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I'll break the ice with this new section... :scared:

 

I bought plans in August 2003 after 10+ years of only dreaming about building a Rutan-based aircraft. I wanted a Berkut, but they went under and I'm sure I could never afford anyway. I wanted a Velocity, but I couldn't afford that either. I saw the Cozy, then took a stab at looking for Velocity Plans (silly me).

 

So I bought the Cozy IV plans and haven't looked back. At the time of purchase it was good to talk to Nat, but I also noticed this site and the www.cozybuilders.org Web site, and many other builder's sites. It was this community that made me comfortable with moving forward, even without knowing "the plan" just yet, but knowing I could get some help from the group if I just asked.

 

After many iterations and evolutions of deciding where to build (detached garage which wasn't built yet, or in basement) I have finally settled on establishing a "foothold" in 1/2 of my 2-car garage. I did do several projects towards "spousal appeasement" as well as towards building a detached garage (which I intend to get back to). Right now I am currently in the process of putting in 1-2 hours every night, trying to organize and filter through my grandfather's "inheritance"... I have all the brass bolts, files, drill bits, old tools, and odd parts I will ever need -- I'm going to build one hell of an epoxy box.

 

I built a table early on, but had to deconstruct because, well... it "was of inferior quality" and sized too small. I now have a 3.8' x 8' conference table (from my business) I was hoping to use, but I found that it's slightly concave (1/8" in the middle), so I'm looking to build a 10' x 4' table as soon as I organize all those dang bolts and filter out the dead spiders.

 

To section off the garage I am planning on hanging 6-mil plastic all around, to keep the majority of the dust from the other side. Ever see those plastic temperature barriers that section off warehouse areas from the outside/office area?

 

I have materials for chapters 4-7 and could start on the floor if I really wanted, but I really do NOT think it is a good idea to begin building until you establish at least a basic workplace and perimeter.

 

So there's me right now... how is everyone else doing with decision, planning, and building progress?

Jon Matcho :busy:
Builder & Canard Zone Admin
Now:  Rebuilding Quickie Tri-Q200 N479E
Next:  Resume building a Cozy Mark IV

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I am still working on my shop, spending 1-2 hours per night on breaking various aspects of the old setup to make room for the new. Attached is a preliminary floor plan for the new shop, along with a picture of that side of the garage. I don't have a lot of room to work with, but my plan is to establish a foothold on that side of the garage, and then "squat" on some space on the other half. I'm sure Wife won't mind if I go slow and steady with all of this.

 

My dilemma now is whether to pull down the sheetrock in the entire garage and insulate so I can keep warm in the wintertime, or begin building my bulkheads. We have a bathroom addition above the garage that freezes every winter, so I need to do this anyway.

 

Any feedback is welcome. After reading Wayne Hicks' post on sandblasting, I'm wondering whether I should build a sandblasting box, or just take the parts out back.

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Jon Matcho :busy:
Builder & Canard Zone Admin
Now:  Rebuilding Quickie Tri-Q200 N479E
Next:  Resume building a Cozy Mark IV

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Take the parts out back.

Yeah, after writing that, I realized the magnitude of the effort required to setup an area big enough to sandblast Cozy parts in.

 

As far as the garage workshop goes... I was thinking to build the bulkheads without a finished shop, but now I'm looking at my uninsulated walls with very few electrical outlets and am thinking that "now's the time" to rip the sheetrock down, run new electric, insulate, and finish proper before putting up benches, shelves, and cabinets.

 

Still, this all beats the delays I am having with my other effort of clearing land in my back yard for a 3-car/1-plane garage/hangar. :)

Jon Matcho :busy:
Builder & Canard Zone Admin
Now:  Rebuilding Quickie Tri-Q200 N479E
Next:  Resume building a Cozy Mark IV

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am thinking that "now's the time" to rip the sheetrock down, run new electric, insulate, and finish proper before putting up benches, shelves, and cabinets.

NOW is the time to be building your plane.

