The XPB Stage 1 underway.

[peter]

Thankyou for posting all this. I find it very interesting to see the " process" in action and really appreciate your openness and honesty, please keep posting,

 

Cheers Peter

 

 

[onetrack]

Ahhh, so we are on to Plan B, or is it Plan C or D?

 

I'm a little puzzled here. You speak of "I am not happy with the continuity of supply for material, and especially welding to my standards" ...

 

I was under the impression that Plan A involved inserting sections into stamped cut-outs in lengths of extrusion. I didn't see any welding involved in that design. Did I miss something?

 

 

[bexrbetter]

Ahhh, so we are on to Plan B, or is it Plan C or D? I'm a little puzzled here. You speak of "I am not happy with the continuity of supply for material, and especially welding to my standards" ...

 

I was under the impression that Plan A involved inserting sections into stamped cut-outs in lengths of extrusion. I didn't see any welding involved in that design. Did I miss something?

Yes you missed the grey coloured, welded box sections at the nose, middle and tail holding it together. They are what I am not happy with to supply reliably to a standard.

 

The side plates are riveted and bolted on and can be simply cut from which ever material I choose such as Chrome Moly, a 7000 series Al or Titanium sheet

 

Have a look again at this picture then reference the "rubbish pile" picture just above ...

 

 

 

[bexrbetter]

Oh and my sheets finally arrived ..

 

 

 

[mnewbery]

Which pyjamas go best with those?

 

 

[planedriver]

Success, is often measured not by the number of times you tried but failed to your own satisfaction, but by the number of times you tried again until it did.

 

Good luck mate, we are sure you will get there, and love to read about your ambitions.

 

 

[pylon500]

Which pyjamas go best with those?

 

 

[onetrack]

Ahh, I see now what I missed, thanks for pointing that out.

 

You do realise, of course? - that by the time you have mastered 2D or even 3D CAD, and settled on a superb, labour-saving, totally new, and cunning design - that a 3D-printed aircraft frame will promptly make your idea look like a Model T Ford??

 

Beijing University Unveils Enormous 3D Printed Aircraft Frames & More, Created with SLS Technology

 

 

[bexrbetter]

that a 3D-printed aircraft frame will promptly make your idea look like a Model T Ford??

Yeah, but mine will still be the price of a Model T Ford.

 

I can get some similar just around the corner in Ti, albeit machined, not printed. Got a picture somewhere I think, will look tumurru.

 

 

[Downunder]

I like the flat plates over the welded frames because they are easier and cheaper to make.

 

The packing at some point needs to be looked at and the plates "flat packed" will ultimately result in a smaller overall package.

 

They are less likely to be damaged in transit too.

 

It all needs to be considered......

 

 

[bexrbetter]

I like the flat plates over the welded frames because they are easier and cheaper to make.

... and a valid point is the laser will cut any material to the pattern, except carbon fibre which can be water cut. But I have a laser 5 minutes away so aluminium, chrome moly, titanium or stainless is the choice. Most likely Ti or stainless as they are at arm's length and available by the sheet. 440 stainless is stronger than chrome moly btw.

 

 

[bexrbetter]

So after another late night of designing nose and tail modules and today turning them into CNC files and sending them to my laser guy, hopefully tomorrow I will have some bits that look like this in real life ...

 

 

In case anyone is wondering about the step in the frame where the 'X' is, that's where the landing gear goes.

 

 

[pylon500]

In case anyone is wondering about the step in the frame where the 'X' is, that's where the landing gear goes.

So no option as a taildragger?

If you came up with a way of making the plate symmetrical, you could just reverse it for tail wheel set up.

 

 

[Marty_d]

Yeah, but mine will still be the price of a Model T Ford.

Have you seen the price of a fully restored Model T these days??

 

 

[kasper]

Have you seen the price of a fully restored Model T these days??

Or even the original cost of the things? Even in 1928 when the cost had fallen to US$300 that was still more than a 1/4 of the average US pretax yearly wage ... in 1908 when they came out they were US$850 and that was more than 1 1/4 years wages!

On Australian average wages in 2016 of AUS$78,000 the price equivalent of the 1908 model T would be just under AUS$100k ... so realistically a factory built Jabiru IS the equivalent today of Model T prices ...

 

 

[geoffreywh]

I was going to add.............."and about as reliable" but I wont

 

 

[bexrbetter]

So no option as a taildragger?If you came up with a way of making the plate symmetrical, you could just reverse it for tail wheel set up.

I have the tail'dragger plate on file, it's basically the same but the step reversed.

 

So anyway, this morning had the new nose, new tail and slightly optimised center plates cut and couldn't be happier with the result. Note the nose plate will fold around the corner to support the firewall but is not folded yet in the pictures ..

 

 

Very happy with the weights also, below target and lower than original concept.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[geoffreywh]

I used to have a construction set remarkably similar to your concept. That was fun too. Well done, and thanks for the extra tail wheel work.

 

 

[pylon500]

So the extrusions come pre-drilled?

 

 

[bexrbetter]

So the extrusions come pre-drilled?

Yes, the young bloke just loves standing there for days on end drilling 200 holes in each length. He had the hide the other day to ask if he could have some meat with his bowl of rice for it, don't know what this place is coming to, they see one Western movie and want freedom FGS.

 

I might grab a CNC router later to do it but early days yet.

 

 

[Kiwi303]

Cat is cheap, met once a week should keep him happy, plus a bag of chicken feet on holidays.

 

 

[bexrbetter]

Today was important to me because I got the completely unskilled lad and another guy who has some trade skillz, albeit in another unrelated area, to put the other side together all by themselves. I wasn't at the factory and I told them under no circumstance were they allowed to contact me to ask questions. I asked them not to try to rush.

 

3 hours it took them working it out as they went and I am pretty happy about that. There's a lot more going on between the 2 main center supports than you can see in the pictures btw.

 

Point being that I wanted to see if it really is as easy to someone else as it is for me, apparently it is.

 

(Note that the front supports are yet to be bent around for the firewall)

 

 

 

 

[Kiwi303]

3 hours it took them working it out as they went and I am pretty happy about that.

 

Give them a reward!

 

 

[IBob]

Would you give it a rest, Kiwi? I expect it's intended to be funny and harmless, but it's coming across as unfunny racism.

 

FWIW, people in different countries all over the world eat different things. There's no news in that.

 

But what might come as news is that in a number of races, a majority in fact, the adult cannot digest dairy, and so must derive calcium from other sources.

 

 

[Fishla]