Aircraft tools homemade

Didn't make sense I found a old tool in the drawer Looked like it would work I found some kind of pruner or cutter of some sort I tried to modify the tool Here's what I used it on today Gotta Fly Stringers GrizzlyV6 Well-Known Member. Crazzzy, I like seeing someone make something from inginuity and need.

Necessity is the mother of invention. Good Job! TinBender Well-Known Member. As a former airframe inspector, I would strongly attempt to dissuade you from installing that part. The tool-marks and bend radius are very bad stress risers. You need to increase the radius of your bend by further modifying the jaws, and polish the Jaw surfaces so they don't scratch the work-piece.

TinBender said:. GrizzlyV6 said:. Hey Crazzzy, Take a look at these. They used round rod so they don't leave the marks that tinbender is refering to.

I still like the fact that you made a tool that does work! Crazzzy, You now have a cheering section. I want you to make those, then come back here and show those who only talk what happens when you let your hands do your talking for you.

Tinbender told you what you need to look for in a final result no marks. Note that the rods do not lay flat together. They form a shallow pyramid if you will.

Now go and bring them to us. Again, Good Job Jim. Hey Guys, I understand what your talking about I thought about using it Anywho, The stuff I'm using this fluting action on , is only the Tail end of the stringer material I made It's just to fade the end of the stringer to the inside of the frame So , I don't really another Fluting tool You might be interested in the tool I made to curve Piper Channel No Fluting required Some of the pictures didn't transfer Now that everything is taped you can build your fuselage.

Cut and assemble as per the plans. You'll be attaching the fuselage to the wings with hurricane strap. We tried 3D printed connectors but they were heavier than the steel and not near as strong. Glue the fuselage together with the same water, glue and tape technique. At this point you have to make a decision. How are you going to use your aircraft? If this is a glider, then you can skip this step.

If this is a lake flying ground effect machine then you can probably go electric only. If you want to fly to ' or higher, you're probably want to go with Gasoline Engines.

You can do ducted fans, jets, maybe even Ionic propulsion. At this point that bit of engineering is up to you as it is outside the scope of this instructable and I'm testing various thrust systems right now. We pulled it behind a boat and a quad, even an electric scooter. It glided down hills and ultimately won us the RedBull Flugtag so you know it actually flies.

But how you power yours is up to you. Now that everything is together it's time for the covering. This is probably the most tedious process and you'll probably space this out over several sessions. If you do this during the winter, you'll be much more comfortable because it makes a LOT of heat.

Wrap the coating over the entire wing from trailing edge over the leading edge and back again. Use a bit of packing tape to hold things tight. Then use your heating iron to adhere one side to the rib pull tight and then seam the other side. The tighter you get it, the less work you'll have to do with the head gun later. You want each seam to overlap the rib, going down and seaming the excess to the rib itself when you can and overlapping the next rib by about and inch.

The film will stick well to itself, just go slow and ensure it turns completely clear to know that you have it hot enough.

Once the plane is completely covered, or each section if you want, then you can start shrinking. There are cheap heatguns and there are good heatguns. If you want to burn little holes in your plane and patch them with packing tape, go for the cheap one. The lamination film turns clear at F and you'll put a whole through it at F. It takes about ms for that to happen. Go slow, keep the gun about inches away, at an angle and turn the heat to about F with the fan on high.

This will give you plenty of time not to burn through. But you probably still will burn a few holes. Just be patient, you can keep shrinking so just let it cool and keep going back over it until it's tight. It will get drum tight and perfectly clear when you are done.

You also will probably warp your wing in the process, but you can fix that later. You can patch the holes with more film but the T-Rex tape is fast and strong. Once you're done it will look like a plane!

Now you have to put it all together. Wallow it out well by moving the bit around. Fit the sold rod into the 1" tubing. It should insert smoothly. If it's not easy to put the rods in and out, then keep drilling and moving the bit around to widen the hole. You add the winglets and rudder, bolting them on as per the plan. Then the rudders install between the wing extension and the main wings. Try no to poke and holes in your plane while you're at it!

Square it up, check your angles and use the heat gun to shrink and straighten out anything. This process can take a while so be patient. You now have a working aircraft! OK, at last you can find out if all your hard work was worth it. You should have a aircraft that weighs around lbs plug engine and landing gear. We started out testing behind a boat but that was a total failure. We then put it on another boat, used 2' leads tied to all 4 corners and pull the plane with a 2nd boat.

That worked great and we found that 18 mph was the perfect speed to lift a person and plane into the air. But the real success came with the zip line. Using turnbuckles we go the line as tight as possible. Connecting the plane to two pulley and the pilot to 1, we were able to perform repeated tests in a safe and controlled way. Adding wheels we rolled it off hills with just a sandbag in it and had good results.

Just make sure that you have solid landing gear or water under you. Our aircraft yielded a glide ratio pulling off 81' from a 25' fall in the RedBull Flugtag. Maybe you can do better? I know we're going to keep trying! I'm working on making a complete build process video but it's going to take a while to compile several hundred hours of footage.

You can see a lot of stuff on Facebook at tnflugtag or tnflugtag. Question 7 months ago on Step 8. This is awesome. Where can I find plans for a powered ultralight and if you are in FL is there any places you can learn, fly, rent an ultralight?

Question 1 year ago on Step 5. I would just like to ask, where is the best place to source engines? I know that engines are not covered in this tutorial, but kind of want to add one if I end up building this. Or if you could like modify a lawnmower engine and use that. I did have a lawnmower awhile ago, but had to give it up. But I could buy another one. I do have a whippersnipper, with a small propeller connected to it, but I have a feeling that would be just a bit too underpowered.

Also, is there a good place to go to look up wiring diagrams and designs? And what would be the best type of wiring to use for aircraft avionics.

And it makes the price of flying much much cheaper. Thank you very much for putting this up. Question 2 years ago on Step 7. Hi, i am a bit confused - you mention 3mm Lamination film. If you have a link to it in Amazon would be appreciated so i can track down something similiar in Australia. Reply 2 years ago. There's a measurement called "mils" that is thousandths of an inch. Don't worry, this blew my mind at a factory I worked at. There were all "get it to within 2 mils' and I kept looking for a measurement tool that precise.

Mil is just a old imperial thousandth. Want to take to the skies in a plane that you've designed and built yourself? You've got a long climb ahead of you, but some inexpensive tools and a supportive community of like-minded pilots will help you on your way.

Build virtually first To test how well your ideas will work in practice, buy a copy of X-Plane, a program that lets you design a plane and then fly it over realistic landscapes. Design the structure To configure actual parts and solicit advice on how to put them together, crack open Martin Hollmann's book Modern Aircraft Design. Hollmann also offers design classes at fly-ins, and structural consulting for intrepid airplane homebuilders aircraftdesigns. Get support The Experimental Aircraft Association, an organization of aviation enthusiasts, has branches all over the world.

Local members can offer encouragement, advise you on technical issues and even help do the work. Get to work People who build planes of their own design tend to be retired folks with a lot of energy.

Not totally committed to building an airplane from scratch? Consider buying a kit plane instead. Many manufacturers produce partially assembled airframes.

Some companies even allow you to come to their factory and assemble the kit with the help of employees, potentially cutting the build time from months to weeks.

Shop around Before you jump in, make sure the plane you're going to build is the right one for you. Read up on the various available models. The more successful designs have active online forums where builders can share their expertise.