January 28, 2007
Making Parts
My schedule as been "inconsistent," to say the least. My wife (Pei-Chia) and I just had our first child (Grace) 7 weeks ago and are still adjusting to this NEW lifestyle.

I am back to work now which is great actually, but my schedule to work on the plane will not happen until my wife goes back to work.  We both work 12 hr shifts (2 days on & 2days off) at night, and with Grace, we will work opposite shifts... hence, no daycare, which equals more money for the plane! 

In short, I am planning on having about 6 hours per night to work on the plane on my days off work.  This works out to every 14 days, I have 7 of those off work.  So... 7 x 6 = 42 hours every two weeks to work on the plane, or, 84 hours per month.  Being a realist, I will subtract 30% of this time for the "fudge-factor," which brings the time down to  ~ 60 hours/month.

Well enough small talk... let's get on with it!


My father just retired and plans to help out on the plane. Lately, he has been ice fishing with all his retired friends, so I have not been bugging him too much about the plane. He did come over, however, to help cut the aluminum angle.  Here, we marked the dimensions on the angle so we will know what's what.
This will eventually turn into useable (hopefully)  aircraft parts.
Using the mitre saw makes this job easy enough. Notice the angle position while cutting. I was told this is the best way to cut the angle.. although I am not sure why? Maybe less likely for "kickback."  Hearing and eye protection are a must!
All angle rough cut to size and labeled. Pretty fast with two people.  Used the cut-list from the SonexTalk list.
Boy, this stuff really makes a mess! This was taken after all angle was cut.