Log Entries - December 1999

Date	Chapter	Description	Hours
Wed 1	3	I cut the first practice layup to size. I will weigh it at work tomorrow. Next I made the confidence layup. I experienced an exotherm with the first batch of epoxy. I bought some acetone and a rubbermaid container for it. Cleanup was a snap. I poured the whole gallon of acetone in the container. I simply placed the brush and squeegee in the acetone. I cleaned them and then the gloves while still wearing them. Worked great.	3
Thu 2	3	Bad news. The first layup weighed 12.5 ounces. I need to work on that. I cut the confidence layup to size. Now I will wait a few days before testing it out. I started the bookend. Cut the foam, nailed them together, slurried the foam, and layed up the three layers of BID. I had a problem with the inside corner. I think my dry micro wasn't dry enough and the fillet was inadequate.	2
Sat 4	3	Trimmed the previous layup on the bookend and did the second layup of 3 plies BID plus a picture. I don't feel I have this down too well yet. It's time to contact a technical advisor and get some help.	2
Sun 5	3	Knife trimmed the previous layup. Cut off the bottom piece of foam, sanded, and cut groove for flox corner. Applied flox and four layers of UNI - boy is that over kill. Knife trimmed four layers of UNI.	2
Tue 7	0	Began building the epoxy pump heat box. I receieved the pump from Wicks finally. I got the box structure complete and all the foam cut. The light and thermostat are wired up and installed. All that is left is to cut a slot for an extended handle and cut the front cover to allow the spouts to stick out.	4
Wed 8	0	Finished epoxy pump hot box. Began priming the new pump and discovered lots of cloudiness in the hardener. I had to pump it all back into the cans - what a pain. I will warm it up tomorrow to decrystalize it. The back ordered foam for chapter 4 arrived today!	3
Thu 9	0	Heated up the hardener that had crystalized a bit. Filled the epoxy pump and placed it in the hot box.	1
Thu 9	4	Using the cad file I created print outs of F-22, F-28, IP, and landing gear bulkheads.	2
Fri 10	4	Cut out the F-22 bulkhead and the doubler from the 0.2" foam. I used an X-acto knife and are my hands sore. That thin little foam is tough. I'm not looking forward to cutting F-28 and the IP. I'll probably use the band saw on the next pieces. I managed to make F-22 from only two pieces. This made gluing them together with 5-minute epoxy fairly easy. I documented the epoxy pump hot box I also added some pictures to the chapter 4 page.	3
Sat 11	4	I did the first layup on the front seatback - two plies of UNI on the front. It took me a long time to do this. I hope things get better. I put slurry over the whole face, added two plies of UNI, and covered with a big sheet of peel ply. I knife trimmed three of the four edges after the epoxy setup a bit. I didn't want to cut the fourth because I wasn't sure if I would get the peel ply off. This piece is so much bigger than the practice parts. I really felt like I didn't have a clue. I'm sure things get better but I really need a sanity check by having someone else look this over.	3
Sun 12	4	I cut and sanded to shape the F-28 bulkhead. It was much easier using the band saw and a sanding block. Removed the peel ply from the seatback. Nice finish. There are a few spots that may be a bit lean. I need to get someone to look at them. I then cut the fourth edge flush using the band saw. I them sanded smooth all four edges. I then beveled the bottom edge, rounded the sides, and cut all the corners to be floxed. I did the second layup - one ply of BID. First I floxed all four edges. Next I slurried the face. I then added the ply of BID. This took two pieces to cover the whole seatback. I then peel plied the whole face. I had a problem while doing the peel ply. While squeegeeing the excess epoxy I formed a bulge where the two pieces of BID met. I had to lift up half the peel ply, smooth the joint, and layup the peel ply again. No fun but all went well after getting some bubbles out. Flox corners are tough. It's hard to get the flox to be flush. After applying the glass it appears the flox has shrunk some or oozed elsewhere.	6
Sat 18	4	After a week off of working and Christmas shopping I was ready to work on the plane again. I started off by finishing the seatback. I removed the peel ply, trimmed all the edges with the band saw and sanded the edges smooth. Overall not too bad. The two corners were the rounded edge and the beveled edge meet are the worse parts. These will need some repair. Next I glassed the aft faces of F-22 and F-28. No real problems here. I did the two plies of BID on F-22, added the doubler, added the two plies of BID and one ply of UNI, and then peel plies the whole thing. I do have two issues. The peel ply does not cover the "ears" of F-22 or the edges of F-22 next to the doubler. The other is going to be trimming the glass on the side of the doubler.	5
Sun 19	4	Cut all the glass for the forward faces of F-22 and F-28. 24 pieces in all. Applied slurry to the faces and the added the 2 BID and 1 UNI layers to F-28. Next I added the 2 BID layers overall to F-22, added the 1 UNI layer above the leg cutouts. Finally I added the alternating layers of BID and UNI down the sides of F-22. This was all covered with a single sheet of peel ply. Add more pictures of the seatback and F-22 and F-28 to the chapter 4 page.	4
Thu 23	4	Rough cut F-28 and the outside of F-22 using the band saw.	1
Wed 29	4	Rough cut the leg holes in F-22. Began sanding all the rough edges of F-22 and F-28. What a pain this is. To do the rough cut of the leg holes I tried a hacksaw blade. No way - this would take forever. Next I tried using cutoff wheels with the Dremel tool. This worked some but I went through my last two cutting wheels and only got through about 5%. Then I got smart and dug out the new sabre saw I received for Christmas. Much quicker. I used 36 grit sandpaper to start sanding the edges smooth. There must be a better way.	2
Thu 30	4	Finished shaping F-22 and F-28. Cleaned up the shop. It was getting a bit cluttered with all the work on the two bulkheads. Began cutting the foam for the instrument panel. Shaped the upper and lower portions.	6
Fri 31	4	Finished cutting the foam for the instrument panel. Used 5-minute epoxy to glue the pieces together. Did the layup on the aft face of the IP. This included slurrying the face, applying two layers of BID and one of UNI (above the leg holes). Applied a sheet of peel ply over the whole face. Knife trimmed all the holes after a fews hours of drying. Had to interupt my New Year's dinner for this.	6
Monthly Total	55

