Lee,
That was in the days before I had a digital camera, but I could scan
my photos and make them digital. I really don't think that's necessary,
though, since I'm sure most folks can visualize my descriptions.
1. Tail cone skins -- The top skin is no problem at all. It is a flat
sheet that just bends around the fuselage formers and is riveted in
place. We used the old skin to match-drill the rivet holes, just as Al
and Wayne described. The side skins have a stiffening flange that bends
inward at the top edge, and due to the fact that we didn't have a long
enough sheet metal break available to us, I purchased the skins from
Univair. The bottom skin has a flange on each edge, so I had to
purchase it also. As I said in my last post, we did them one at a time,
so the rest was our jig.
2. Wing tip bows -- Also a very difficult piece to make yourself,
unless you had the fixtures and a hydro-forming press. Purchased from
Univair. We had to make our own bucking bar to get in behind the
leading edge.
3. Wing leading edge skins -- We figured that it would be a real
struggle to make them ourselves, so I purchased them from Univair. Even
then, we had to use a number of ratchet straps to hold the skins in
position while riveting. That worked fine.
4. Wing to fuselage fairings -- As Al said, the bottom trailing edge
fairing is just flat sheet metal, so we did exactly what he did. The
top trailing edge fairings were purchased from Univair since they are
also formed on their hydro-forming press. The leading edge fairings
were also purchased from Univair.
I'm sure I was one of Univair's favorite customers from 1994 - 2001,
but we had a rejection rate of approximately 30% due to some parts being
formed incorrectly, throughout the entire job. At first Univair would
argue with us, then they would tell us to ship back the bad one and they
would send us another one, and then they started to believe us and would
tell us to just keep the bad one and they would send us another try.
The side skin under the right windowsill was the worst. They had to
send us 6 before we found one that would fit. I think the only company
making money on my job was UPS. My mechanic and I became good friends
with Mike Wotovich, one of the engineers at Univair, and, by the way,
Mike is planning to attend our National Ercoupe Convention in July in
Wausau and maybe put on a display and maybe a even forum.
Syd
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Sid,
It would be of great assistance to the group if you could provide a
pictoral representation of how you formed some of the more difficult
skins, as Hartmut said for instance the tail cone and wing tips and
perhaps the leading edges of the wings and the wing fairings.
Lee
-- Hartmut Beil <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
" I've replaced every skin on my airplane"
Hey Syd. Did you replace the skins on the tail cone too? I'd love to
hear someone reporting about that replacement. Almost all Ercoupes
aare dented at the tail cones end :-( ..
Hartmut
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CC: [email protected]
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 19:23:08 -0500
Subject: Re: [ercoupe-tech] Fw: Let's See If This Works
OK, Al, I got the picture. What's your question? I've replaced
every skin on my airplane.
Syd
AJ DeMarzo wrote:
Okay, picture didn't work, looks like you'll have to click on
this link.
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb131/aerome9905d/general003.jpg
<http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb131/aerome9905d/general003.jpg>
----- Original Message -----
From: AJ DeMarzo <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Ercoupers Tech <mailto:[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, October 28, 2007 7:04 PM
Subject: Let's See If This Works
This weekend, I started to replace a torn sheet metal panel on
the JT Coupe. The plane may be pictured here, let's see if my
link works. If not I'll try something else. The reason I
bring this up is because it's the panel that extends from the
back of the step to the cone of the fuse and appears to have a
factory bend in it. A while back, I learned about this piece
of metal and have seen the question asked elsewhere, probably
the Swap Page. When I originally called Univair about it, no
data existed which I thought strange and scary. I decided to
drill it off since it needed drillin' off anyways. When it
was finally removed, I found the curved piece of sheet metal,
that I was positive was made in a die, was actually flat.
I'll use a few messages to sequence this. Tell me your
comments please about the format.
Either I didn't have enough foresight to take a before pic or
I thought I did but didn't. This pic is after the panel was
removed. Removal was quite straightforward. With a #40 drill
bit the head of the rivet is pierced just below the base and
the head is popped off with a chisel, or if you;re a good
sheet metal man, a swing of the bit. When all the heads are
removed the part comes loose. The remainder of the rivet is
supposed to be knocked out gently with the punch but I usually
drill them out. Downside is that you could enlarge the hole,
or worse.
Here goes the first of a series.
Al DeMarzo
Visit the Ercoupe Swap Page - Free and Easy
http://www.ercoupeowners.com/swap/swapbook.htm
<http://www.ercoupeowners.com/swap/swapbook.htm>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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