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The XPB Stage 1 underway.


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.. and here's today's latest build picture ..

A Comco C42 in the background - a nice flying, typically German well made ultralight. Sadly way overpriced for such a simple construction. Underneath the lightweight composite shell is a big ali tube fuse just like a Drifter.

 

 

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So working tonight into the freezing cold evening, I present to you the closing (literally) stages of the elevator by the glow of my electric heater!

 

Talking above about ........

 

"The problem and time loss of drilling your own holes is in the measuring, scribing, center punching and pilot hole'ing (and the inaccuracies that come with that)",

 

.........I made a mistake and I had to redo the 2 top sheets late this afternoon, and I did in the old hand style, and you can see the resulting wrinkles and poor finish (relative to cnc lasering) on the edges in comparison.

 

1124558411_Elly22.jpg.90d8f67556e1cb26c724bdfe40c598d7.jpg

 

 

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So, some more on the Elevators today, almost got them together.

 

Will make them look a bit more fancy later on, more important bigger picture needs at the moment.

 

26256436_Elly30.jpg.6c352b513f6c7cbbf03d1a9d3fd2ba8b.jpg

 

1807562106_Elly31.jpg.f00a2bf5891fb1def5beecb6adf9ead2.jpg

 

627676989_Elly32.jpg.eed3270f29061088f54028786443b58e.jpg

 

 

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... and then time to pay attention to the wings things, stage 1, basic Spars..

 

Bits including Spa Caps and Spar Web that is tapered and folded on the sides for self jigging besides extra strength..

 

1591299613_wings30.jpg.fd90d4ec29d6103448b72cbacccfb2e3.jpg

 

Next the major Gusset Plates that also act as jigs for self jigging, the little rivet star cluster you see in the middle is also a tricky little self jigging moment to align the 2 Gusset Plates perfectly, darn it makes life easy ...

 

1031231694_wings31.jpg.d080dd2994b46868246d4e49469a685a.jpg

 

Introduce the Spar Caps to the gussets, clamp them together and drill through the lasered holes in the Gussets (already done here) ..

 

310723559_wings32.jpg.7792369dc67f37b07b4a5ab49b949b67.jpg

 

Drop into the tapered Spar Web, slide sideways and it all jams together to self locate, easy peasy ...

 

37362915_wings33.jpg.6fe3c63f4d28e0d4f84b1626d68cf366.jpg

 

Do some final assembly at the Gusset end (not complete here, some components missing still and ends not trimmed yet) and later you're ready to start looking at Rib work!

 

1413368112_wings35.jpg.340d7a434c8417424f26f80caa62e539.jpg

 

497081610_wings34.jpg.a81b1cf93a5b97154cc31b6dda067c89.jpg

 

497081610_wings34.jpg.a81b1cf93a5b97154cc31b6dda067c89.jpg

 

2674864_wings30.jpg.68582bc9585f0c39894d50d3f91c4825.jpg

 

 

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Hi Bex,

Not yet.

 

It looks like you now have the task of bending all the flanges on each rib to attach them to the spar (unless those holes at the spar end of the ribs are to attach them to a spar mounted flange?). If you do not bend them all to exactly the same angle, there will be a discrepancy with their alignment at the leading edge. You probably already have an accurate solution to that potential issue.

Ok, I figured it out over the weekend, meant I had to scrap 2 wing spars, but was worth it, was too messy a system due to a poor foundation, and needed improving.

 

First I laser'ed a jig plate that clamps to the spar caps so I can very accurately drill the holes to accept the 'rib to spar' brackets (that I also figured, laser'ed and folded) ..

 

I love lasers!