 

When it starts getting cold is the time for insulation. Lotsa people get wrapped-up in "pre-build". Get wrapped-up in BUILD. You'll stop for the ancillary crap when you need to.

 

Cabinets? HA! Opening the door of a cabinet is just one more thing to do in order to find the stuff you need. Simplify! Simplify! Hell... I'm in a tent! But I got wings! :D

"I run with scissors."

Cozy MKIV N85TT

Phase One Testing

http://home.earthlink.net/~jerskip

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Cabinets? HA! Opening the door of a cabinet is just one more thing to do in order to find the stuff you need. Simplify! Simplify!

Okay, with your permission Jerry :rolleyes:, I'd like to build a work table and a work bench, and can settle for shelves only right now.

 

I want to begin building NOW too, but don't want to start something this big without thinking some things through.

 

 

But I got wings!

With your Web site, tool advice, and words of encouragement, at times Jerry you are the wind beneath my wings, so to speak. :P

 

Seriously, thanks for the push.

Jon Matcho :busy:
Builder & Canard Zone Admin
Now:  Rebuilding Quickie Tri-Q200 N479E
Next:  Resume building a Cozy Mark IV

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This weekend I hung two shop lights (T8 energy saving flourescents that I never knew existed), moved a workbench up from my basement model airplane shop, and hung a 4' x 8' pegboard on the garage wall.

 

With the virtual kick-in-the-A from Jerry, and realizing that I completely did not want to rip my sheetrock down, I felt motivated going into the weekend. I thought I'd be able to cut foam for my first bulkheads, and lay them up, but time ran out. I don't feel bad though... I'm finally getting a shop together with some elbow room. It's sooo close I can feel it.

 

Any feedback on the pegboard setup would be most appreciated. :D

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Jon Matcho :busy:
Builder & Canard Zone Admin
Now:  Rebuilding Quickie Tri-Q200 N479E
Next:  Resume building a Cozy Mark IV

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ready or not, I decided that I had to officially begin building my Cozy in May 2004. With just a few days left, and just a few hours between picnics, I managed some real progress. Here are some highlights...

 

1) On Saturday I began the process of measuring twice before cutting once. This seemed to expand exponentially, as I compared the full-size Cozy drawings to the smaller sized original M drawings. I got distracted with finding the full-sized drawings of the Instrument Panel bulkhead were 1/8" larger left-to-right, and 0.04375" larger top-to-bottom than their original-sized counterparts.

 

I pulled the necessary materials from their shipping containers. After about an hour, I convinced myself that I was looking at the right shade of blue foam.

 

I had to cut the fun short to help my brother-in-law dig fence posts, but at least he owes me now. ;)

 

2) On Sunday I remembered I had thought about widening the fuselage way back. Why? Because it would be bigger. Bigger = better.

 

With this in mind to finalize, I joined two 2' x 4' sheets of blue foam. I then left for 2 picnics, wondering about the seatback width and whether I'd be able to use the full-sized templates I just received.

 

3) On Monday I re-read all the info I could find on widening the fuselage. I apparently forgot about the increased drag factor, which I found not at all appealing. I'd rather be Fast and Cozy than Slow and Comfy. I rejected the widening idea (with Marc Z.'s help) and cut a 42" x 28.8" piece of blue foam. I also decided to use the full-sized templates -- they're close enough and I am NOT tracing (so I thought).

 

I soon found that neither the full-sized plans nor the originals provided all templates for the seatback -- you have to make some mirror images. So I just traced the back sides of what I cut from the full-sized prints. How ironic -- pay extra $ to avoid tracing, and I still end up tracing.

 

I micro'd, cut cloth, epoxied, and did everything as I thought I would, but... I made 2 mistakes:

 

a) I overlapped one joint of UNI glass. The plans state that "this is unnecessary", so I assume it's not going to lead to a catastrophic failure. I promise not to do it again.

