. . . RISE OF THE MACHINES!!!
You can’t be totally prepared unless your MACHINES are online & ready to go!
My initial objectives starting back on the Long-EZ build is that now that I have my project physically located in one place, I will go back and finish those chapters that I left hanging for various reasons. For example, chapter 8 of the original plans is where the trademark triangular foam/fiberglass rollover assembly is constructed. However, since I’ll be employing a metal rollover assembly, it took me a while (actually while I was in Tampa, FL) to design it and to figure out what material I was going to use. And although I’ve done a fair amount of MIG & stick welding, I of course needed to get trained on TIG welding since I had finally decided that the rollover would be constructed of 4130 steel. Although I posted this previously, I attended a local welding course in Tampa and the EAA’s TIG welding workshop in Georgia.
As far as equipment goes, the TIG welder needed to be assembled and checked out. Since I added 220v power to the garage for a heater, I changed the welder plug-in side of my HEAVY duty 220v extension cord to a plug that matches my MIG welder. I then also changed out the plug on my TIG welder to match the plug on my MIG welder, thus both 220v welders can be used with the same extension cord. I also have an old Lincoln “Buzz-Box” Tombstone welder, but with my change in plugs it won’t be usable for the time being. With the swap-out of the plug on the TIG welder, and a couple nit-noy issues with the Argon line filter, it’s now all hooked up & raring to go!
This evening I also finished cleaning up and oiling the drill press, literally knocking some of the rust off of it. Once I got the drill press good to go, I turned my sights on the bench grinder (I picked it up cheap from Harbor Freight) which I will use primarily for sharpening the tungsten electrodes for TIG welding. As I was hunting around for a place to mount the bench grinder, I figured that two of the things that I really don’t use that often in building this Long-EZ is the drill press & bench grinder, so why not use that space for a dual purpose and mount the bench grinder to the drill press table and save some space!
And so I did!
After finishing the drill press & bench grinder, I spent another hour or so simply cleaning off a bunch of my tools and gear that had years of dust and grit on them.
Thus, from here on out, besides work, flying and my Instrument Training course, any spare time I have I will be putting towards getting this bird finished!