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Learning how to build Lotus Seven replicas...together!
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PostPosted: December 1, 2016, 10:46 am 
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First, Thanks everyone for the comments and support.

Vroom, wishing you a speedy and full recovery, being hurt is no fun, but I relieved to hear you posting, rather than hearing about you, stay safe. Let me know if you have tree challenges, I can potentially steer you in the right direction when it comes to tree work. I feel safer in a saddle and tied in (twice, sometimes thrice) than I do crossing a street.... Airframefixer fixing a tree..
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Arm is pretty much all good now, That was kinda tough to take being busted up for the summer. It was a drinking induced injuruy, so Ive decided beer doesn't contribute to accomplishing my goals and its easier for me to stop/cut it out, than to be moderate with it. Ive got to much other risky stuff in life to manage. Airplanes, pesticides, tree work, race cars... Jeez..

Ron, gotta say I'm missing the west coast and North Van. Unfortunately, I dont think I could afford the life I have here out there. Maybe one day. Im pretty sure I'd be driving my car and chasing you up the cut in your seven if I still lived there though.

Gonzo, thank you. Yep tough road, but were done with the baby making... onto the toddler stage, Parenting is a fun game, because its different every day.

Winning!!!

finally get to work on the car like I used to, been a solid three years since Ive been able to get this kind of time in. Long story short, Wifey didn't go back to her part time casual job, but rather a new full time job with benefits,pension, etc. Kids are in daycare as my flying job doesn't afford any kind of predictability or reliability to cover the childcare needs. The guy ahead of me at work moved up to captain, so I take his no.1 seniority bidding spot and pretty much get to dictate my schedule at work, a nice perk I've waited 5 yrs for, but would rather sit in the other seat. That time will come, until then I'll enjoy the schedule.

So, like I should, ended up the turf (business) season with more more than I spent and even paid the family a handsome amount. Some overdue shop upgrades were needed as well as a better system for organizing our garbage,recycling and all the other things that move in and out of our garage. Last year I stocked up on primers, paints, sealants, and other consumables. This year and prior to any car work, I put in some storage racking to get my pesticide and tree equipment out of the way in the off season. I put in two work benches made from pallet racking with MDF tops. They were sealed up with polyurethane. Lag shield/bolted to the floor, theses are sturdy units and offer 9ftx2ft of counter space each, which I will prove to myself wont be enough at some point. Still a work in progress.
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To get them fitted up properly I needed to get some welding done. I have a buddy at work that has a mill/lathe, TIG, MIG, english wheel that is building a hot rod, so there's been no need to have a welder to this point as he has been generous to weld various pieces of equipment for my business. The entire chassis was built in vancouver with my dads Hobart 140. Having some funds leftover, and some stuff to weld, I got off my backside and bought a TIG. Always wanted one and wanted to learn a new skill set. This means I am pretty much restricted to TIG/Stick welding and fit ups and cleaning must be perfect. You cant just plow in the filler like a mig, but I always strived for a perfect fit up so it doesnt bother me to be without a mig. In addtion, Used migs aren't that rare to find used, and It would be a lot cheaper to add down the road. Built a cart for it,I should have bought one, The wheels and casters put it over the edge of "buy vs make". Got some good practice though.
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When I was buying the pallet racking, I happened to come across some used metal parts storage cabinets for a song. Snapped those up and and now even my wife has an entire drawer full of picture framing hardware!! Im trying to stay organized here as much as possible, there's no reason not put things away and keep tidy. Productivity will go up big time!!

On the car. I left off at the "healight-lens-form". These will be vacuum thermoformed from some sort of tough clear plastic.. I dont know yet. I had Issues of epoxy filler and polyester filler reacting in the form, and had to sand everything of pretty much. One thick coat of high build polyetser surfacer yesterday and no issues at all, other than some runs. I also did the engine intake. I let these gas off in my shed to keep the nuisance smell out of the house, Had to mix beyond 5% MEKP as the temps were low last night.
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This morning, my wife wasn't even out of the driveway and I was sanding the forms, and by 10am the lense form was sanded and polished, and a heavy coat of pigmented surfacer was sprayed on the intake form. The darker color helps Identify high/low defects etc. The intake should be ready for layup tomorrow. not sure If Ill get to that though, Ill check my stock of supplies.

Till then.


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PostPosted: December 1, 2016, 10:52 am 
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Airframe!!! You're back! Good to hear from you!

And, as usual, your work is just amazing...

:cheers:
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PostPosted: December 1, 2016, 11:39 pm 
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Location: North Van., BC
Great update, you're one busy guy, even when walking wounded.

As far as chasing me up the cut it would be more likely that I'd get to the end of the on ramp and say "where'd he go?"

I have a feeling that as these last bits and pieces get done the end will suddenly start to look like it's in sight. We're planning on driving across Canada next Spring/Summer. Hoping to see a finished car if we can drop in to see it. No pressure though. :D

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PostPosted: December 2, 2016, 10:10 am 
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Glad to see you back at it, Andrew :cheers:

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PostPosted: December 4, 2016, 8:13 am 
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Thanks guys, and glad to be be back!!

