• Welcome aboard HomebuiltAirplanes.com, your destination for connecting with a thriving community of more than 10,000 active members, all passionate about home-built aviation. Dive into our comprehensive repository of knowledge, exchange technical insights, arrange get-togethers, and trade aircrafts/parts with like-minded enthusiasts. Unearth a wide-ranging collection of general and kit plane aviation subjects, enriched with engaging imagery, in-depth technical manuals, and rare archives.

    For a nominal fee of $99.99/year or $12.99/month, you can immerse yourself in this dynamic community and unparalleled treasure-trove of aviation knowledge.

    Embark on your journey now!

    Click Here to Become a Premium Member and Experience Homebuilt Airplanes to the Fullest!

Search results

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
  1. I

    Land developer attempting to prohibit my UL activity, options...

    I called county zoning. The procedure is 1) 7 board of directors will vote 2) Prior to that neighbors (decided by county) will be invited to comment to those 7 fellows 3) The board members vote if yes or no. Residents have no vote, only comment status. 4) She knows of airports, they all...
  2. I

    Land developer attempting to prohibit my UL activity, options...

    It's at a state of development where there are none who are in the 'subdivision' Yea I need to call the FAA again, they have been helpful in the past via email, I hate to bug them too much... So my plan was to fly w/o airport declaration, but if challenged like this developer already did, then...
  3. I

    Land developer attempting to prohibit my UL activity, options...

    Hi, So I have a land dispute manifesting: We are looking to move, the lot for sale is ten acres with 1300 ft of clear grass, flat, it's access is directly to a state road, not to interior private drives. It faces away from other 10 acre lots, no low altitude flyover of neighbors would be needed...
  4. I

    Housepaint for sealing wood aircraft

    Ok, it does seem that the level of VOC's is related to how well a finish penetrates. I tend to focus on the health aspect a bit more than some, which leads me to the distraction of finding some panacea finish at the home depot which is satisfactory. One thought, if I am going for a painted...
  5. I

    Housepaint for sealing wood aircraft

    So I understand the common procedure to seal wood aircraft is to: 1) Varnish (Spar urethane I think is the proper interpretation usually) 2) Sand, 3) Paint over the varnish if a color is desired. I am considering housepaint on the following conditions for my ultralight: 1) it has improved a...
  6. I

    Cutting 1/4" sticks, chop saw

    I appreciate the insight folks. The Harbor Freight chop saw probably fits this task quite well despite being certainly a low quality tool. The trained termites are probably more durable and higher quality than the HF saw; but leave more collateral damage.
  7. I

    Cutting 1/4" sticks, chop saw

    Hi, What ideas are floating around which are more comfortable/safer to cut numerous short 1/4" rib sticks than a miter chop saw?
  8. I

    No Fly Zones for Ultralights? arcgis.com

    I contacted my local FAA office, and received an informative response in a few days that was more lenient than what I anticipated from purely sectional chart analysis (and some of what is posted above) in tandem with some of the the understandings posted above. I encourage you to contact your...
  9. I

    Painting with latex house paint

    I agree, it concerns me also. We know the action on the top leading edge of a wing, in vacuum, is significant and dynamic. So I am likely going to tape it there well, then encapsulate another taped layer around the painted LE to have the entire wing in mylar. I could use fibered strapping tape...
  10. I

    Painting with latex house paint

    "I would never be happy with that mylar unless I had some way of shrinking it or mechanically tensioning it. " Sorry, I meant that my 24" wide sample is not rigged with bracing in a way to tension the mylar with heat. The wing will certainly be tensioned with heat and flat, not as per my sample...
  11. I

    Painting with latex house paint

    OK, so exterior worked for you. I know people refer to 'housepainting' aircraft so much, I just didn't know. My wing section (pictured) will be using 0.9mm 2 ply birch veneer on the LE. The LE may end up with tensioned mylar as well, or if painted well, it will just be bare. I am using certain...
  12. I

    Painting with latex house paint

    Some questions on latex housepaint for AC: 1) Can we go full gloss? In my housepainting experience full latex tends to be more cohesive than adhesive, and balls up, so I typically use eggshell, but for aircraft I prefer full gloss if it's OK 2) Can we use interior latex? The aircraft doesn't...
  13. I

    Straight edge ideas

    Ok, I'll go for that plan, sign me up. Anyhow, I appreciate the discussion, I ordered a misumi set below, 8' each, 2x, I'll machine fixtures to run on the channels, and to join the two. I get a system that sits with my wood with little space, light, and sufficient for the task.
  14. I

    Strength of wood vs thickness

    OK, meaningful insight. Heck if ply was flexible they could ship it by the roll. Partially true... They machine and handle identically, but Acetal is about 20% weaker tensile, and has the issue of void formations. Only once did I see a void the size of rice in a 1/2 part, one difference...
  15. I

    Strength of wood vs thickness

    "but no one seems to document any issues of correction for size of sample. " exactly! Even Acetal plastic has a voids spec that Delrin does not. Materials sometimes have dependencies on thickness. Especially a low resolution randomized stock like wood.
  16. I

    Strength of wood vs thickness

    OK, so we can say something like "Above 3mm thickness many applications for planed board exist" Is about 3mm the thinnest use for any non-ply? Obviously I can get in trouble with ambiguity depending if it's a critical or non part, but I try to frame my understanding around broad principles...
  17. I

    Strength of wood vs thickness

    I find occasionally in reading old plans, that they may call for 1/8" birch for example for a gusset, whatever it may be. Just trying to learn, is there a test regimen or chart that demonstrates that wood loses strength greatly past a certain thickness? I understand thin plywoods, their solving...
  18. I

    Straight edge ideas

    Thx for the suggestions. I do run a self levelling green laser. Today added one PVC shim to table (leg was 5mm short, far side, middle leg of pict.), now the whole pair of tables is within 2mm with very little work, still going to make an 80-20 system to control both axis' of the ribs I make. I...
  19. I

    Straight edge ideas

    Little Scrapper had a pretty good thread a while back on building a table. Yep, saw his with trusses and MDF on top, looks like a good design for light stuff. His build link is no longer, but thanks.
  20. I

    Straight edge ideas

    What kind of tolerance of you really need? Wing spars, a sandwich of wood over foam, for a part 103. I would say within 1/4" will be OK, There will be dual struts with capability of fine tuning those for twist, etc. Maybe I am overthinking the accuracy a bit. I lined up the tables 40"x16'...
Back
Top