n00bs Gonna Build a Carden

[why_fly_high]

All is cool dude. There is a reason why it was sitting in the closet. I didn't know about missing a tire, I'm thinking it was there when you borrowed it. I use the big dog saws at work when I need to do real cutting. Enjoy playing with your tool. Is the sander I loaned missing anything now?

Dan

[gareth.ky]

Yea, I can't seem to find the sawdust that was all over it.

[gareth.ky]

She's up on her feet!

I'm getting a bunch of stuff done this weekend that I was afraid to do, like drilling the landing gear parts. I used some masking tape to transfer the hole locations from the bottom of the fuse to the aluminum. I am still shocked that it went off without a hitch.

I credit my success to this mysterious device:

Called a Center Punch, its spring loaded. You put the tip on the spot you want to drill and press down. The spring will 'pop' and the tool will make a nice dent in the surface in the shape of a drill bit tip. This keeps the bit from wandering when you drill. I didn't really know I was supposed to be using one all along but its cheap and it really helps!!!

I used band saw to cut on some 2x4 into this handy little fence for the drill press. The fence stops the piece from rotating, all you have to do is hold or clamp the work down. Some clamps like this could be even better.

I put in Vern's sweet tail wheel in the back. You can see the back plate I made to hold the blind nuts. This isn't coming loose.

The bandsaw made quick work of cutting off the hinge material on the left elevator. I'll be working on beveling the parts this week.

My latest screw up is cutting too much material away from the turtle deck to fit the fin. I almost got it right:

[FlyguyXII]

Lokking good!! I cant wait to hear how it flies. Are you going to be lightening the fuselage sides at all?

[gareth.ky]

Lets not go there yet. I've been working really hard to keep the weight down and not cut any holes in things. If its needed for balance then maybe.

[gareth.ky]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Simpleton
	You can hit the glued on sand paper with a heat gun and it really speeds up the peeling off process, and comes off cleaner than just peeling it off at ambient temp.

Just got a chance to try that, works Great!

I have the bottom deck sitting in glue right now. When I went to fit it up I found that one side of the fuse had a small bulge in it. I had to cut out several of the sticks and do them over.

This time I had the band saw so I gave that a try. I marked the cuts with a knife and then basically free hand cut them on the saw. I just put the stick up against a bit of 2x4 as a fence and move the fence by hand. Works really well. I still messed up some sticks but only like 2. For the lateral sticks you can set the miter gauge to the right angle and just use that. They come out exactly right and you can do them really fast.

[Simpleton]

I'll post some pics of my home made adjustable rip fence this evening. It's great, just take a piece of the stick you need to copy, set it next to the blade, slide the rip fence over where it's juuuust touching the stick, and set it. Then you can just slice off stick after stick the exact same width. Some scrap balsa is handy to fine tune the width of the sticks, but it's fairly simple to get them perfect in short order.

[gareth.ky]

Post away.

I have a nice miter gauge on the way, an Incra 1000. You can put a stop on the fence to cut parts to the same length. It slides in the saw tables track so its basically a sled.

There are some places in the build where you have to join sticks and the plans call for some serious angles. I could only cut a 45 with my little hobby saw. With the miter gauge you could do stuff like that.

Also it can cut those 2.5 degree angles that I had so much trouble with.

[why_fly_high]

Jeez, is this a build thread or check out my tool thread? Get the thing done already. We need to get flying!

Dan

[Simpleton]

	Quote: Originally Posted by gareth.ky
	Post away. I have a nice miter gauge on the way, an Incra 1000. You can put a stop on the fence to cut parts to the same length. It slides in the saw tables track so its basically a sled. There are some places in the build where you have to join sticks and the plans call for some serious angles. I could only cut a 45 with my little hobby saw. With the miter gauge you could do stuff like that. Also it can cut those 2.5 degree angles that I had so much trouble with.

That's where I use the disk sander. You can just get the angle close with the saw and then put the super fine tune on the angle with the disk sander. Really tight joints, and you can get the length just perfect for those sticks that have to fit precisely.

[why_fly_high]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Simpleton
	That's where I use the disk sander.

I know he has one of those.

Dan

[gareth.ky]

	Quote: Originally Posted by why_fly_high
	I know he has one of those. Dan

LOL

Yea I'm getting on with it! I really want to get finished. Rest of the fuse this weekend!