Hello All,
I have my eye on an LSA design and am considering buying a set of plans. I am also actively involved with 3 people in the build/rebuild of a Cygnet SF2a. I say rebuild because the original builder made many mistakes on the fuselage that we have had to fix or remove and replace. We have had to replace all the steel wing, strut and gear attachment brackets which had to be redesigned to be able to be installed on a fuselage already welded. I ended up drawing them up and having them water jet which worked really well. Moving forward onto the LSA I like, I was curious if in advance I could draw up all the brackets made from flat sheet and just have them cut in the same way. The cygnet parts we had cut were steel but I am considering cutting as much as possible and many parts are aluminum. Are there any issues with the aluminum or steel being adversely affected by waterjetting? I think not as its much less harsh then laser and I believe Sonex uses alaser process on its kits? Also once cut, to protect them until I get to their instalation, I was considering alodine. Is Alodine enough, or must they be painted Zinc Chromate or Strontium Chromate?
Marc
I have my eye on an LSA design and am considering buying a set of plans. I am also actively involved with 3 people in the build/rebuild of a Cygnet SF2a. I say rebuild because the original builder made many mistakes on the fuselage that we have had to fix or remove and replace. We have had to replace all the steel wing, strut and gear attachment brackets which had to be redesigned to be able to be installed on a fuselage already welded. I ended up drawing them up and having them water jet which worked really well. Moving forward onto the LSA I like, I was curious if in advance I could draw up all the brackets made from flat sheet and just have them cut in the same way. The cygnet parts we had cut were steel but I am considering cutting as much as possible and many parts are aluminum. Are there any issues with the aluminum or steel being adversely affected by waterjetting? I think not as its much less harsh then laser and I believe Sonex uses alaser process on its kits? Also once cut, to protect them until I get to their instalation, I was considering alodine. Is Alodine enough, or must they be painted Zinc Chromate or Strontium Chromate?
Marc
