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they are fun to use
(I know its welding and not cutting, but couldnt find a plasma cutter giff quickly)
and a shout out to the company i used to work for 
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Speaking of welding, I have never done it, but bought a 40 buck machine to find out how hard it is. It is red, heavy and came with a bunch of rods. I will study up a bit before turning it on 
Being able to work metal should improve my margins a fair bit, and to me its a Heinlein thing;
“A man should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.
Specialization is for insects.”
I think it goes for women and nonbinary luminous beings as well.
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@schurem Welding isn’t hard to learn, but takes years to master.
I would suggest you get a MIG/Stick combo - For hobby work, 130 Amp minimum (for the stick). The advantage with most MIG/Stick combos is that the MIG will work both with gas (negative earth) and with flux wire (positive) earth - because a stick uses + earth.
Start with MIG, just because it is easier to ‘start’ the weld. Striking the rod/stick takes a bit more practice.
MIG - Pro: Easier. Con: your welding surfaces need to be ‘shiny clean’
Stick - Pro: Can weld thicker metal & will ‘burn’ through rust. Con: Significantly different technique to MIG.
Ask around and get a competant welder to give you a couple of lessons and you will be up and running in no time. My wife could weld 5mm bar stock (90 degrees or join) after about 30 minutes of practice with a MIG. The welds weren’t pretty but the only way we were getting that metal apart was with a grinder.
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Thanks for the tips mate. Yeah I guess getting the neighbor who does it all the time to teach me for a bit might be quicker and more fun than youtube, trial & error. It don’t have to be pretty, it just has to stick
I will be using it to repair some of my stuff (broken wheelbarrow, trailer cage) and perhaps further up the line build gate frames for great profit and satisfaction.
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Youtube might be OK for the basics, but having someone to tell you what you are doing wrong is the key. Once you have the general technique, it is only practice… play around with AMPS and wire feed speed.
There were two points that were ‘drummed’ into me when I started welding:
- If you can’t see where you are welding, you can’t weld (i.e you need to be able to see what the tip is doing at ALL times).
- If you aren’t sure what the weld is doing STOP.
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Oh, yeah…
@smokinhole Sorry for hijacking your thread, but those welds of yours look sweet. been years since I had to do work that good.
Edit: In that case you’re pretty good with a cutter 
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No welds. Just cutting. Fortunately, I won’t be doing any welding for this build.
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I’m a fairly competent welder @schurem. Call me if you need help setting up, mig , tig and stick
From my years fixing diggers
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No update other than an explanation for my silence. I’ve hit a wall. The fit of the body is beyond my ability to fix. I really just want to dig a big hole in the woods and bury the thing. Instead I am walking away until the rotorhead arrives and hopefully that will inspire a solution.
If someday, years hence and by the grace of the gods I should ever complete this thing, please return to this post should you consider coming up to NJ for a ride. You would be, to quote General McAuliffe: NUTS!
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What exactly is the problem with the fit?
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I’d rather not post a photo that the FAA might use against me later. Something is amiss. The top rear panels are supposed to meet at the top of the tailboom. Instead, the right, rear panel sits about four inches high. Forcing it down just bows the panel. I’ve either screwed up the frame (unfixable) or the newly designed seat (to which the body is secured) was manufactured badly. I can make it work as is. But doing so would make it so fugly that it would be unflyable by any pilot with the slightest sense of self-respect (or self-preservation).
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What did the manufacturer say? My instinct would be to take the jigsaw and make the fokker fit.
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Don’t you mean Sawzall? 
@smokinhole, my thoughts are aligned with schurem’s. One would think that the factory and other builders would have a keen interest in the success of your project. I can’t imagine that you are the first builder with this challenge. I understand the need to remain under the radar, but my gut is that you haven’t met the right mentor yet, to help guide you back on course. At a minimum, perhaps point out where the factory might have done better.
EDIT: I went back and read your earlier post about the heli guys being segregated from the plankers. Let me reach out to some of my ATL contacts, who do things like put a supercharged Subaru engine in an RV-4.
