Brian Jackson
08-22-2004, 06:52 AM
Ralph (and all),
Attached is a preliminary spreadsheet I've been assembling for the purpose of ordering materials for a stock GyroBee. Obviously it's not finished yet, but thus far all the tube and angle stock is listed by size, rather than by construction phase. Although you can still view the sequence by phase if you wish.
All like materials are color-coded, and listed individually by part, with their lengths and quantities shown. Being a spreadsheet, I'm working on a pricing function where you can simply enter a unit value (price per foot) for a given size and it will automatically calculate your total costs for the airframe materials. This makes it handy to see the differences in costs depending on where you purchase specific materials.
I began this just for my own use, since I plan to buy all the 2X2 tube or angle stock at the same time instead of by phase. Obviously I'll be programming it to calculate the parts to fit within stock lengths. For example, if you order your 2X2 from Wicks, they come in 72" lengths so you're paying for some scrap too, as opposed to StarBee who can cut it to length but at a higher cost. So what is the real savings? It should provide the builder with some real-world numbers for every nut & bolt on the GyroBee.
Before I go any farther with programming it, I wanted to get some feedback to see if this would be a useful tool for other builders, and if so, are there any suggestions on ways to make it easier to use & understand. Thanks.
Regards,
Brian Jackson
Attached is a preliminary spreadsheet I've been assembling for the purpose of ordering materials for a stock GyroBee. Obviously it's not finished yet, but thus far all the tube and angle stock is listed by size, rather than by construction phase. Although you can still view the sequence by phase if you wish.
All like materials are color-coded, and listed individually by part, with their lengths and quantities shown. Being a spreadsheet, I'm working on a pricing function where you can simply enter a unit value (price per foot) for a given size and it will automatically calculate your total costs for the airframe materials. This makes it handy to see the differences in costs depending on where you purchase specific materials.
I began this just for my own use, since I plan to buy all the 2X2 tube or angle stock at the same time instead of by phase. Obviously I'll be programming it to calculate the parts to fit within stock lengths. For example, if you order your 2X2 from Wicks, they come in 72" lengths so you're paying for some scrap too, as opposed to StarBee who can cut it to length but at a higher cost. So what is the real savings? It should provide the builder with some real-world numbers for every nut & bolt on the GyroBee.
Before I go any farther with programming it, I wanted to get some feedback to see if this would be a useful tool for other builders, and if so, are there any suggestions on ways to make it easier to use & understand. Thanks.
Regards,
Brian Jackson