I’ve been thinking of getting a welder for a while now, it seems like one of these “generally useful” things. Finally, I bit the bullet, read a bunch of online reviews, and ordered an AlphaTig 200X TIG welder. This is pretty much the cheapest TIG welder you can get that can weld Aluminum, and while …
I got a big chunk of 1/4″ 6061 aluminum plate and tried to mill it, with pretty depressing results. The setup just was nowhere near rigid enough to handle it. The force on the bit would cause enough flexure to pull the bit to the side or cause it to jam into the material. A …
While the ShapeOko worked much better with the Ridgid trim router than with the Dremel, the default spindle mounting brackets for the ShapeOko didn’t fit well because it’s so much wider than the Dremel. To even get it in there, I had to take it apart and remove the height adjustment mechanism. First order of …
As I’m now about to start fabricating actual parts for the Long-EZ, I was contemplating the easiest way to shape the foam pieces. This Long-EZ builder used a router to cut the depressions, but was left to do the tapered parts by hand. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was some way to do this …
Progress has been a bit slow lately, but what I did get done since the holidays are some workshop improvements: It’s been more of a “woodworking” than “composite construction” thing, but I now have 2 “EAA Chapter 1000” workbenches. These were designed by (you guessed it) EAA Chapter 1000, who realized that it was nice …
An exercise that almost everyone that starts working with fiberglass encounters right away is that of building a heated box for epoxy storage. The epoxy should be warm when used, somewhere around 30C or 90F, otherwise its viscosity is higher and it’s more difficult to wet out the fabric. If you don’t store it at …