2 bees or not 2 bees... Plate part templates

[Brian Jackson]

Howdy, all.

Having spoken at length with Tim Blackwell this weekend at the KIMO Nationals fly-in, I've decided to use the same process for forming the flat plate parts on the bee as he has done on his new tractor design. Tim used a CNC Water Jet cutter, and let me tell you, these parts are mechanical poetry! Extremely clean and accurate, with the most perfect edges I've ever seen. Way better than laser cutting.

He said it only cost him about $70 for cutting, and you supply the material. So I started laying out the cutting templates in an attempt to make the best use of materials... lo and behold, you can actually get 2 GyroBee plate sets for little more than the cost of cutting one. In the attached image, all the blanks are 12" X 12" except for the .063 Alum (purple) which is 12" X 24".

My thinking is that, in the interest of economics, someone starting their GyroBee project might want to go halves on the cost, which makes the project significantly cheaper for both of us. The only parts not shown on the template (besides rotor head cheek plates) are the second pair of Rudder Pedal Webs, which would only require an additional 12 X 12 aluminum sheet.

All the holes will be ever-so-slightly undersized to allow final clearance reaming upon assembly. Also, the parts are exactly to spec from Ralph Taggart's GyroBee documentation. If anyone's interested please contact me.

Thanks,
Brian Jackson

[Brian Jackson]

One other thing... I'll be using the single mast, which is 3/16" wall in lieu of the 1/8" wall redundant. This changes the hole locations of the cluster plates slightly. So if anyone wants to double up with me on this, let me know which mast type you're using so I can edit the templates accordingly. Thanks.

[KDOG]

Well, you know that I am interested, the only issue now is $$$$. Is this guy local to you? I'm wondering how much it would cost each person for a complete set of Gyrobee plates. Then its a matter of setting up how to get the material to him.

[Brian Jackson]

That's what I'm currently figuring out. The shop is indeed local, and I'll order all the materials from here, deliver them myself and oversee the cutting process. I'll then pack & ship the duplicate set directly to you. So basically we'd split the materials, cutting and shipping cost right down the middle. So far here are some preliminary numbers...

1/16" 6061-T6 Sheet (from StarBee): $9.28/sq. ft. (X 3) = $27.84
1/8" 6061-T6 Sheet (from StarBee): $12.95/sq. ft. (X 1) = $12.95
1/8" Stainless Sheet (need a supplier: $??? (Wicks and StarBee do not carry)

If anyone can point me to a quality supplier of 1/8" Thk stainless sheet that's willing to sell us 1 sq. ft. I'd be grateful.

I also need to talk with Tim Blackwell to find out exactly what the cutter's pricing criteria is (by the hour, by the setup, by the tool path inch?... Dunno).

Rough guestimate, I thinking $110~$130 apiece gets both of us all our plate parts ready to assemble. When you consider that StarBee charges $71 just for the cluster plates alone, the economy of partnering up like this become self evident.

Cheers,
Brian Jackson

[KDOG]

Wicks sells 1/8" stainless steel sheet!! Check this page out: SS sheet list (http://www.wicksaircraft.com/catalog/product_cat.php/subid=2330/index.html)

Its 4130 grade and its $31.77 for a 18"x18" sheet...

[Brian Jackson]

I saw this on their site, but I don't believe 4130, also called Chromoly, is the same as Stainless. On their "stainless" page they quote:

"304 Stainless sheet meets MIL-S-5059, grade of chrominum nickel stainless sheet manufactured by the electric furnace process. Sufficient discard is taken from each ingot to insure sound steel required to meet the exacting requirements of the aircraft industry. Type 304 is not hardened by heat treatment, and the high tensile properties of the sheets are the result of cold work treatment and the high tensile properties of the sheets are the result of cold working."

I'm wary of substituting another alloy when I don't yet have all the facts. Ralph's right though... learning and researching all this stuff is like a "rite of passage" :D

I'll post again when I have more info.

Cheers,
Brian

[KDOG]

Aahh, ok.

By the way, I cut that 1/4" off my mast today. Looks good, but I cut a tad bit too much off. I mean like "sheet of paper" thickness too much. The mast is still good and all, I just would like to put a 1/64" shim between the mast and keel. Probably don't need to worry about it, though....

[Brian Jackson]

Actually that will work to your advantage if you are going to paint or powder coat it, due to paint/powder thickness. If anodizing then no difference.

[KDOG]

Sweet!!!! Just gotta clean up the edges now... So my main tubes are done except for that seat brace hole and the notch in the tailboom (if I need to). My next purchase will the the angle package and the hardware package from StarBee, but I may order the bolts and nuts, washers etc from Wicks or Aircraft spruce...

[Brian Jackson]

That's good news! If you get around to posting pix I'd like to see them! I'm planning to buy much of the hardware and machined parts from StarBee, including the seat, collective stick and rotorhead. I want to support them as much as possible. It's great that we can build as much or as little of the ship ourselves, and still have excellent customer support, and access to their inventory of top-notch parts and components. It's truly the best of both worlds.

Signing off.
Brian

[donshoebridge]

He said it only cost him about $70 for cutting, and you supply the material.

Actually, I said it was $70. Tim had his done for free at work. As for the source, I have a guy local to me that has a water jet, but he's your typical panic stricken type and will not make "airplane" parts, I already asked. That's why I just did mine on a band saw, made them slightly over size and than belt sanded the edges to perfection.

[Brian Jackson]

Thanks, Don. Sorry I got my sources mixed up... quite a bit of activity and information that day. By the way, it was very nice meeting you. Anxious to see the Hornet take flight.

Actually, since I'll be taking photos from the Gyro at some point in time, it's technically an "elevated camera platform". What if I made no mention of "aircraft", and simply say we need some parts for our photography business? Nobody needs to know what the camera is supported from. ;)

Thanks,

Brian Jackson

[donshoebridge]

Brian,

I have a hard time lying to someone. It's much easier for me to just not tell them anything, or only part of the story. Generally, they wont push it.

Just as a test the other day, I went into an AutoZone looking for some JB Weld. The guy asked me what I was going to use it on and I told him "an airplane". I got the response I was looking for :D he freeked and said "I don't want to know about it because of the liability." I took the opportunity to enlighten the boy that "I was born with the self preservation gean, and I have absolutly no intention of crashing and/or killing myself, so relax!" He relaxed a bit.