Ron, sounds like a deal. Give me a good heads up when your heading out and Ill make sure I bid days off around it.

Had honey-do's on Friday and I was out of tooling gelcoat so worked on other items. Made dams for the intake form. This will be a a three part mold so requires a fixture and some planning.

Also doing lots of practice with the tig welder. Managed to fuse some .025 mild steel to a corner joint. Fun stuff, but one slip up and your grinding tungsten. Still lots to learn and need more torch time before I start making car parts

I have a solid week of work ahead. Planing on molding the week after next as I'll be off for 5 days.

Andrew


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PostPosted: December 13, 2016, 10:31 am 
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I finished my 6 day work shift, well 3-2day shifts in a row, on Saturday. Had an extended weekend with the family on Monday due to snowstorm/sick kids and wife. They're back at work and school today so I hit the ground running.

First. I need to improve either my polyester primer/fiberglass process or not do it this time of year so I dont stink up the house. I know its a nuisance smell and Styrene can be detected down to .2 PPM, so if its around you will notice. Just walk into any fiberglass shop and you'll see.

Wife walks into the house (we all come and go through the garage):

Wife: Whats that smell, its stinks.
Airframefixer:.........Pine-sol.....I just washed the floors.
Wife: I dont think so, Its very "solventy".
Airframefixer:.........Pine-sol..
Wife: The whole house wreaks.
Airframefixer. I know!! that Pine-sol stinks, doesnt it.
Wife: What were you doing today?

....Game over. And btw, my sandwiches tasted like fiberglass for the week.. It really gets into everything especially food! I did my food prep for the week the afternoon I sprayed polyester surfacing primer.

So, the plan is to spray gel-coat and do layups in my shed. Breather and ventilation is not a concern as I use a fresh air breathing system with the air source 100 ft away. The only challenge is temperatures. The tentative plan is to use a space heater powered by my generator. Its running right now and Ill see if I can at least get it to 15C in there. If so, all I need is a dry day.

Having said all that I did do some painting today, epoxy primer. This stuff doesn't stink, doesn't get into food etc. From a health standpoint, getting it on your skin is the major concern.
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I bought that primer more than 6 yrs ago and it was pretty settled. Having done battle with various agitators and mixer, it look like Ive found one that works well. Note the air drill, you dont want to use an electric or cordless drill mixing volatile paints as the arc in the drill motor is a source of ignition.
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A blury pic, but these are graduated breast milk containers. The hospital gave us a ton when we had our second girl. I kept them for this reason.
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Nothing special with the work here. These are the parts for the gas filler door.
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Andrew


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PostPosted: December 22, 2016, 3:14 pm 
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Had a productive few days in the shop. Primed, assembled and installed the gas fillet door. It's bonded in with polysulfide and blinded riveted where there is metal to composite. Solid rivets will crush laminates during installation so blind rivets are necessary.

Did some body work as well. Filling voids and pin holes and sanding. Nothing special, I do realize that is going much quicker than expected though. Some corners and flat spots will need additional composite work. Not too concerned with that as its not too bad to work with vs polyester.

Then onto some items required to be road legal in nova Scotia. Namely an addition to the roll hoop and a windshield. Yes... a windshield. It wasn't required in BC, but is here so pretty much any additions to the frame or body from here on in are after thoughts.

The windshield will be a simple flat screen secured to a frame which is bolted the the frame. Of course, this will be removed when this turns into a track car. Need to source a manual wiper, fluid sprayer and a de fogging system per the regs. I have some ideas and they are really simple.

Other bits are the struts that hold up the lower side pods. They were just threaded rods and far too flexible. The new versions are 3/8 tube with threads welded on the ends. Much stiffer.

The other item was welding in another roll hoop brace per the engineers request.


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PostPosted: December 22, 2016, 4:14 pm 
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More pics.

The windshield frame was quite laborous. Not so much the fab work, but rather all the crawling in and out from under the dash to measure, mark, etc. Also constant removeall and instalation of the front body work checking clearances.

As Tuesday, I felt my tig skills were at the level where I would be happy making car parts and welding on the car. Done lots of practicing and a few things that have made the learning curve less step were a cheater lense inside the helmet and swapping out torch heads for a 9 torch with gas lense. The smaller torch is much more manageable. Still lots to learn and I'm ever practicing.


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PostPosted: December 22, 2016, 6:18 pm 
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More pics.


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PostPosted: December 23, 2016, 8:23 pm 
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Always nice when things go quicker than expected, wish it was 50/50 on that.

Too bad about the windshield requirement but it looks like it's a manageable, not too onerous, hoop to jump through.

Great progress on the TIG welding. Do you use a gas diffuser lenses?

Ron

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PostPosted: December 27, 2016, 1:37 pm 
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sevenesqueron wrote:
Always nice when things go quicker than expected, wish it was 50/50 on that.

Too bad about the windshield requirement but it looks like it's a manageable, not too onerous, hoop to jump through.

Great progress on the TIG welding. Do you use a gas diffuser lenses?

Ron


Thanks Ron.