Wed 1

3

I cut the first practice layup to size. I will weigh it at work tomorrow. Next I made the confidence layup. I experienced an exotherm with the first batch of epoxy. I bought some acetone and a rubbermaid container for it. Cleanup was a snap. I poured the whole gallon of acetone in the container. I simply placed the brush and squeegee in the acetone. I cleaned them and then the gloves while still wearing them. Worked great.

3

Thu 2

3

Bad news. The first layup weighed 12.5 ounces. I need to work on that. I cut the confidence layup to size. Now I will wait a few days before testing it out. I started the bookend. Cut the foam, nailed them together, slurried the foam, and layed up the three layers of BID. I had a problem with the inside corner. I think my dry micro wasn't dry enough and the fillet was inadequate.

2

Sat 4

3

Trimmed the previous layup on the bookend and did the second layup of 3 plies BID plus a picture. I don't feel I have this down too well yet. It's time to contact a technical advisor and get some help.

2

Sun 5

3

Knife trimmed the previous layup. Cut off the bottom piece of foam, sanded, and cut groove for flox corner. Applied flox and four layers of UNI - boy is that over kill. Knife trimmed four layers of UNI.

2

Tue 7

0

Began building the epoxy pump heat box. I receieved the pump from Wicks finally. I got the box structure complete and all the foam cut. The light and thermostat are wired up and installed. All that is left is to cut a slot for an extended handle and cut the front cover to allow the spouts to stick out.

4

Wed 8

0

Finished epoxy pump hot box. Began priming the new pump and discovered lots of cloudiness in the hardener. I had to pump it all back into the cans - what a pain. I will warm it up tomorrow to decrystalize it. The back ordered foam for chapter 4 arrived today!

3

Thu 9

0

Heated up the hardener that had crystalized a bit. Filled the epoxy pump and placed it in the hot box.

1

Thu 9

4

Using the cad file I created print outs of F-22, F-28, IP, and landing gear bulkheads.

