Newbe with an aviation interest.
 

Greeting from South Central Michigan.

I am 50 years old, and have a life long interest in Aviation. I am considering building an airplane from plans that uses aluminum forming techniques to build the wing. As I have studied metal forming techniques, I stumpled upon this forum and thought it might be helpful to join up. I sense that a lot of builders are not aware of the best practices available for a home shop and sense maybe I could learn some proven techniques here.

Brooks

Hi Brooks. Welcome to a great forum. What airplane are you planning to build?

If I commit to building, and if I made a choice today I would build a two place, tandem seat, small tail dragger called a Bearhawk LSA. It compares favorably with a Piper J-3 Cub. The Bearhawk has an All Metal wing, tube and fabric fuselage, with a 65-100 hp engine. I would guess it would do about 100 mph on 4 gallons of fuel per hour with the 65 hp engine.

These can be built via a kit or from plans. If you guys can expose a few trade secrets and inspire some confidence, I'll build it from plans. It's a lot of forming small parts from homemade MDF molds. Some use hammers, others use presses with rubber. I believe an industry best practice exists that streamlines and expedites the forming process. If we can make these more widely known a higher completion rate will result. I just don't know what that process is.

Hi Brooks, check out Dagger tools in Wixom MI for metalshaping classes and tools.

Hi Brooks,

I've not worked on flying aircraft but I've made or mended parts for static aircraft so I have a fair knowledge of structures, materials, rivets, etc if I can help at all.

Will

I have experience, which design?

Marc Bourget
Thorp T-18 N18JT

The EAA sells a variety of books that are very helpful, especially worth while are those by the late, and great, Tony Bingelis.

I've assisted a number of Bearhawkers with their builds - on welding 4130 airframes and making some aluminum parts. But there are probably a lot more experienced guys around.

There are very, very few 'trade secrets' here. Most anyone will at least attempt to answer any question asked. Most of them have been asked before and answered several times. The search button is your friend. If you can't find what you're looking for, ask away.

Kerry's point being said, I'm an EAA Tech Counselor. I've served in both the AirVenture 1/2 day and full weekend work shops. EAA offerings, more or less to date, teach you various processes, but they don't teach you how to "build". That is, an approach to the job as a whole and possible approaches to each particular facet (one of the great features of this forum provided by the numerous, accomplished, experts!).

Nothing wrong with the EAA's approach to "processes" but I'm all about the "value added aspect" maximizing productivity and avoiding unnecessary expense.

Case in point, the weekend seminars culminate in a sample wing panel/aileron project. I volunteered to be a Tech Counselor. Out of 23 students, the fastest was right at 2 hrs, the slowest 2:38. After the class was over the two tech counselors (not the instructor) and 8 students were performing a "post-mortem" I blew them away showing how an "experienced" approach enabled me to complete the same task in about 20 min.

FWIW

Everyones encouraging words exceeded my expectations by a wide margin.

Names I have come across over the past few months in my studies that I see in your responses are Kent at tinmantech, Tony Bengelis, EAA Workshops.

For those wondering, Here is a link to the design. http://www.bearhawkaircraft.com/inde...lsadescription

Marc, what you said hits a bullseye for me. Key words you brought up are "teach me how to build", maximize productivity, avoid unnecessary expense, and turn a two hour process into a process that has the potential of being a :20 minute process.

It's time to order the Bengelis books. I will commit to saving for the plans. In the big picture, should one start with aluminum wings or the 4130 steel tube fuselage? I'm thinking start making wing parts.

Builders often start with the tail feathers or control surfaces. It's better to make your first mistakes on less expensive parts that can be remade if necessary.

It's always great to see another Aeroplane tragic jump on board. There are a few fellows here who have knocked up a rib or two and banged in the odd rivet. And always happy to help with any queries or advice. Welcome on board.
Cheers,
Ash.

Hi Brooks welcome to the forum
Peter

Welcome to the forum.
As previously mentioned,the EAA workshops are a good start.Kent Whites welding seminar would be another good one.