Man Caves

[Skuzzy]

Annealing it before hammering it out should reduce stress ridges in the bends.  Although, that is pretty thin stuff to anneal.

When I make a windshield frame, I anneal it, then bend it while it is clamped.  Then heat treat it.  It ends up being a lot less work and the strength of the frame is very good.

Careful with epoxy.  It can hide corrosion.  For steel, consider an acid wash, neutralizer, followed by dry heat drying, then immediately primer the surface.  For aluminum, anodize it, then primer it.  I have seen a number of epoxy paint jobs fall off in sheets, after a few years, with the metal underneath corroding away.

Yea we have a 1970 south bend belt drive....i feel your pain

I go from the CNC over to it for something simple...dial up .020 and stall the belt... <snip>

Tell me about it.  I finally built a belt guard, as I got tired of the damn things being thrown at me like giant rubber bands being shot off.

[VonMessa]

Annealing it before hammering it out should reduce stress ridges in the bends.  Although, that is pretty thin stuff to anneal.

When I make a windshield frame, I anneal it, then bend it while it is clamped.  Then heat treat it.  It ends up being a lot less work and the strength of the frame is very good.

Careful with epoxy.  It can hide corrosion.  For steel, consider an acid wash, neutralizer, followed by dry heat drying, then immediately primer the surface.  For aluminum, anodize it, then primer it.  I have seen a number of epoxy paint jobs fall off in sheets, after a few years, with the metal underneath corroding away.

Tell me about it.  I finally built a belt guard, as I got tired of the damn things being thrown at me like giant rubber bands being shot off.

It's pretty soft stuff.  It works like butter.  Clamp it in the vice and get busy with the rawhide mallet.  I  usually only have to make 2 passes:  One to set the bend and one on the way back to bend the rest of the flange.  After that, it's fluting pliers (made from vice grips, 3/16" rod and the tip dipped in the DIY plastic handle goop) to take up the slack and a square til i get my 90 deg.

I just need to find a cleaner and easier way to cut the blanks out.  Using the router with a laminate bit is fast and accurate, but it makes one hell of a mess 

I was wondering about the epoxy paint.  I have heard the same thing a few times about it falling off in sheets.  I was wondering if this would be an issue for the internal structure as they would be painted one piece at at time.  I haven't gotten that far to worry about it yet and a friend of mine that is a helicopter wrench has offered to have me come to the shop and alodine  all my parts  some weekend.

[Skuzzy]

Honestly, for an internal structure, I would acid wash (that converts any oxide to inert material), then apply a good zinc chromate to it.  Should last forever in a sealed environment.

[VonMessa]

Honestly, for an internal structure, I would acid wash (that converts any oxide to inert material), then apply a good zinc chromate to it.  Should last forever in a sealed environment.

My Grandfather said the same thing...

It appears that the EPA is not too keen on it anymore   

There appears to be "safe" alternatives, though 

[Skuzzy]

Really?  zinc chromate is out?  Bummer.

[VonMessa]

Really?  zinc chromate is out?  Bummer.

It can be purchased, but it appears to not be as cheap as it used to be...

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cspages/ptizincchromateprimer.php

[Skuzzy]

It can be purchased, but it appears to not be as cheap as it used to be...

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cspages/ptizincchromateprimer.php

Ok, had me worried there for a bit.  Yes, it never has been cheap, as compared to other coatings, but for rust prevention it is difficult to beat.  I would certainly trust it more than epoxy.

[Ripsnort]

Nice man caves!

here is my garage where I spend alot of my free time. With those 4 ft tall speakers mounted on either side of the interior, I can pretty much shake the windows

[VonMessa]

Ok, had me worried there for a bit.  Yes, it never has been cheap, as compared to other coatings, but for rust prevention it is difficult to beat.  I would certainly trust it more than epoxy.

Same thing my Grandfather says.

I wince at some of his suggestions, though (he will be 90 this year)

The concept of painting the porch for him and his contemporaries back in the day was to take all the semi-used cans of lead paint from the garage, mix the leftovers in a big bucket til it became a battleship gray and slather it all over the porch.

No wonder he can't understand why the "exterior porch paint" we used from the big box store 2 years is chipping already 

[boxboy28]

Rip what happend to the trout pic on the front of the RV?

[Belial]

messa.
"I just need to find a cleaner and easier way to cut the blanks out.  Using the router with a laminate bit is fast and accurate, but it makes one hell of a mess  devil"



We have a waterjet and its super fast on thin stuff and can cut any material...you should look into if anyone has one near you.

Also if your cutting sheet metal alot of people use metal sheers

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000DD485/ref=asc_df_B0000DD4851499304?smid=A2LM8ZC59IT9RX&tag=pgmp-819-95-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395105&creativeASIN=B0000DD485
Cheap pair^

[VonMessa]

messa.
"I just need to find a cleaner and easier way to cut the blanks out.  Using the router with a laminate bit is fast and accurate, but it makes one hell of a mess  devil"



We have a waterjet and its super fast on thin stuff and can cut any material...you should look into if anyone has one near you.

Also if your cutting sheet metal alot of people use metal sheers

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000DD485/ref=asc_df_B0000DD4851499304?smid=A2LM8ZC59IT9RX&tag=pgmp-819-95-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395105&creativeASIN=B0000DD485
Cheap pair^

I've got aviation snips, a foot shear, box/pan brake, air shears and an air nibbler   

The problem is that I need all the blanks to be the same size or my plane will fly crooked and dump me out

If I still worked at the die shop, I would stack them all in one pile and burn them out on the Wire EDM

There are plenty of shops around here that can do it, but it kinda defeats the whole exercise of scratch-building one's own airplane 

[Belial]

I've got aviation snips, a foot shear, box/pan brake, air shears and an air nibbler   

The problem is that I need all the blanks to be the same size or my plane will fly crooked and dump me out

If I still worked at the die shop, I would stack them all in one pile and burn them out on the Wire EDM

There are plenty of shops around here that can do it, but it kinda defeats the whole exercise of scratch-building one's own airplane 

lol...i can see its more about the build then getting done

[Ripsnort]

Rip what happend to the trout pic on the front of the RV?

It's still holding up! That is an older photo before I put it on.

[VonMessa]

lol...i can see its more about the build then getting done

There is no rush to get finished.  In fact, if I even set a goal date, it is the first step to failure.

2500 hours is about the average amount of time for what I'm building.

More than likely stretched out over the next 8 - 10 years...