needed to have the rivet holes made and then be clecoed in place........
Since the inner skin of the door will be screwed to the structure I've built, I needed to locate the position of the nutplates that will be installed. Pretty straight forward deal here, just draw a center line and mark the desired location of the holes, then start drilling. In this case, I used the #30 drill to make a pilot hole and then followed behind that with the UniBit to make the hole the correct size for a #10 nutplate.....
Now, the way I've normally drilled the rivet holes for a nutplate over the years has been with a nutplate jig. It's just a little tool that has a pin that fits in the hole I've just drilled and has a couple of pilot holes to locate the rivet holes with. Then you have to come back and countersink the holes so that flush rivets can be used. It works pretty well, but can be time consuming. But just recently, I acquired a new gadget that drills both rivet holes for the nutplate, along with countersinking them all at the same time! This thing looks like it's a prop from some sci-fi movie and is quite heavy, but is pretty dang cool to watch work. Whoever designed this thing sure had a lot of time on their hands, but the end result is wonderful.
I started with a piece of scrap aluminum sheet so that I could get the countersink adusted to the right depth. But before I show it to you working on the metal, I thought I'd try to give you an idea of how it works with just a "dry run." This first picture shows it in the "neutral" position......
Now with the trigger pressed, the first thing that happens is the center piece snaps down, like a cleco, to hold the tool to the metal firmly. At the same time, the two drill bits are spinning and starting to work their way through the jig fixture portion of the tool. Eventually, the drill bits come to the end of their travel and the larger portion of the bit protrudes just enough to make a couple of countersinks. These two photos show the action of it all..........
So, it was off to the practice piece to get the countersinks to the correct depth........
They weren't quite deep enough, so I simply made the adjustments required and tried again, this time with perfect results........
Now it was just the simple task of running the tool around the angles I made and in record time, all of the holes were drilled and countersunk for the nutplates.......
Next, I removed the angles and deburred them. Following that, I just installed all of the nutplates needed........
Once the nutplates were all installed, it was time to rivet all of this center structure together. Pretty straight forward work here........
I temporarily screwed the inside structure to the outer skin of the door so that I could start the manufacturing of the inner skin.......
The inner skin is just going to be some .020" material (otherwise known as "oh-too-thin"
). And to get the shape needed, I just clamped it down to the door and marked the edges with a Sharpie marker.......
And that's where I'm at on the project so far. I've started back with the long days here, so I'm hoping to get some forward progress made. Daniel, Jim, Scott, and Ellen were all working hard in my absence last week, and it shows. Maybe I should just leave more often and let them do all the work. Suits me.
Anyway, I'll try to keep y'all posted on how things progress.
Gary
Now that the inside angles were all made, they needed to have the rivet holes made and then be clecoed in place........
Since the inner skin of the door will be screwed to the structure I've built, I needed to locate the position of the nutplates that will be installed. Pretty straight forward deal here, just draw a center line and mark the desired location of the holes, then start drilling. In this case, I used the #30 drill to make a pilot hole and then followed behind that with the UniBit to make the hole the correct size for a #10 nutplate.....
Now, the way I've normally drilled the rivet holes for a nutplate over the years has been with a nutplate jig. It's just a little tool that has a pin that fits in the hole I've just drilled and has a couple of pilot holes to locate the rivet holes with. Then you have to come back and countersink the holes so that flush rivets can be used. It works pretty well, but can be time consuming. But just recently, I acquired a new gadget that drills both rivet holes for the nutplate, along with countersinking them all at the same time! This thing looks like it's a prop from some sci-fi movie and is quite heavy, but is pretty dang cool to watch work. Whoever designed this thing sure had a lot of time on their hands, but the end result is wonderful.
I started with a piece of scrap aluminum sheet so that I could get the countersink adusted to the right depth. But before I show it to you working on the metal, I thought I'd try to give you an idea of how it works with just a "dry run." This first picture shows it in the "neutral" position......
Now with the trigger pressed, the first thing that happens is the center piece snaps down, like a cleco, to hold the tool to the metal firmly. At the same time, the two drill bits are spinning and starting to work their way through the jig fixture portion of the tool. Eventually, the drill bits come to the end of their travel and the larger portion of the bit protrudes just enough to make a couple of countersinks. These two photos show the action of it all..........
So, it was off to the practice piece to get the countersinks to the correct depth........
They weren't quite deep enough, so I simply made the adjustments required and tried again, this time with perfect results........
Now it was just the simple task of running the tool around the angles I made and in record time, all of the holes were drilled and countersunk for the nutplates.......
Next, I removed the angles and deburred them. Following that, I just installed all of the nutplates needed........
Once the nutplates were all installed, it was time to rivet all of this center structure together. Pretty straight forward work here........
I temporarily screwed the inside structure to the outer skin of the door so that I could start the manufacturing of the inner skin.......
The inner skin is just going to be some .020" material (otherwise known as "oh-too-thin"
). And to get the shape needed, I just clamped it down to the door and marked the edges with a Sharpie marker.......
And that's where I'm at on the project so far. I've started back with the long days here, so I'm hoping to get some forward progress made. Daniel, Jim, Scott, and Ellen were all working hard in my absence last week, and it shows. Maybe I should just leave more often and let them do all the work. Suits me.
Anyway, I'll try to keep y'all posted on how things progress.
Gary
Wed Jun 20, 2007 6:04 am
Welcome back, Gary. I hope you enjoyed your time off & got a chance to decompress some.
Mac
Mac
Wed Jun 20, 2007 7:52 am
Gary,
Nice to have you back so I can get my fix on the updates. Its fun to watch and learn.
David
Nice to have you back so I can get my fix on the updates. Its fun to watch and learn.
David