Behold fellow aviators, for I have finally lighted that damned welding torch that I got for Christmas...last year. Yep, bought a "b" tank and an empty 40cu/ft oxy. tank off Ebay from Indiana Oxygen Co. Shipped out next day and items were exactly as described. And free shipping! Swapped it out at...

On Sep 13, 4:10*pm, " wrote: Howdy, Any comments or recommendations? *What rigs have you used for aircraft welding, and were they worth the price compared to the others? Anyone had safety issues with the cheap torch sets off Ebay? Thanks in...

Hello everyone, I'm having an issue with my H-F acetylene torch rig. After nearly a year of non-use, I fired it up over the weekend. Ox side was fine and working exactly as expected. But the Act. regulator is having the following issues: 1. With the regulator t-handle unscrewed completely, open...

Midair over north Boulder, CO today with three confirmed fatalities so far. A Piper Pawnee towing what I believe is a Lockheed glider was struck by a Cirrus SR-20 northwest of the Boulder County airport. The glider was able to release and return safely to the gliderport. The SR-20 appears to have...

Finished up my kinetic sculpture at 6:30 AM last Saturday morning. Made it to the race by 8:30. (Photos available at: http://www.kineticists.org/Community/tabid/56/forumid/1/threadid/278/scope/posts/Default.aspx) Sound familiar? Good news though. By the end of the project I was making fairly...

For the past few days, I've been working on a project that is semi- related to aviation. That is, its related by the fact that the skills necessary to complete it may also be usefull in building an aircraft. I like to think of it as a training project. What I'm building is a kinetic-sculpture...

Hello everyone, Remember a while back that I was having problems with the incredibly long, tall, narrow, light trailer that I built to haul my Wright Brothers machine? If you have forgotten, that wonderfully practical (cheap) trailer had a tendancy to roll faster than a Pitts in a crosswind....

Wilbur and Orville Wright are the source of many a great quote. They had a perspective on life, work, and the flying problem that many folks would do well to adopt. That being: chop the problem into little peices and work on them in stages. And if you don't know how to do something, then get some...

Hello everyone. I've been practicing. Tubemiter has generated a working set of templates, The angle grinder and my dad's 1/2 round tripple-cut ******* were given a thorough workout. I even made a pilgrimage to H-F on Saturday and picked up a tubing notcher. (Do those (insert slur of your choice)...

It would seem that my last post drug out every old lurker that's ever been on RAH (except Chuck... what's he up to these days?) Even BWB sent me an unearthly vibe the other day. But now that I have the torch, I've got a serious welding question. Two actually. Number one is: anyone ever get...

The news reported yesterday or the day before that an experimental ultralight plane (they obviously don't know that there is a difference) crashed in north GA. There were no details beyond this. Anyone have more to add? Harry

In my last post, I mentioned that I was curently off the airshow circut for a number of reasons. Greatest of which is the issue with the homebuilt trailer that formerly hauled my plane and equipment. Well, for those of you that havn't heard this before, here's the whole story. The trailer was...

If anyone out there will admit to driving a C-172, I have a question. In MS FlightSim 2003, Rod the VR flight instructor tells me that I should be controlling my altitude with the throtle, and my airspeed with the elevator? Does that make sense? In Microsoftland, I've got to constantly play with...

Just wondering what the general consensus is on the best method of welding 4130 tube structures. Advantages / disadvantages of each considering I will be building in an attached garage, in a residential subdivision, and will be limited to a 110AC/ 20 amp service? Is an off-the-shelf MIG unit like...

For some time now, I've been thinking about building a replica of Ben Epps' 1907 monoplane. For those of you not familiar with Georgia aviation, this was the first plane built and flown in the state. Ben's youngest son, Pat Epps, currently owns the big FBO at DeKalb-Peachtree in Atlanta. This page...

DONE!!!! Yep, I finally broke down and drug the table saw up the stairs. Made a v-block out of a chunk of 2x4 that I salvaged from a dumpster. Tried the v-block yesterday, and after 2 hours of setup time, finally got everything aligned and drilled the holes in the bike frame. Following that I...

Hello everyone, I'm back in the shop again with a new problem. That is, how to drill accurate holes on-center through steel tubing. I need to attach 2 short lengths of 1/2" EMT tubing parallel to the top tube of a bicycle frame, one on each side. The EMT tubes will extend about 20" forward of...

FYI to everyone on RAC: I have recently moved from Covington, GA (20 mi. east of Atlanta) to Lafayette, CO (20 mi. west of Denver.) The Wright 1902 glider, airshow equipment, etc. were towed out (in their trailer) about two weeks ago. The first two days were uneventful. However, the weather...

Hello everyone, Just stepped in from the shop for a few moments. I need a recomendation and/or input (based on actual experience please) regarding a BurnzOMatic Oxy/MAPP gas torch. That's the one on the Home Depot shelf that uses two small cylinders and sells for about $50. Has anyone ever used...

LOL! Correct me if I'm wrong, but anything that could climb at 60,000 per minute would probably be powered by a big-ass rocket engine and piloted by someone named Yeager, Crossfield, Glenn, etc... Excepting of course for Burt Rutan's ship. All of us poor-boy hang-glider pilots use electronic...