 

b) I used the Plastic Pressure Bagging technique and was happy with the the results. HOWEVER, after I had walked away from the layup for just 1 minute and returned, I found the 6mil plastic had ballooned in spots. :scared: "Yikes!", I thought. I forgot the halogen lamp was still pointing down on the layup.

 

I quickly pulled it off and re-stippled the trouble areas back into shape. No big deal in terms of air bubbles, just some movement of epoxy underneath.

 

30 minutes later, after washing up, I realized that when pulling the plastic off it pulled the 2nd corner piece of glass off. So more epoxy and glass and all was back to normal there -- better so, since now I put this UNI butt up against the other piece.

 

I received some satisfaction by being able to cut most of the edge at the "chewing gum" stage.

 

So there you have it... 25% done with Chapter 4, Page 1. :) Feedback is appreciated -- I was worried that I would have to do this piece over, but now think (and hope) not.

 

I should also probably get me a Web site if I'm going to babble like this.

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Jon Matcho :busy:
Builder & Canard Zone Admin
Now:  Rebuilding Quickie Tri-Q200 N479E
Next:  Resume building a Cozy Mark IV

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Well started!

 

In my (assisted) trial of a layup on somebody elses aircraft I got to do all the things I'd read about, but actually doing it was completely different. You probably could have written about what you were doing before you started, but I bet it FEELS different!

Mark Spedding - Spodman
Darraweit Guim - Australia
Cozy IV #1331 -  Chapter 09
www.mykitlog.com/Spodman
www.sites.google.com/site/thespodplane/the-spodplane

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Just don't let your girls near your layups with crayons next time!!

Well "X", so far they're the only critics I have, which is both a good and bad thing. Feel free to let me have it though as I "progress".

 

 

...I bet it FEELS different!

I visited a handful of builders and flyers, as well as read a good portion of the Internet :). I researched my shop, materials, plans, space, and 100 other considerations to be the best builder possible.

 

Even after reading Jack Lambie's book, Composite Construction for Homebuilt Aircraft I still managed to exotherm the 5-minute epoxy and make the mistakes mentioned here. The moral of this story? "Until you begin, you don't know Jack."

 

Not sure how well that translates to Australian. :D

 

So John, what have you done since that night? Spod, did you get the info kit or plans? I forget. Tell us!

Jon Matcho :busy:
Builder & Canard Zone Admin
Now:  Rebuilding Quickie Tri-Q200 N479E
Next:  Resume building a Cozy Mark IV

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Looking Great Jon!

i'm so glad to see you getting started. Its much more fun doing, than planning. I'm still building my shop, but having fun nonetheless!

Andrew Anunson

I work underground and I play in the sky... no problem

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No plans yet, just the info kit. I only need three things organised to get started. Find the time, the money and somewhere to build it. I've said the last point in front of my neighbor with a large, empty shed a few times now but the way he says "Oh sh*t" and runs away seems to indicate he's not keen...

 

We'll see when I get the bathroom finished.

Mark Spedding - Spodman
Darraweit Guim - Australia
Cozy IV #1331 -  Chapter 09
www.mykitlog.com/Spodman
www.sites.google.com/site/thespodplane/the-spodplane

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I'm still building my shop, but having fun nonetheless!

No doubt this is important -- I certainly could have done more in this area, and will, but realize now that everything you read about does indeed have a critical path. Some are obvious, such as the hotwire tool, but others are not until you start mixing epoxy. I'm going to revisit shop setup now and again, but keep going with building 80/20, then 90/10, and then 99/01.

 

 

I only need three things organised to get started.

Keep focused, and you WILL get your wishes. Those are the same 3 things everyone else had to contend with, although some easier than others. Look at Andrew here -- building a shop on a mountainside?

 

So guys, I hope to be reading about your own progress soon. Speaking of progress, I was hoping to get an update from "Builder X", but no such luck. John seems so far ahead at Chapter 6+ ... I shall endeavor to progress as well as he.