 

1653194919_ribzlocatingjig.jpg.d72ceeb51b1d513c7b491f4437c2aeb3.jpg

 

... then added the rib brackets, distances between were perfect, and test ran a rib, worked great, very easy. Notice the rib sitting on it's little shoulders on the spar cap edges, g'clamp, drill, clean and rivet

 

2103024746_ribzlocating1.jpg.7584e23141004af2c40be520ce26f4b4.jpg

 

1241499785_ribzlocatingjig.jpg.00e177d1d9f1829b4295de1339f8cc33.jpg

 

541309694_ribzlocating1.jpg.77bf6d2de2dd98478f34511615c2f17c.jpg

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have to get serious about skinning the wings soon, so today I lasered out a bit of tin and set up some ribs to do a trial run rather than take the risk with some aluminium.

 

Lucky I did because it did need some modification to the length of skin going over the tip of the nose. All sorted now.

 

1661761459_tintest1.jpg.48702226f2e06b6af853f3dc6f780681.jpg

 

711895116_tintest2.jpg.9a75894ce21bfe3af7b7a28a3a1f691e.jpg

 

761142518_tintest3.jpg.c35a084be7a8d07bf49082fb7a8b973f.jpg

 

1615184648_tintest4.jpg.03512ca8e965e7ac196be68c42dfea83.jpg

 

 

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.. and another milestone reached today, after a lot of thought, designs, time and attempts, the wing spars are now properly attached to the fuse.

 

Another case of just because something looks good and works on a computer, does not mean it works in real life, stupid computer.

 

Please note that the turtledeck and VS are just sitting on loosely in these pictures ..

 

1935333065_wingfix2.jpg.12bea43b6044c12d47701147ca9539b1.jpg

 

1655683275_wingfix5.jpg.a306f16262c2621317dfe166b2ff9914.jpg

 

1509377350_wingfix3.jpg.b521cbc6d3f835f2fb5603f87b5c9a54.jpg

 

 

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So today I was playing around with retaining the gullwing shape I like very much. While mucking around with it I was delighted to realise a simpler way to construct the wing as well, simpler and less work (same foundation though).

 

The 'Gull' is a bit softer than originally planned, but will still be there ....

 

955919179_Gull3D.jpg.95cc7b72af6941299f9a2034846a3be7.jpg

 

2133029174_Gull2.jpg.cda466e32a3ef6515a4462dc3915cf18.jpg

 

64688220_Gull3.jpg.62baf1a13b0d03b1260795df84fddfca.jpg

 

437858604_Gull3.jpg.da4a5b90e9108f1a3e90e5d9da743bbb.jpg

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Getting the mid ribs all set up, almost ready to go on the spar, here you see the main spar, mid wing ribs and rear spars.

 

1099564078_midribandrearspar.jpg.ae6d0eab6edcd7c14620d2d5b9e21659.jpg

 

The tapered wings are very time consuming, with a straight wing you just design a rib, associated parts, a section of the spars and skins, and just multiply them, with the tapered wing you need to pay attention to each segment along the length.

 

 

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So have successfully figured the mounting of the mid wing ribs, not all shown here. Oh the actual mounting is easy enough, it's just what you do now that you have to be wary of how it affects things 8 steps further along the design, as ever ...

 

2063189060_midribson2.jpg.8e1c2188a3ce0408570d7b3b1aa5a27c.jpg

 

173897759_midribson1.jpg.8a717bfeffbc66a4c9ed7d34b36e5a7c.jpg

 

1302416603_midribson2.jpg.72ec6a5df01e69082b98f27597d0784a.jpg

 

1897266175_midribson1.jpg.e3b97a276f8c9c2fa4d670251d2b5e99.jpg

 

 

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There I was thinking it was just 'proof of the construction concept'

Well it is that as well, the penalty for that is the materials are not as long term durable, and not optimised for weight so it will end up about 20% heavier.

 

But if it can't fly at 20% heavier than that would be of concern as it's only the difference between 1 and 2 Pax.

 

 

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Well it is that as well, the penalty for that is the materials are not as long term durable, and not optimised for weight so it will end up about 20% heavier.But if it can't fly at 20% heavier than that would be of concern as it's only the difference between 1 and 2 Pax.

Good test bed for your new motor then :-)

 

 

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