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Old Dog…New Tricks….

Ironflight

Ironflight

VAF Moderator / Line Boy
Mentor
I have told people for years that while I have built with most aircraft construction methods (metal, wood, steel tube/fabric, glas….) and I am an A&P, one skill I never really acquired was welding. Last Christmas (over a year ago) I got a nice welding helmet from Louise, which I took as permission to buy a welder and start learning. With the help of some great mentors, I have been learning to TiG (went through MiG pretty quick, and if I have to weld two tractors together, I can do that….), and after a year, I am proud to say that I am comfortable producing some aircraft parts!

the F1 Rocket has a cockpit crossbar that supports the top of the pilot’s seat, and in teh RV-8, that comes as a single piece. In teh F1, it comes as two side pieces and a raw piece of tubing to cut and weld in place. I have been sweating that job for months, but finally spent much of the last week carefully makign tooling to make th cuts, then practicing the actual welds with scraps of 4130 - and finally welding the final part. Yes I did ground the final welds for appearance, but I am happy with the results - and with a new skill!


Before, with a piece of flat bar standing in for the tube (for measurements)
DF119D80-8A1F-4CFF-8ABC-7AC68AA4BC25.jpeg
After - with the tube welded in place!
43AD635F-4049-41F9-B6CA-0FADB6AF2FB0.jpeg

I guess you CAN teach an old dog new tricks - and using eluding in building an RV (like) airplane….
 
I assume you went over the hill to Dave for some of that mentoring? I've been welding in some form or fashion since high school, and I'm sure I could still learn a few tricks from Dave.

planenutz said:
It's universal... the first thing you buy after you finally get yourself that welder you always wanted? An angle grinder. :D
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Nope. For this demographic it's cheater glasses...
 
A few answers….

1) I have a multi-purpose machine (stick, MiG, Tig) from HF, with a few accessories like a foot peddle and a #9 torch - much lighter and easy to maneuver.
2) Hard? Easy? Just takes some good practice time and a lot of little pieces of scrap. When I am stumped on someth8ng else in the shop, I go to the weld table and melt some metal as practice. and I built some rolling bases for tools, an engine stand - little useful projects that don’t care if the welds look perfect or not. With time, you get better! I’ll never weld like the Clint at Vetterman, but I’m good enough For what I need to do.
3) cheaters in the helmet faceplate!

….and yes Dan, in addition to local airpark denizens (Home Shop Machinist is three doors down…), help is just over the hill “farm“ is on speed dial and instant messaging….. 😉
 
Glad you are learning a new skill Paul, but for the sake of information purity, it’s generally unacceptable to dress or grind a final structural weld.

Im also looking to revise the rollover bar on my Rocket and get the “feet” off the sill and down on the gusset plates as you have shown here. Im noticing some corners on the mount plates that don’t seem to be doing anything but add weight. Will those be trimmed or is there still a bolt to add?
 
About 20 years ago I designed a big rolling platform rack (4x8, over a half ton loaded) for our EAA chapter's tables and chairs. A buddy and I cut all the parts and tacked it together. Then we set up four OA rigs and had the whole chapter over for a "learn to gas weld" day.

The frame was entirely 16ga square steel tube, an easy material for beginners. As expected, some were laying nice beads with 10 minutes of instruction. The guys having trouble were mostly older, the issues being eyesight and a lack of fine motor skills. None were having trouble with concepts, just physical execution. A lot of that can be overcome with aids (like eyeglasses and forearm support) and practice time. Build some shop equipment before you build airplane parts.

The good news? We've beat the crap out of that rolling rack. Originally intended to live in a hangar, it's seen 30 mph down the taxiway behind a pickup truck, and been dragged over door tracks and through the mud more times than I can count. Given structural design with some strength margin, welding forgives novice errors. Jump in and give it a shot.
 
So you can put your welding skills to use - Maybe a J3 Cub is in your future. You know, when you get too old for a fast Rocket and need low and slow......
 
Webb said:
Maybe a J3 Cub is in your future. You know, when you get too old for a fast Rocket and need low and slow......
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Hah, that would be full circle.

For those who can gas weld, I find the transition to TIG is fairly smooth.
 
We had a new member join our chapter a while back. When asked what he did for a living, he said “I’m a welder”. Everyone in the room stood up and applauded!
 
After selling my Miller Syncrowave TIG when we moved last spring, I felt like a dog without a bone a couple months later. I've owned a welder since learning to weld in high school in the early 1970's. The power at the hanger, 50 amps, would have a hard time running that heavy transformer buzz box so it had to go. After a lot of research, reviews and pondering, I settled on the HF multi process welder with inverter technology. Got it on sale $200 off. Had to get an argon tank (125 cf) and a rod assortment, rolling cart, but all in under $1500. This unit has more custom features than my Miller did and so far I am very happy with the unit. A good automatic helmet is a must.
 
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