If you have a tool rental place handy I’d recommend a mag drill over a drill press unless you have large floor mounted one to work with. They stick to the workpiece itself, so there’s less risk of not being square to it with the hole.
2 Likes
He was very much a local author. But his style is Faulkner-esque, I think. I actually had to look him up in order to get the spelling of his name for the post I wrote above. I must have talked to Bill dozens of times growing up. Not until looking up his name did I know of his WW2 history.
1 Like
I love this thread, tools, the creation of helicopters and literature. The things that make life worth living.
3 Likes
Well, at least the screws weren’t of a specialty head type that required purchasing a “RotorX Crate Opening Tool”… So there’s that! Looking forward to watching this build.
3 Likes
Kind of looks like an X-Wing canopy… Maybe they sent you an X-Wing. Yes!
2 Likes
I would have smashed that LIKE button…
4 Likes
I love how the Pitts was pushed halfway out of the hangar and is looking back in forlornly like…“it’s kind cold out here…and…and…who is the new guy??”
3 Likes
This seems like a terrible investment with that plan.
2 Likes
You are the only one of us that doesn’t wheeze walking up the stairs so that makes you test pilot
4 Likes
Eeh, oversize that baby! 
Or just make it elongated and cover it up like some halfbrained monkeys do!
@Victork2 Ah yeah that version is indeed crap… it’s hard to find good tools…
4 Likes
Hey @smokinhole, you are more than likely both well versed and/or under the tutelage of your local EAA chapter.
But if not, I’m just throwing this out there. When I was building an RV-8 empennage, I leaned on both the local chapter and the chapter tech advisor for assistance. They have a number of resources, including community tools, knowledge, experience, and generally good guys that love to help a brother out. The TA inspected my work when I had finished the tail feathers and pronounced it good. That was after he and some other RV builders had come to my workshop and gave some very helpful pointers along the way. If you haven’t looked them up, may I suggest doing some carb loading at one of their pancake breakfasts, or going to one of their monthly meetings. Much support to be found and confidence gained.
In my case, I ended up selling the project when I lost my workshop about the same time my wife got the twinkle in her eye that it was time to start making babies. In her defense, she didn’t complain when I hung the RV-8 empennage from the ceiling in our loft. But the writing was on the wall. Good memories though building and helping others with their projects.
5 Likes
Had to laugh at the patio cushions post ! Beyond my tiny sim-corner , the entire house is hers . I even gave up my study for
A sewing room expansion .
You’d think my shop would be sacrosanct-but No-oh ! She moves stuff in there bit by bit (and particularly on the workbench) until i throw a fit , then moves it all out in a huff .
Before the week is out , she’s squirreling stuff back in there , bit by bit (particularly on the workbench) until the whole cycle repeats .
3 Likes
Oh @chipwich, that’s heartbreaking! We pilots can tell that story many thousands of times. I waited until my early family duties were mostly done before getting the Pitts. Homebuilding is a time-sink and probably incompatible with being a reliable partner at home. That’s why all but two of my acro/rotorway buddies are in their 50’s or beyond. Thanks for the advice regarding the EAA! I am a member and, until recently, a chapter president (IAC, a division of EAA). It’s a huge resource for sure. I would have reached out but helicopters are weird. At Oshkosh, the helicopters and gyros are a totaly separate world from the homebuilt, vintage, acro and warbirds lines. You actually feel the separation both physically and spiritually as you make the walk over to the helicopters. And the separation is complete if you walk further yet to the LZ. This all to say that in my experience both as a nascent helicopter guy and as a lifetime fixed-wing guy, the mention of helicopters is often met with 1) a look of utter incomprehension, or 2) a yawn. Having said that, if I lived closer to the active chapter in central Jersey I would lean hard on their guidance AND TOOLS. But it’s just not in the cards. Which brings me to my first roadblock!
I won’t post pictures. They’re just like the ones above showing leveled protractors and perfectly centered plumblines. Everything on this helicopter is measured off two square drive tubes at the top of the frame. Central to all of this is the lower engine mount. I spent all day yesterday getting it perfectly in line with the tubes. All that’s left is to drill. The builder’s manual says that I should have “approximately 24 inches” separating the lower mount plate from the base of the drive tube. The builder’s video shows that measurement nuts on in their example build. I have 24.5. What is meant by “approximately”? I am waiting for word from RotorX before committing.
So meantime I revisited Harbor Freight. I loaded the cart with a drill press, a box of rubber gloves and a $3 dollar pair of googles. At the checkout the clerk says, “I am sorry sir but in Bergen County, you are allowed to buy the drill press on Sunday, but not the gloves or the goggles.” Blue Laws. Welcome to New Jersey!
3 Likes
@smokinhole how many engine mounts are there? Do they average out to 24 inches across all of them or is there one large main mount?
Is the mount bushed or rubber mounted? Could any of those affect the distance to the centre of the bolt hole
You are measuring to the centre of the hole i assume?
1 Like
Is there a bush or a collar that fits inside it that would account for the difference once fitted?
If you had an anti vibration polymer or rubber mount on that i would imagine it would need to be fairly thick. Taking the measurement to between 24 and 24 ¹/²
Guesswork obviously but its caught me out before on trucks not accounting for thickness of old vs new bushes when fitting things and holes not lining up etc
3 Likes
Not at the rate you’ve been knocking this thing out! Amazing progress dude! Did you do those weldings yourself?
1 Like
@Victork2, what’s confusing in the picture is that the mount plate is inverted for leveling. When properly placed upright, there is a ring where the rubber doughnut isolator seats. Anyway, RotorX got back to me to say that 24.5” is fine, as in resolved at a later step in the build process.
2 Likes
4 Likes