Last Monday, 18th, I started picking up the tools and started on one of the basic sheet metal kits I purchased from Vans when I bought the empennage kit. As I had already taken the sheet metal course with EAA / Sportair Workshop everything was quite familiar but I wanted to make sure I started with good practices so have been careful with the practice kit, stabilizing it with clamps, being particular about double checking tools etc. I am not quite finished yet as I have not done the final dimpling and countersinking – the instructions are a little short on definition – but will do so shortly.
A couple of notes:
1. I bought the cheapest band saw I could find from Harbor Freight. This is a horizontal and vertical converting saw. It comes with a 16 TPI (I think) blade which I am changing to 24. It works great for the $349 it cost (plus a couple of additional blades). The only weakness is that the highest speed is 200 ft/min and I’ve seen recommendations for 900 ft / min for aluminium. I am going to look into replacing the pulleys to get higher speed.
2. I am using a cordless, handheld Shark vacuum to suck up metal. Works really well.
3. I have set up cameras and will start live streaming as soon as I have my video logging up and running. Probably early next week (last week of September). I will also be posting edited videos with commentary, as I have time, on my blog.
So, after many repeats, picking up the tools is actually complete and I really am ready to start my build.