Really hoping the windshield will not as ugly as I think it will. Its going to me more of a large aero screen.

I have a trick with the pin holes in the composite parts. I mix glass bubbles with primer and roll on the first coat. Makes sanding easier and gets the primer into the pin holes.

As for the tig torch. Yes. I have gas lenses on both the 9 and 17. There is a kit available to use 9 cups on a 17 torch, referred to as a stubby gas lense kit. Everlast welders.ca sells this kit, but managed to swap torch heads to the 9 style with lenses, collets, and cups for about the same price locally... not through one of the big industrial gas dealers. Found a local guy with great service and price, and actually stocked items, which I'm finding is rare

Andrew

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PostPosted: January 13, 2017, 2:39 pm 
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Update with some pics. Long post as I draft this up on a 2 hr flight.. don't worry the other guy is flying.

Not a lot of visual progress on the exterior, but work has been done.

Lots of filling of pin holes and composite work. As much as it looks like the body is done, it is far from it. There are some weak and thin spots that need localized reinforcement in the front and rear body sections. The front is pretty much self stiffening due to its shape. However the rear bodywork is saggy and flexible in a few places that required additional work. Also it is important to note for others taking on large composite parts that is it difficult to forecast how light and rigid the final part will be without building the first one.

At a minimum all the fiberglass parts are a minimum of 5 plies of 9oz cloth with varying weave patterns, the exception being the rear wich has sone knytex on the flat sections. Building it to the minimum leaves the option to stiffen locally vs making the part too thick and heavy throughout.

If I were to do it all over again and have a it would be plain weave 10oz e glass and knytex. The 7725 twill weave glass is by far my favourite, great drapeability but no one stocks it. 7781 is nice but a pain to wet out and pricey. Knytex you can build a thickness of about 1/8" with one ply with the expense of more resin. Let's just say if I made another body it would be much lighter and much higher quality. I would also say my abilities working with composites have improved since taking on the project and the next pieces would benefit from the learning curve I've been through.

Having said all that, I had to do some rework on the rear section where I have relived the rear edge to accommodate the wing mount. Not wanting to spend 40-50$ on a sheet of aluminum to make a new wing mount that wouldn't require cutting the fiberglass, I elected to spend closers to 100$ to stiffen the engine cover. Yes, composite supplies are expensive and my logic doesn't necessarily take into consideration cost. Having said that... I'm still going to make a new wing mount to move the wing higher and farther back.


On with the process to stiffen the laminate. Sand off the surface for uniformity and better adhesion. Mix epoxy resin and thicken with glass spheres. Spheres bulk out the resin and create a thixotropic paste. The core material used was scored divinylcell that will conform to contours. I made some squeegees from hotel room keywords that I collect from my overnights I do at work. A nibbler was used to cut reliefs in the key cards. Both the laminate (fiberglass) and core were coated with resin/spheres mix. As the vinyl cell foam takes the curves well, only light pressure was required in a few spots.

The edges of the foam are tapered down to allow a smooth close out. This was done after the core was bonded in and cured. Done with a 3 inch roloc disc and gentle near flat motions. Keep in mind that you don't always need full speed for delicate material removeall. I get that not every angle grinder/sander has a feathering trigger that allows very low speed, but if you can find a good used dotco, desoutter, or altas copco grinder, you will find delicate tasks much easier with there linear and sensitive throttles. Dialing down your regulator with achieve the same. The rear face of the core was closed out with 10oz cloth. Between 2 and 3 plies, I may add another ply later.

It is much stiffer now. I'll spend some time doing minor reworks in other areas of the rear on my days off next week.

Shop update. Made a wrench holder to get the wrench out of my already crowded tool box. Mdf, sealed in 1k polyurethane with. Much prefer the cheap cornice hooks over the peg board hooks as they pop out routinely.

After ripping though 125 cu ft of argon in a month (or 8 hours of welding) I decided to upgrade to the 330cu ft argon bottle. Almost 3x the volume for 2x the price seem worth it. Had to modify the cart to accommodate the larger bottle and added some additional storage features. The only dislike i have about the lincoln square wave 200 is the post flow. Its on a fixed schedule varying with amperage. It seems to be programed for the highest argon demand which would be stainless or other exotic alloys.

Challenging my purchase decision, looks like most major name brands in this entry level tig class all have a simillar fixed post flow schedule. Maxstar, diversion, squarewave 175 and 200 etc. To get post flow control I'd need to step up to a precision tig225 (transformer) or a synchrowave 210 (inverter). Both of those have disadvantages over the square wave 200 in themselves. Hope this illustrates the value in the lincoln tig.

Andrew.


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PostPosted: January 13, 2017, 2:55 pm 
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Just pics.. the small upgrades that help keep tidy and productive..


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PostPosted: January 15, 2017, 11:48 am 
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As usual, great looking work.

Where do you get your foam?

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PostPosted: January 15, 2017, 11:57 am 
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a.moore wrote:
Where do you get your foam?
It is delivered directly to him by a Heavenly Host of Angels... Well, OK, I don't really know, but it wouldn't surprise me if that were true... :mrgreen:

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