| June 26, 2003. Chris came over and we worked on making
the lift duct form. We made it from 1/2 plywood and 2x4s cut to 1' as
spacers. |
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| This is a picture of the router jig I made to cut the 34
1/4" form. |
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| July 8, 2003. I fiberglassed the lift
duct wood strips together (yes that is the dining room). Now I have to
wrap it around the disk. The UH plans are not clear on how high the
lift duct walls should be. The plans say 24" and the text says 12.5".
I went with 16" and figured I could add foam or cut as need be. Zach
said they made theirs 24" but had to cut a lot. |
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| July 10, 2003. Lift duct pretty much finished.
I will fiberglass the seams better tonight. It is a BIG duct. |
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| Aug 15, 2003. The 16" lift duct I made above
was too short. The step by step instructions were wrong and the notes
on the drawings were correct. The duct needs to be 24". So I
made a new one 24" tall. Here Chris and I are foaming it into the
craft. We made a 30 degree fixture to cut the hole and check the angle
of the duct. |
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| The front of the duct was cut 9.75" and tapered back to zero
at the back. This allowed it to fit on the skirt attach strips on the
bottom of the hull. We then used 2 part foam to foam it onto the hull.
I don't know if the plans were wrong or I screwed up but the bottom of the
duct will need to be flared out to give 2.5" for the air gap for the skirt.
Seems the duct should have been about 2" more in diameter for it to
work out correct. I noticed that Terry seemed to have had to do the
same thing for his 18SPW. |
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| Aug 18, 2003. Here is a picture of the lift fan
being glassed. Rob Tilton is making it for me. It is good size
at 34" diameter. It still needs to have the center disks added.
2nd picture is a later shot with the disks added. |
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| Aug 28, 2003. Working on getting the splitters
installed. I will have to cut the sides of the duct and widen the air
holes to allow air to enter the skirt. |
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| The cardboard is a mock up of the splitter I will make for
one side. I still need to mock up the other one. |
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| Aug 29-30, 2003. I have cut the air outlet holes
in the duct and am shaping the outlets. |
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| This is a shot of both air outlets and before I foam in the
other side. I will FG the foam after it is shaped. |
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| The last three pictures are after the gaps have been filled
with two part foam and an epoxy slurry was used to smooth out the foam.
I will FG the areas next for water proofing. |
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| OCT 1, 2003. These are pictures of the side air
outlets after fiberglassing. Based on Zach's 18SP tests, I have
widened the air gaps to 2.5" from 1.5" called for in the plans. |
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| This is a top view of the finished bottom of the lift duct.
The air splitters will be put on after the skirt is attached. |
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| DEC 10. 2003. The plans are apparently wrong on
the duct height. Chris Keirs came over and after
much discussion, the duct was cut. The rear is cut 1" lower than the side stringers and the front is about 8" lower than the stringers so we
did not do anything to it. |
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| DEC 12, 2003. The foam "rings" are being cut.
I used a router to make the cuts for the center. I glued the foam to
the disk and sides with epoxy. I also added fiberglass to the sides to
make sure the foam was solidly attached to the sides. This will make
it easier to add the additional layers as this foundation will be solid. |
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| DEC 13, 2003. I glued on the second layer
of disk foam using Great Stuff. I used this instead of epoxy as it is
easier to sand and cut. Also, the foam expands to fill in small voids.
I have one layer still to add to the bottom. My youngest son Billy is
supervising the progress. |
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| DEC 14, 2003. Mark is cutting a sheet of foam
for the last front ring. We used the router to cut the circle and then
I trimmed it to size and glued it on with spray foam. |
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| Here is a side view of the rings before cutting and shaping
the inlet. It takes 2.5 sheets of foam to do it this way. |
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| DEC 20, 2003. Mark and I hotwire cut the foam
to the stringer height in the front and sides. Then we marked the
contour cut lines on the foam. |
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| Here I am rough cutting the duct lip with a hand saw to
reduce, somewhat, the sanding needed. 2nd picture is the sanding process.
With two sanding it went faster than I thought it would. |
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| Here the back is cut to size and I am trying to figure out
how to do the transition from the back to the front ring height. |
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| DEC 21, 2003. I did not like the way the
transition from the back to the front was looking and there needed to be
some sort of support for the dash board plywood. So... Mark and I made
a mold for two-part foam to make the contours we needed for the plywood. |
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| We used a piece of plywood that went over the back rings and
was held flat to the side of the HC with duct tape. The dog food bag
holds the plywood against the rear rings. The duct tape keeps the foam
where we want it (mostly). We then poured in the foam and waited for
it to cure in the shape we made. |
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| After the tape and plywood is removed the foam is generally
in the shape we need. Now I have to sand the curve of the lip and
glass the duct. The small amount of pour foam on the front rings was
used to fill a couple of gaps. It was easier to fill it this way than
with an epoxy filler. |
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| DEC 26, 2003. Mark and I sanded the foam close to the
final shape. Now I will fill the various gaps with epoxy/filler and we
will sand it smooth tomorrow. |
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| JAN 14, 2004. Chris and I pulled the lift duct
disks out of the center. They came out pretty easy. It is a big duct. |
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| The sticks are being used to center the lift fan supports in
the center of the duct and to make sure the spacing stays at 13" c-c.
I still need to cut the holes for the front of the lift fan mounts and foam
them into place but it is after 11pm and the neighbors might object to more
sawing etc. |
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| JAN 16, 2004. The slots for the lift fan
supports are cut and the supports are fiberglassed in. The lift shaft
has a retaining bolt/washer that screws into the end of the shaft.
Mike Bice cut, drilled and taped the shaft for me. Very nicely done! |
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| JAN 24, 2004. Today is a milestone as the first
hardware was mounted! The first picture is one of the 30 degree 5/8" slots
for the front idlers. I used a router with a wood side guide to cut
both slots. The 2nd picture show the pulleys and adjustment "stuff"
being added. |
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| Here is the front idler mounted. Also, the lift fan
assy has been assembled and dry fitted into the duct. It spins!!!!
I still have to glue in the wood supports for the inside of the lift fan
supports and cut the hole for the belt to pass through the duct. |
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| JAN 28, 2004. Chris Keirs and I cut the slot in
the duct for the fan belt. I used a high speed dremel with a carbide
cutter attachment to make the slot. I may still need to make the slot
a little wider but I will not know until I get the engine mount and variator
mounted to test fit everything. |
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| Feb 1, 2004. The lift duct is almost ready for
fiberglassing. I used a plastic filler to make it smooth. |
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| March 23, 2004. I finally started to finish the
lift duct. It is now glassed with 8.75 oz tight weave FG. I
really hate FG work. |
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| Feb 17, 2005. Barry Blount and I added the
reinforcement wood sections that go between the metal lift fan brackets. |
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