Designing the workshop

I have a long way to go on my RV-7 build. I'm currently planning the workshop that I'll use to build it! The workshop will probably be used for some other things first, so first rivet is probably a few years away, but it seems a shame not to plan ahead.

I'll be building the workshop as a shed in the garden. In the UK I can do a building with an external size of up to 30 square meters (320 square feet) before the regulations get complicated. This probably ends up closer to 25 sq meters internally once the width of the walls is taken into account (I want some insulation to make it pleasant to work in). With that area to play with, what shape of building should I go for?

A bit of searching on this site and elsewhere tells me that the RV-7 is 4.6m (14'7") long without engine, and 6.4m (20'4") with. All the build logs I've looked at show that lots of the build time is towards the end of the build doing instruments, wiring, fuel etc., so I'd ideally like to fit fuselage+engine in the workshop. If go with 7x3.5m (22'11" x 11'6") it should do that, but is this width going to be impossible to work with? Should give up on getting the plane in with the engine on, find a hanger for that part of the build, and go for something like 5x5m (16'4"x16"4') to have more space for the rest of the build?

Planning ahead even further, my other question is about workshop doors. I'd like to take the completed plane out of the workshop without having to dismantle the workshop! When you've gone as far as you can without the wings on and it's time to move to a hanger, what are the dimensions of the bit of plane you need to get out of the workshop? Presumably taking the engine back off at this stage is a bit of a pain?

Also do let me know any other advice you all have on stuff I haven't thought of yet?

Can you build 2 sheds under the size limit?

An insulated one to work in and a plain one for storage?

I've built everything, short of final assy, in a 20x21 foot space, with roughly 5' x 6' notched out of the corner for a restroom. That includes all storage of everything in the kit except the canopy, 2 large roll-around tool boxes, and about 24' of 2' deep shelving racks. If you don't need storage in the workroom, you could build wings, then fuselage, in about 21' x 12' space.

I fit my engine, cowl, main gear (-7) leg fairings, pants, canopy, all without wings or tail on the plane. With the engine on, I put the fuse diagonally across a roughly 21' x 11' space. There would be room for tools and a small workbench in each opposing corner, if you go just long enough for the complete fuse/engine plus walking space on the engine end, and use up the rest of the sq footage in width.

Do they limit height? Go as high as you reasonably can, and use the space above to store wings, tail, etc; even cowl & canopy if you can go high enough. My wings are hung between the ceiling joists in my work space, with around 8' vertical of clear space below the wings. I'd have gone much higher, but when I built the space, I used 'off the rack' 4x6" 'landscape timbers' for the studs (cheaper than 2x4s at the time, and stronger). I used pieces of surplus insulated metal exterior doors for the walls, because I could get them really cheap and they insulate very well.

Do they limit *how* you build (materials)? If not, a 2" thick foam/sheet metal sandwich wall (see above), well sealed, can insulate as well as or better than a 2/4 stud wall with fiberglass insulation. You'd pick up half a foot of interior width and length, right there.

I always wish for more space, but for actual *build* space, bigger isn't necessarily better. I was told this when I started, and it's true. Too much sq footage and you spend more time walking for tools/parts than really needed. It's surprising how much that time can add up; almost as bad as time spent reading and writing on the interwebs....

Charlie

edit: I should say that I live in the southern USA, outside of any municipal jurisdiction, in, for all practical purposes, a 'code free zone'. My work room was built into one corner of a hanger, but the construction method was copied from a friend, who built a large free standing shop, using the same technique.

Thank you both. I don't have space to build a second shed, but do have other space where I could store completed parts, as well as those yet to be started. I was planning to build as much storage as possible into the roof.

Charlie - your numbers are really useful. I hadn't appreciated how tight this left me for space. Will definitely look at thinner walls, although still need a wood exterior to keep the neighbours amd family happy.

I'm interested by you saying you have 8' headroom, but wish for more. Are you constantly finding yourself short of space to turn large pieces around because of the wings hanging from the ceiling?

I very rarely had height issues while building, except when doing things like re-positioning wings. If you don't have enough horizontal length in both directions to rotate a wing (I did), you'll need to go up, which means more than 8 feet ceiling height.

I have the fuse on a relatively low roll-around 'cart'. Mine is a tip-up, and I can fully open the canopy. But note this: I can't remember if it extends up between the ceiling joists when I do that. (My joists are about 5 feet apart; a product of using the door cores. Another story...)

A 10 foot ceiling height would be better, to be more confident when you're swinging stuff around under the lights, etc, but not required. But since you're limited in footprint area, the big advantage of building 'up' is extra storage. If you can go even higher, you could even add a mezzanine over part of the work space to store light, bulky items like cowl & canopy.

Remember, those minimum dimensions I gave you are intended to let you know that it can be done; not that it would be ideal. With the engine on the fuse, you'll only have room for a small work table in one corner. Make some paper cutouts & draw various potential room shapes to visualize what will work best for you.

Charlie

Thanks - all good advice. Will definitely draw up some paper cutouts to the same scale as the workshop plans and experiment.

I certainly won't use your figures as a target, but good to know what's possible when I'm limited in space, and will do what I can to increase the space and make life easier.

Welcome to VAF

James, welcome to VAF

30m2 INTERNAL

I am pretty sure the U.K. regs for garden buildings start at 30m2 INTERNAL not external. My neighbours dobbed me in to the building department, who came and measured the internal space of my log cabin aircraft factory. They told me >30m internal required building regs and planning permission. At 29.6m2 I was ok. Their big concern was that no one was going to be living in there.

Worth checking what the current rules are. But just make certain that once built the bits can get on the door. I built a cardboard model to check before starting my 9 as I was concerned about getting the wings and fuse out after building them.

David

Belly skin (widest thing permanently attached to fuse) on my -7 is ~46.625" wide. If the fuel lines are hanging out the sides (uncut on the tank end, as mine are), that'll add to width. If the brackets that attach to the tank leading edge are installed, they also add to the width. Hard to measure that, but probably around 2" on each side. Wing chord is about 5 feet, but since they will come out either leading or trailing edge down, that shouldn't matter. Wing length is 115", including the spar stub that goes into the fuselage center section.

My door opening has ~59.5" of clear opening, and it's no problem moving fuselage, canopy, cowl, etc through that opening. In the USA, that size opening would be fairly typical for a pair of double doors, with each door being 2'6". Obviously, a double opening for a pair of 32" or 36" doors would provide even more clearance.

Shucks, just move to the USA rural south, and build whatever you want. You can handle our politics and 3rd world health care, right? ;-)

Something to think about is that there are times when the fuse needs to be level front to rear. If you raise the tail enough to level it the vertical fin is up in the air pretty far. I do not know how high but I would guess at least 8 feet.

Yeah, my numbers are for tail only (in pieces), wings only, or fuselage only. I doubt you could fit the horizontal very well in that space, much less the vertical.