I spent this weekend's shop time cutting out parts for the prototype -702 pitch carriage assembly. Boy, it sure does seem like I spend a lot of time using the die grinders and the shear to cut little shapes out of steel sheet. I think that in the future I'm going to try to have these parts laser-cut or wire-EDMed.
One of the things I did get done was to make some little parts for the roll inbut bearing that the stick mounts to. I can see that in the future I'm going to need a good machinist to do these lathe parts to the required tolerances.
I also did a bunch of work on the production jigs for the -701, -702, and -703. All three parts are being jigged out on a single slab. I might be able to send the jig off in two weeks to have the first set made at the TIG shop.
Another thing I worked on was a set of the phenolic pads that form the hard-points where the -701 mounts to the fuselage shell. They went easier than I thought the would. I started by cutting the outline on the bandsaw. Then I traced the outline of the mounting plates on the -701 onto the face of the phenolic pad. Finally, I used the right-angle die-grinder to bevel the edges of the pad between the pad outline and the plate outline. Even working freehand it was pretty painless. I think that doing this bevel is going to be one of the things I'm going to leave to the builder.
page updated 04/02/01 all text and graphics copyright (c) 2001 HP Aircraft, LLC