2

Fri 10

4

Cut out the F-22 bulkhead and the doubler from the 0.2" foam. I used an X-acto knife and are my hands sore. That thin little foam is tough. I'm not looking forward to cutting F-28 and the IP. I'll probably use the band saw on the next pieces. I managed to make F-22 from only two pieces. This made gluing them together with 5-minute epoxy fairly easy. I documented the epoxy pump hot box I also added some pictures to the chapter 4 page.

3

Sat 11

4

I did the first layup on the front seatback - two plies of UNI on the front. It took me a long time to do this. I hope things get better. I put slurry over the whole face, added two plies of UNI, and covered with a big sheet of peel ply. I knife trimmed three of the four edges after the epoxy setup a bit. I didn't want to cut the fourth because I wasn't sure if I would get the peel ply off. This piece is so much bigger than the practice parts. I really felt like I didn't have a clue. I'm sure things get better but I really need a sanity check by having someone else look this over.

3

Sun 12

4

I cut and sanded to shape the F-28 bulkhead. It was much easier using the band saw and a sanding block. Removed the peel ply from the seatback. Nice finish. There are a few spots that may be a bit lean. I need to get someone to look at them. I then cut the fourth edge flush using the band saw. I them sanded smooth all four edges. I then beveled the bottom edge, rounded the sides, and cut all the corners to be floxed. I did the second layup - one ply of BID. First I floxed all four edges. Next I slurried the face. I then added the ply of BID. This took two pieces to cover the whole seatback. I then peel plied the whole face. I had a problem while doing the peel ply. While squeegeeing the excess epoxy I formed a bulge where the two pieces of BID met. I had to lift up half the peel ply, smooth the joint, and layup the peel ply again. No fun but all went well after getting some bubbles out. Flox corners are tough. It's hard to get the flox to be flush. After applying the glass it appears the flox has shrunk some or oozed elsewhere.

6

Sat 18

4

After a week off of working and Christmas shopping I was ready to work on the plane again. I started off by finishing the seatback. I removed the peel ply, trimmed all the edges with the band saw and sanded the edges smooth. Overall not too bad. The two corners were the rounded edge and the beveled edge meet are the worse parts. These will need some repair. Next I glassed the aft faces of F-22 and F-28. No real problems here. I did the two plies of BID on F-22, added the doubler, added the two plies of BID and one ply of UNI, and then peel plies the whole thing. I do have two issues. The peel ply does not cover the "ears" of F-22 or the edges of F-22 next to the doubler. The other is going to be trimming the glass on the side of the doubler.

5

Sun 19

4

Cut all the glass for the forward faces of F-22 and F-28. 24 pieces in all. Applied slurry to the faces and the added the 2 BID and 1 UNI layers to F-28. Next I added the 2 BID layers overall to F-22, added the 1 UNI layer above the leg cutouts. Finally I added the alternating layers of BID and UNI down the sides of F-22. This was all covered with a single sheet of peel ply. Add more pictures of the seatback and F-22 and F-28 to the chapter 4 page.

4

Thu 23

4

Rough cut F-28 and the outside of F-22 using the band saw.

1

Wed 29

4

Rough cut the leg holes in F-22. Began sanding all the rough edges of F-22 and F-28. What a pain this is. To do the rough cut of the leg holes I tried a hacksaw blade. No way - this would take forever. Next I tried using cutoff wheels with the Dremel tool. This worked some but I went through my last two cutting wheels and only got through about 5%. Then I got smart and dug out the new sabre saw I received for Christmas. Much quicker. I used 36 grit sandpaper to start sanding the edges smooth. There must be a better way.

2

Thu 30

4

Finished shaping F-22 and F-28. Cleaned up the shop. It was getting a bit cluttered with all the work on the two bulkheads. Began cutting the foam for the instrument panel. Shaped the upper and lower portions.

6

Fri 31

4

Finished cutting the foam for the instrument panel. Used 5-minute epoxy to glue the pieces together. Did the layup on the aft face of the IP. This included slurrying the face, applying two layers of BID and one of UNI (above the leg holes). Applied a sheet of peel ply over the whole face. Knife trimmed all the holes after a fews hours of drying. Had to interupt my New Year's dinner for this.

6