3/29/2015 Chapter 14

Made a wing dolly yesterday and cut a dozen pieces of UNI for the next step.   Not sure if I have enough epoxy to finish the next step so will weigh the glass and see.   One supplier has been out so will check on it tomorrow.

  

3/22/2015 Chapter 14 Step 6

Bondo and epoxy drips are pretty well sanded off.   3/16 radius almost done.   The downdraft table works pretty good when sanding.   The vacuum keeps the mess localized to the table.   Velcro held the side panels on the table.   

Time to order more stuff!  

3/16" radius/router mess.

3/19/2015 Chapter 14 Step 6

Took about 7 hours to do the bottom spar tape.  Ran into a few minor issues like the thread in the tape snagging and knotting.  The dam and bondo is knocked off.   Still have some epoxy runs to sand off and radius the edges.   The 50:50 hardener mix has worked about right at 65-70 degrees.   

Worked on the down draft table and made some foam panels to close up the the sides.    Think I'll try Velcro since the magnets didn't work very well to hold the panels on.   They need to be easy to put on and take off.

3/12/2015 Chapter 14 Step 6 top spar

Top spar is done and....I'd thought I'd posted this earlier but we've had a couple power outages, so guess it didn't get posted.   The bottom spar dam is ready,   hope to have it done by this weekend.

Bottom dam in place.

A 50:50 mix of fast and slow hardener (pot life 1.5 hours) seemed to work fairly well.   I used bowls of 4 oz of resin and 1.52 oz of hardener.

Wains coating cut length wise was used for the top spar dam and worked fairly well.  There are some epoxy runs so wish I'd put peel ply next to the box tape.  The lumber I had laying around that I was going to use for the bottom spar dam was warped, so I followed the plans and used 1/4" plywood.   Serendipity hit and I ended up cutting strips with and against the grain.    Then I recalled seeing some wood working tips where they pointed out how to use plywood if you need to bend it around something....it almost bends to easily.

1.5" x 1/4" plywood strips cut with and against grain.  

The bottom strip conforms to the spar much better but is is also very flexible, so takes more dabs of  bondo to keep it from springing out when pushed against than if the top strip was used.

To help with dust (and flying insect) control, the Paulk work benches are about to be modified to become down draft tables.  I've made some magnetic attachable panels for the sides.    The weather has finally gotten warmer too.   Hopefully other distractions and commitments will stay at a minimum for a few more weeks.

3/8/2015 Chapter 14 Step 6

The spar dam is an interesting topic when searching what other builders have done.  I can see why some used dry wall screws to hold it on.  The Paulk workbenches have nice 3/4" peg or clamping holes that could be used for rigging the spar in place and providing extra support to keep the dam from flexing out when doing the lay ups, but all that rigging would probably get in the way.    Originally I used about a 4" wide strip but found it easily flexed back.   Cutting it down to about 1.5" reduced the amount of flex quite a lot.   Box tape is on the trough side of the dam.

Some builders filled the little corner gap with flox to keep the epoxy from running down the side, but I think I'll try a mix of mostly fast and a little slow hardener on the first tape so it will set up more quickly to seal the little crack and hopefully keep much epoxy from running down the side.

You can see where the original dam's edge was from the old bondo spots and how short it is now.

A power outage last night put a damper on doing much.   Maybe Wednesday night the top spar will get done.  Warmer weather is coming!

3/4/2015 Chapter 14 Step 5

Put in a long night to get the 4 UNI layup done.   Electric blankets are on keeping it warm.

3/3/2015 Chapter 14 Step 5

Electric blankets and tarps are on pre-heating the spar and pre-cut rolls of UNI.   Lamps are heating the epoxy.
A small exhaust fan and duct (upper right corner of photo) are ready to exhaust the fumes through the doggie door.    I think this will work out good to start using up the two quarts of fast epoxy I have on hand.   One of the previous builders mentioned several times that it was to hot in Texas to use the fast epoxy so this will be a good time to use it before winter is gone.  

 Its nice to be able to refer to other builder's web sites.  One builder posted it took two guys 5 hours just to do the UNI layups on this step.   I'm sure it will take me longer but I'll probably have a helper tomorrow.

The high tomorrow will be in the 50's, then into the 20's.   Ambient temp in the work area for now is 61 with the heater off.   The epoxy and micro will be at about 65.