Your Dream Project

[buffumjr]

I saw a Kearney and Trecker 2H at a machinists' show. Too big for my shop. One day, I'd like to make one scaled down by 1/3. The real challenge is not the gadgetry, it's the accuracy. A real challenge in patience, measurement, machining, welding, casting, and the ability to reject a part that is just plain wrong, that you have hours invested in.

[old jupiter]

Lordy!! That's ambition!

I'd rather assume that Kearney/Trecker got it right, and build an extension on my shop! And make friends with a guy who has a big front-loader that can pick up a big machine and load it on the front of the big trailer that will also transport the loader to my shop. From what I've seen over the years, used machine tools get more expensive as they get bigger . . . until they reach a certain size range where they seem too big for most home shops (and require phase-converters), and then they get cheaper as they get bigger.

If you don't know this (I bet you do), a man named Dave Gingery drew up plans for building your own machine tools from scratch. You could google the name.

Your choice of dream projects is highly impressive. You stand in stark contrast to ordinary men who can be satisfied with something like, oh, golf.

My dream project would be too build a tube-and-fabric airplane, the Wilson Ellipse. But I'm too old and have too many other projects I have to do first.

https://www.google.com/search?q=wils...HcYbCH4QsAQIKA

But don't feel bad for me; some of the projects facing me are pretty cool, too. For example:

https://www.google.com/search?q=1941+lincoln+continental+coupe&biw=1284&bih=560&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwiol-_7vo7MAhVD8z4KHSD-BUEQsAQIGw

[buffumjr]

Love the elliptical wings! At first, I thought of the Fieseler Storch, but, if I were an airplane guy, it would be a 100% size, scratch-built to original plans Blohm and Voss 141. Lots of luggage room. Not an airplane guy, though. I'm a tool junkie.

The K&T 2H was 3 phase, but that doesn't mean you can't buy a phase converter. If you are paying $8K for the 2H in primo condition, another $500 for a Ronk phase converter is not too bad. Just be sure to talk to Larry the Electrician, first.

They weigh between 3,400 and 3,900 lbs, depending. 3 to 5 hp motor not uncommon. They require at least 9 feet by 6 feet of floor space. Should have at least 18" clearance in the back for retracting the overarms and fixing problems. If you drop it on your foot, steel toes won't help you.

Still, mulling over that all important first part, the front plate. 1" steel x 42" high x about 18" wide. Everything attaches to that. The spindle has to be paranoiacally perpendicular to that. The bottom's squareness to the center line. The two overarm holes at the top. Well over 200 lbs of steel. How to get it flat. Once that is done, the rest indexes off that.

Endless gears.

[old jupiter]

They weigh between 3,400 and 3,900 lbs, depending. 3 to 5 hp motor not uncommon. They require at least 9 feet by 6 feet of floor space. Should have at least 18" clearance in the back for retracting the overarms and fixing problems. .

.

Your point being . . ??? Thought you said you're a tool junkie. Extend the shop. Make life as difficult as possible for your heirs, when getting rid of all your gigantic hunks of iron. They will never forget you, and after a couple of years they will even laugh about it. That's real immortality!


(A Storch, or some other mega-STOL bush plane runs a close second for me).