Parts and Pieces

I'm still cutting, drilling and deburring channel parts. With limited shop time in the summer I try to make use of every spare minute. So far this is has been my workshop for about 80% of the project. I use my work breaks to deburr. You'd be surprised how much you can accomplish in the passenger seat 20 minutes at a time.

Parts and Pieces

Here is tonight's contribution. Stayed up late and finished two parts that I've been putting off for a while. These are parts to the brake system.

Welcome

Well I'm getting a late start on this so let's get caught up. I built most of the airframe of a Vans RV-7 a couple years ago. I got to the point where I could either spend a lot of money and finish the plane or pull the plug. I sold it to a guy in England of all places and after more than a year of ruling out other hobbies I joined a local flying club and started flying again after a six year hiatus. It wasn't long before thoughts of owning an aircraft started bouncing around in my head again. Actually the thoughts were always there I just could not justify the expense. After a year of exploring the type of flying I actually enjoy, I began looking for an aircraft that was relatively inexpensive to own and operate and good for fun, fair weather, local flying with an occasional trip away from home. I found Sonex Aircraft. I had seen them at Sun-n-Fun several years ago but was lured away by the 200 mph cruise at the Vans Aircraft booth. It took the better part of a decade to realize how expensive that extra speed can be and that there are other more affordable options. Bottom line, speed and travel are not requirements for me and the extra 30 minutes spent in the plane on the occasional long trip isn't a bad thing. After all, the flying is the fun part!

So here we go again, round two, this time building a Sonex. I actually got started back in January when I bought plans # 1286 from a guy in Louisiana. Then I ordered the aluminum angle bundle to get a head start on the build while I saved for the complete kit. I finished all the angle parts prior to receiving the airframe kit on May 18th. After unpacking and storing all the parts I decided to start on the channel pieces and now you're up to speed. I haven't taken many pictures yet only because all I have so far is a bunch of individual parts. As a result of lessons learned on the last project, I'm attacking this build with a mass production approach. It's much faster to build all the similar parts at the same time (ex. angle parts) before moving on to a different process.

So right now I'm working on the channel parts. Next I will probably go through the plans completing ALL the rest of the individual pieces before starting on the main assemblies. More to come!