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oh my word !
I have reached out to the factory of course. And they are very helpful. But without “hands on” the helicopter I is difficult to discern the problem. It could be any number of things. I have to be careful what I do to try to conform the fit to my frame without the rotorhead in place. The head arrives in a week. Once that and the bearings are in place I can modify the panels and doghouse and know that whatever I am doing will not interfere with the controls. I made a terrible mistake last month when I took the Robinson safety course. Seeing that factory and the extreme workmanship that oozes out of every component they make…
How do I finish that sentence? What I am building is a flawed machine from the start made only more so by inept assembly on my part. I want to do this right. Every measurement has been made three times before a drill or saw touched that frame. I’ve spent literal hours cross-checking for just one drill hole. That was joyful work because it required some craftsmanship on my part. I had to level, form, cut and shape. But this body! There is nothing I can do but drill, cleco and hope. Every “aha!” moment is rewarded with a worse fit than previous. It’s as if the body sent to me was really intended for an entirely different design.
As far as EAA goes, this isn’t really an issue of insufficient skill at a specific specialty like gluing, stitching, riveting or painting. It might (EGADS!) be an issue of measuring. But nobody at EAA can teach away stupid if that’s the case. It is simple: 8 cuts of fibreglass panels must be fastened to a fiberglass seat structure and floor pan. This simple process that has me seeking a hole in the woods encompasses just 2 minutes of the build video and reflects what should be about 6 hours of solid work (out of the 1000 it should take to build the chopper). I’ve been at it since October 12!
Well anyway I promise I am not blowing off the advice. Mudspike is as good a place to spill one’s self doubt as any. I can’t tell my wife because she will think I am building my coffin. I can’t tell my airport friends for the same reasons. Plus, their distaste for helicopters prevents any genuine sympathy for what is probably the occasional insecurity that all builders suffer from, regardless the machine. So here I am!
Oh and thanks especially @chipwich. I have a local builder’s chapter I can reach out to. One of them is a fellow LCA at my airline. He and a few members of his chapter are considering the single-place Mosquito (which I had originally intended to build.) Before I start sawing I want to be sure that this new seat isn’t the issue. Mine is the first “lowered” seat from the factory. And it was delayed for months because the first version failed QC at the factory. There is a possibility, albeit a small one, that I’ve been given a size 8 sock and a size 11 shoe.
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You actually know people crazier than us…?
I get the feeling you will wake up in the middle of the night, realizing what the solution is.
Right now, stepping away from it is the right thing to do. Even if you try to let it go, your brain will continue to work the problem.
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Sounds very much like the thing is manufactured wrong OR the instructions are wrong OR you made a serious error upstream somewhere, but you’d already have that figured out if you had so I’m crossing that off.
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Ive built a fair few motorcycles (and cars and lorries) in my time and making the bits inside that burn fuel and bolt to other bits of metal is always the easy bit.
Its ALWAYS the fibreglass, the carbon fibre, the plastic and the bits you have to cut, shape and make look pretty that causes the headaches.
You arent alone in pulling your hair out.
I once completely destroyed a set of pretty irreplaceable RD500 panels with 2 quick bites of a dremel. Did one panel, nearly cried and then did the exact same thing the other side.
Its always the parts the people see and judge that cause the worst stress. I bet its something simple. It invariably is, you stare at it, try to work it out, try to fix it, ponder it, obsess and just make it worse. Once the solution presents itself (and it will with time) you’ll feel stupid. But its done and in the past. Then some other horror will keep you awake at night.
I wish i had the pictures from when i put a TL1000R motor in a GSX-R frame. That was hand built and made me sit on the floor surrounded by tools and just screaming in fury.
And it sucked and was a waste of time anyway, but the thought was there
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I’d suggest going to talk to either a boat builder or auto body shop in your area. They work with fiberglass and plastics for a living, and might have some solid suggestions, or be able to tell you that the part if just plain not going to work for whatever reason.
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