Tools for Angela

[Randy Ryan]

Unfortunately our available building time continues to be limited. We were going to do an allnighter last Friday night but I ended up in the hospital passing a kidney stone. OOOOO DANG!!!! I don't wanna do that again!

Anyway, the last time we were building she was having trouble with the cap strips. The camber is quite radical and the strips would pull off the LE when she tried bending them around. I tried myself and indeed, they're a pain. So I though a bit and invented this bending tool. Its just a couple pieces of 1/4" dowel and some ply to hold them together. By twisting the tool with the strip between the dowels and pulling it nicely bends the strip enough to reduce the preload and it easily conforms to the rib.

I also made her a couple sanding blocks. You may recognize them as old EXACTO style blocks. I've been using this style blocks for years and I like them, I have a huge array of specialty blocks, but these are great for general fitting and sanding. I had her using a block of wood and folding the paper around it like I learned years ago, but its so hard for her to control I decided she needed something a little more sophisticated so we don't scrap too many parts.

We're shooting for that allnighter next Friday night!!

[Paul Taylor]

Ouch! On the stone.

Get a few Red Bulls and make some dust. 

Looking forward to a flight report and a big smile.

[mike londke]

Good work Randy. Looking forward to her first flight on the new plane.  Mike

[Bob Matiska]

Did your doc put you on any med for the stones? I passed 5 of them from the early 1990s to the middle 2000s, then my doctor put me on Urocit K (potassium citrate) 10mEq, twice a day. Haven't had one since. (knock on wood)

Good luck!

Bob in NEPA

[john e. holliday]

Kidney stones are fun, not.   Good thing the wife was out of arms reach when she said to me, "How does it feel to be in labor"?  Oh, I remember the E-Xacto sanding block.   Guess I should fire up the tools and make a couple.