 

I am also the proud owner of a 90% complete Seatback Bulkhead. I thought I was 100% complete, until I remembered the last 2 sentences for this item in the plans -- cut 3 rectangles into the bulkhead, one of which being the map pocket, which can be made larger by going with the electric air brake (I think).

 

I did manage to make some more small mistakes with glassing the other side, which I promise never to do again. Turned out that the excess epoxy I squeegeed off and "went away" just dripped to the bottom side. See attached.

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Jon Matcho :busy:
Builder & Canard Zone Admin
Now:  Rebuilding Quickie Tri-Q200 N479E
Next:  Resume building a Cozy Mark IV

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After getting through my first few foam pieces, I have become an expert foam cutter.

 

Tool tips: Dremel (cut-off wheel & cutting bit), Permagrit sanding blocks, and a round and wide file (or another Permagrit tool). Forget the coping saw.

 

I made my F28 bulkhead out of 2 spare foam pieces and of the shorter height. I'm not sure whether I'm going to keep it this way or make another one out of the foam I saved.

post-386-141090152489_thumb.jpg

Jon Matcho :busy:
Builder & Canard Zone Admin
Now:  Rebuilding Quickie Tri-Q200 N479E
Next:  Resume building a Cozy Mark IV

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Today was the day I was NOT going to work on my bulkheads (can't call it a plane just yet). Unfortunately, "today" began w/2.5 hours of work at the wee hours of the morning, but that didn't count for "today" because it began yesterday.

 

In the morning, as I was leaving for work, I took a look at my layups. Ooo... the "chewing gum stage". I couldn't resist pulling out a razor knife and cutting away at excess glass. Here, I found cutting these layups was awful. 2-5 plys total, and thick tacky epoxy. "There's got to be a better way", I thought.

 

Tonight, I KNEW I wasn't going to work on the plane. But as I was putting down some mouse traps for my late night coworkers, I heard a faint noise... I got closer to the noise... "cut me, sand me." My bulkhead was calling me!

 

So out came the razor saw... too much work. Next up, the Dremel w/cut-off wheel. That started melting & burning the epoxy (nasty stink), and then I remembered I had a PermaGrit cut-off wheel! That was heavier, and the Dremel was practically brought to a halt at times and getting rather hot. I think I should have used the lesser diameter PermaGrit wheel, or something w/more POWER.

 

After battling with the tools I had for a while, I made a mental note to check Jerry Schneider's "must have" tool page. Which tool first? Hmmm... I want the lot!

Jon Matcho :busy:
Builder & Canard Zone Admin
Now:  Rebuilding Quickie Tri-Q200 N479E
Next:  Resume building a Cozy Mark IV

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Hi Jon - you currently have a timing problem if you're having problems cutting those layups from what you mentioned.

 

Don't worry it will come.

 

From another thread, DON'T pull the plastic or peel-ply off until the layup is cured (24 hours or so) Have a look for my post on the stages of epoxy cure. If/When you pull those off, you WILL pull the layup up from the foam and introduce air bubbles. It also comes up much easier after it cures. If there's epoxy dripping from your plastic when you lift it, it's WAY too wet still! You may need a but more pressure when squeegeeing!

 

Knife trim stage is when IT'S ready, not when you are. If it's gummy like you mention, it's not ready yet - about another 20-25% of the completed cure time is needed. You'll get to recognize it, as even 6 ply cuts like cookie dough. Miss it? then it's brittle and separates from the foam too easily, so wait another day to trim.

 

Sounds like you're using the abrasive cut-off wheels on the dremel! Not fun, and not the right tool! Get a "542" carbide blade (or 2) or a 545 diamond blade! A 199 cutter is great for many of the small areas too! Much different experience!

 

The "tools" list suggestion for this one is the Fein. Does the job beautifully, and you'll certainly use it when you get to more complex pieces. Then you don't need to knife trim, just wait longer for proper cure (after brittle).

