CH650 build cost

[Litespeed]

Marty knows the right way to do it- real homebrew.

 

Having good bending and cutting gear makes it so much easier and far more accurate . A big bender and shear are wonderful things and can be had cheapish used. Will pay for itself many times over a build and is ready to use anytime.

 

Having to pay for sheet metal work and the travel, waiting etc sucks

 

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A smallish investment in gear say $3,000 will really save you heaps of money,time and anguish.

 

Then sell them when finished and get your money back if needed.

 

The same goes for a good compressor and air tools including riveter and a good rivet gun for solid rivets. A investment in the right tools make building fun

 

 

[bexrbetter]

The same goes for a good compressor and air tools including riveter

Have used air tools a good deal of my life but recent times electric tools have caught and surpassed as far as I'm concerned, electric rivet gun all the way for me thanks.

 

No more compressors going in the background or waiting for them to build up pressure, especially if you just want to pop a couple of rivets, no more leaks and airline repairs, lines going hard, forgetting to turn the compressor off when you leave ... ewww, you can have all that.

 

There's a fair few DIY bending brakes on Youtube, not real hard.

 

Do not use air or electric snips, they only stretch the edge and give you wrinkles. Get proper old style tin shears, secret is do not cut to the end of the blade, only go about 3/4s to 7/8s of the blade and you can get cuts almost as good as a shear ...

 

 

Do not make long cuts with this tin snip type below, but you do need left and right handed ones, eg; a pair each of red and green handled ones for cutting around corners and awkward spots ...

 

 

 

[rmorton]

I guess it depends on the kit, the Vans and Zenair seem to offer the option to buy complete tool kits, whereas the ICP offers some items but all. I have only just started and so far have bought many useful tools some essential such as the rivet squeezer (DIY versions work too) edge roller, and frankly almost anything else I fancy or catches my eye. Then I have also spent money on preparation products paints and corrosion protection some good some not so good. I have already bought the minimum equipment including radio and Transponder. Other major costs I know of :

 

1 Propellor

 

2 Parachute (deferred to the end of the build)

 

3 Paint job

 

4 Entry fee for hangar space

 

5 some kind of EFIS/nav device (deferred as late as I can resist to benefit from future developments)

 

6 Insurance