PREPARATION AND WORKSHOP
Getting Ready to Build
I have already openly admitted that I had no prior building experience. For better or worse, that has never stopped me before. I am, however, very fortunate to have attended the two-day EAA RV Workshop. When I finally got the wife's blessing, I had missed the workshop in Dallas, and so traveled to Aircraft Spruce's shop in Ontario, California.
While there, I met Dan Checkoway, out instructor. He was nice enough, and was certainly knowledgeable on the building practices. After a couple of days, I realized it was the same Dan Checkoway whose web page I'd been reading for a couple of years. His stock went up appreciably once I'd figured that out.
In the class, Dan took us through the basics of building. It was apparent that, while I understood the concept, there was lots to learn in terms of practice. Long story short, while I would have eventually caught on, there would have been many painful lessons along the way that I hope the class has helped me avoid. If I knew more about what I was talking about, I'd say the class is CRUCIAL for a new builder, but since I admit I'm on the steep-up side of the learning curve, I'll just say it was the best money I've spent thus far.
The Workshop
My personality is such that I typically over-plan and over build. That was the original idea for the workshop. We have a little land around us, and I had room to build a 40' x 60' metal barn. I intended that to be my workshop/man-cave. When we worked the budget for the plane, it was going to either be build a kite in the metal barn or build the RV-10 in my garage. I have 22'x24' in the garage, and after doing some serious cleaning and E-bay sales of junk, it seems that it is going to work out just fine. Once again, the credit goes to the wife for keeping me from spending money that did not really need to be spent.
Another advantage of the garage-workshop as opposed to a metal barn on the back pasture is the immediacy of my worksite. As you read other web-page discussions on work shops, one recurring theme you'll notice is they all say keep the worksite close to where you live. The further away it is, the more reasons you'll find for not getting there. They could not be more accurate on this point!! Another advantage I found in working in my garage, is that I am still home and am not removed from my family. With a wife and three kids, that's pretty important over a 2 to 3 year build.
Storage
I worked pretty hard at figuring out what I was going to do with all the bits and pieces. I've divided the storage into three areas; thirty-five storage bins for the small pieces, long shelves for the long pieces, and deep shelving for the rest of it. I numbered every bin and every shelf. As we inventoried the pieces from the shipment, we assigned each part to a particular shelf or bin, and wrote the number down next to the piece on the parts list. It has worked wonderfully thus far. We'll see how the big boxes go when they come in.
The Hand Tools
I had absolutely no metal fabrication tools when I began. That meant I either needed to buy piecemeal, or buy a kit. When I attended the RV Workshop at Aircraft Spruce, one of the things they offered us was a tool kit for the tools I would use during the build at a 10% discount and free delivery. That sounded pretty good, but I had about four hours to kill in my hotel room and began to compare a number of different kits from different supply companies. I noticed that lots of the kits had tools made by Avery Tools, so I decided to look there. With both of us being in Texas, I didn't think I'd be able to trade with them, since I'd have to pay the sales tax. Even with the sales tax, and paying for delivery, Avery had more tools in their kit and it was still cheaper than everyone else's. The fact that everyone else was using tools manufactured by Avery was also a factor. The kit was delivered promptly, and was complete. The service is excellent. I got into an issue with my pneumatic rivet squeezer (below) and Mr. Avery e-mailed me personally with some suggestions. I recommend them highly. Their RV kit is here.
I went to Wal-Mart and bought a very cheap two-part rolling tool chest ($61.00). I doubt it will outlast the build, but it holds all the project tools nicely, and everything has its place and can be found instantly.
The Power Tools
Everyone is quick to say that you can build the entire plane without any power tools other than a drill. While that might be true, I wouldn't want to try it. It would be tedious, laborious work, and my experience is that means the end result would not be as good as if I was able to do it better and more quickly with better tools. Again, the Wife is the money manager in my household, and when she told me it didn't make sense to save a $2,000.00 on tools if I was going to need them to build a $100,000.00 project correctly, I thought she made a lot of sense.
There's two places you want to think about when you start looking at power tools: 1) Harbor Freight, and 2) Sears.
Harbor Freight's prices were so much lower than everyone else's, including Sears, that originally they scared me off. I was convinced that they must be selling junk. Wrong. Especially if you're going to go ahead and take the plunge into pneumatic tools. It is amazing how much cheaper their stuff is.
Sears is the old easy chair that you always come back to. Their tools are very good for the money, and you can spend different amounts for different levels of duty. I was perfectly happy going with the lower end power tools for the applications required in the kit.
Power tools I purchased included, in order of importance to me:
COMPRESSOR
Got this one from Harbor Freight. It's an "Oiled" motor, which I hear is very important. The builder pages are full of rants from builders who rue the day they purchased an oil-less compressor. They evidently sound like jackhammers. When mine does kick on, it is loud, but with the size of the tank, it doesn't kick on very often. I priced these exhaustively at Home Depot, Sears, National, etc., and Harbor Freight's model was $120.00 cheaper than comparables everywhere else. Had to have a 220 plug put in, but I had a sub-panel right where I wanted the plug, so it was no big deal.
You can see that I ran the hose through the attic to a coil on the ceiling. I've heard stories about how important it was to keep the hose off the floor and therefore bits and pieces out of the hose and the tools. I figured this would meet that goal and also keep the clutter down.
KEEP IN MIND that a compressor's cost does not stop there. Be sure and also factor in the cost for an air filter/Oilier/Regulator, hose, some sort of reel for the hose, fittings, and costs involved in setting up for the higher power requirements.
GRINDER
Got this one new for $39.00 at Sears. Very, very useful. Mr. Grinder and Mrs. Scotch-Brite wheel were a match made in heaven. Saves boo-koo time, and if I can avoid having to hand-file most of my work, that can only be a good thing. I've done some filing, and I think the grinder makes the finished pieces look a lot better.
SANDER
Also got this one from Sears at $99.00. Again, saves tons of time cleaning up the large bits and pieces prior to taking them to Mr. Grinder.
DRILL PRESS
This tool was high on most other builder's lists. As of the date of this update, I'm almost through with my Empennage Kit, and have used it only a handful of times. I got it from Sears for $99.00. I'm sure I'll be singing it's praises later, but as for now, it's just taking up bench space. I can see why it is important to have to precisely drill smaller pieces during manufacture.
BAND SAW
I wrung my hands over whether or not I really needed a band saw. The problem with this tool is that you're not able to buy a lower-end saw, because they won't cut metal. I had to buy a fairly expensive sears model for just under $300.00. Had I shopped harder, I could have found a used one, but I didn't. I'm glad I bought the saw. I am not very good with metal shears. The end product stills needs quite a bit of work to be useful after I'm finished hacking. The band saw allows me to make all the rough cuts for parts prep and be fairly close to the end product. Sears sells a great band saw, but their metal blades are poor at best. I had to order new blades from on online company.
RIVET SQUEEZER
Bought it used on E-bay for $150.00. When it came in, I realized it was sized too big. Since that time, I figured out I could use the piston and the yoke from my Avery hand squeezer. It dimples aluminum beautifully, but couldn't squeeze a rivet if it's life depended on it (which it does). The jury is still out on this "tool," but right now it is just an expensive paperweight.