 

/dan

/dan

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Sounds like you're using the abrasive cut-off wheels on the dremel! Not fun, and not the right tool!

Yes, I was :o but then switched to a Permagrit Tungsten Carbide cutting wheel. The only problem there was the Dremel's power it seemed. I do think a thinner wheel like the 542 you mention would do a better job. I may also replace the bearings/brushes on my Dremel.

 

 

The "tools" list suggestion for this one is the Fein.

I snapped my shoestring budget for the month -- and need to make do with the current vat of elbow grease I have. :mad: Still, I can probably squeak-in that 542 blade. :)

 

Thanks for the feedback and help! I will develop the routine sooner or later.

Jon Matcho :busy:
Builder & Canard Zone Admin
Now:  Rebuilding Quickie Tri-Q200 N479E
Next:  Resume building a Cozy Mark IV

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Yes, I was Posted Image but then switched to a Permagrit Tungsten Carbide cutting wheel. The only problem there was the Dremel's power it seemed. I do think a thinner wheel like the 542 you mention would do a better job.

I went out and bought the 542 Dremel Carbide wheel Dan suggested:

Posted Image

 

This turned out to be a major improvement over the Permagrit wheel:

 

Posted Image

 

Both are coated with Tungsten Carbide, but I think the Permagrit wheel is probably out of balance judging by how the Dremel seems to labor while spinning it. The Dremel Carbide wheel has the tool spinning smoothly again, and cutting the cured glass is like a knife through butter. Thanks Dan!

 

The Permagrit wheel just has a bit too much mass I feel (as well as the Dremel not being a Proxxon). I'll try the smaller Permagrit wheel, but am now wondering why I never looked to Dremel accessories in the first place. Oh, I know, "because I don't know what I'm doing". :o (yet ;) )

Jon Matcho :busy:
Builder & Canard Zone Admin
Now:  Rebuilding Quickie Tri-Q200 N479E
Next:  Resume building a Cozy Mark IV

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Thats a good looking looking blade Jon... How much does that baby cost? I'd say that I'll be getting one of those, although I do know that the Fein would be best. How bad is the new blade to try to "jump" out of the cut? Does it grab at all?

Andrew Anunson

I work underground and I play in the sky... no problem

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Andrew, I got the Dremel 542 for $15 @ Home Depot -- I didn't shop around at all. It truly is like a knife through butter through 3 cured layers of glass with little-to-zero tendency to want to "attack" the rest of your part. I'll look for more of this once I glass the forward sides of F22 and F28.

 

I wonder if there's really any need now to wait for the "gum" stage to cut with a razor knife?

 

The Fein apparently is the tool to get when you're ready to "graduate" to the next level. For that, I'm still up in the air as to whether to get the single- or variable-speed version, or even the air-powered version. I have time on that one, but... Father's Day is coming up! ;)

Jon Matcho :busy:
Builder & Canard Zone Admin
Now:  Rebuilding Quickie Tri-Q200 N479E
Next:  Resume building a Cozy Mark IV

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I have been using the Dremel 542 since I started my project...sorry, I didn't know any better two years ago....didn't know I needed a really expensive tool to do what my Dremel did pretty cheaply. <g> I seriously did not know why eveyone worried about cutting cured fiberglass when the 542 (or as I lazily called it my "diamond cutter" cut so easily...it does not cut deep (but easily through a few layers of bid....not bid, foam and more bid in a sandwich), but cuts without binding and smooth and straight.

 

I have finally started to use my second one. I use the very worn "first" one for cleaning up slop areas and save the new one for more precise work. (actually use the old one like a mini grinder in tight areas)

 

I have paid around $20.00 at Sears Hardware. The first one laste two years (my two year aniversary with the Velo was yesterday, the 9th of June...wahoo)

 

FWIW.

 

All the best,

 

Chris

Christopher Barber

Velocity SE/FG w/yoke. Zoom, zoom, zoom.

www.LoneStarVelocity.com

 

Live with Passion...

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