Stites Cleanex SNX-0414

[flyguy0609]

I figure it's about time for me to get this going. I purchased my Sonex from an estate. It was for everything identifiable as airplane related. It included a disassembled Corvair engine (including a bunch of William Wynn "gold" parts and a Weseman installed 5th bearing (with SPA invoice.),engine mount and nose bowl. Lots of misc. stuff, literally enough rivets to fill a 5 gallon bucket. It was literally a basket case.

And ... I have absolutely zero experience building an airplane.

My Dunning Kruger side was in full tilt.

Stay tuned for the next installment...

[BobDz]

[quote="flyguy0609"]

And ... I have absolutely zero experience building an airplane.
[/quote

Everyone starts somewhere.
Just like eating an elephant, one bite at a time.

[flyguy0609]

The first thing to do was to try and figure out what exactly I had. The aft fuselage side skins were corroded way beyond repair with heavy white corrosion and deeply pitted. They were trashed. The upper and lower wing skins were showing much less white corrosion, and I decided they needed to be replaced. The few parts that were riveted had anywhere from 25% to 40% bad rivets, so I decided to reject anything with rivets.

Finding a home for the project was net easy. I live in a high-rise condo in large urban area, no chance of "home" building. I was unable to find any space that was suitable within 50 miles. I ended up hitting pay dirt when I went to EAA chapter 260 at C56. I reached out to Jay Vieaux, an EAA technical counselor at 260 and I can't say enough about him. My hangar is next to his and he stops by at least once a weekend. The support I get from him, and the rest of the chapter, is phenomenal. It's good to be in a community of builders.

I'm feeling a bit frustrated about my progress lately. Life happens, Thanksgiving through new years is always slow build time, I made progress in Jan and Feb, and March. This month I has been slow at the hangar, Spent time in Texas visiting my Grand-kids and this weekend I'm recovering from oral surgery. (ugh)

Progress to date. Vertical stabilizer is ready to have the skin riveted. Not happy with the fiberglass tips. They were cut and pilot drilled by the previous builder, I'm trying to decide if I should Use, replace or fabricate the stabilizer tips. Jay is an expert with an English Wheel. The glass tips are asymmetric about the vertical longitudinal axis. see photos.

The vertical stab appears to lean to the left because it is only clamped to the table on the left side. I found the asymmetry in another Sonex of the same vintage as my kit.

What a long strange trip it's been....

[flyguy0609]

Last weekend I was back at the hangar. I usually start with a bit of clean up and returning to a some sort of orderly work area. I have a clothes basket on the floor next to my work bench full of chunks of HDPE and wood. The wood is salvaged from the skids used to transport steel coils and are made out of red oak and poplar. The Poplar is nice to use, but the red oak is literally harder than nails. Broke a band saw blade. I use the HDPE to make forms to fit inside ribs and channel stock. I mill them to a snug fit so they immobilize the part while drilling holes. At the present time I use the end mill to fabricate the gazillion clips. The HDPE and wood is also used to stabilize thin section material while milling. This reduces chatter to a bare minimum and creates a much nicer cut. The quality of the cut is also influenced by the way the material is fed to the mill. (see image) I prefer climb milling because, the material is being forced against the stabilizing material, minimizing chatter (vibration) and the initial contact area (where most of the schmutz/ burrs are formed) is cut away, minimizing burring. When machining or cutting aluminum, stay away from the titanium bits. They have an affinity for aluminum and get really gunked up. Tool alert, I recently purchase some 30 x 40 double margin piloted drill bits from Pan American Tool. https://www.panamericantool.com/double- ... s-937.html
The pilot is a # 40 and the full size is a #30 drill. They are a bit pricey, however, they replace 3 drill bits and bit changes and the associated clecoing, unclecoing, and deburring.