Brief Description: Build cradles for horizontal stabilizer
The plans call for building four cradles to assist later in the HS build. I figured I'd use what's left of the empennage crate to build them. I tried cutting sections from the 8 foot long top on my band saw, but it was a losing battle. I gave up on that and bought a cordless circular saw. That made the job a lot easier.
Once the sections were cut I traced the outline of the inspar and nose ribs then tried to cut out that shape on my band saw. Again, I failed miserably. The band saw blade has a tendency to walk a bit. Later I realized I should have lowered the blade guard more, but I didn't think about it at the time. I ended up going back to Home Depot and buying a high speed router.
Unfortunately, I had a tough time staying on the lines and the resulting cutout was pretty awful. Frustrated, I turned my attention to making some legs out of aluminum angle. Well this didn't go well either. The angle I bought was 1/8 in. thick and my band saw just wasn't powerful enough to cut through. I managed to knock the blade off the wheel several times before I gave up.
I know a fellow builder of an RV-14 who lives not far from me and who is about two sections ahead of me in the plans. I called him up to see if he still had his cradles and would be willing to loan them to me. Thanks James! You saved me a lot of frustration. I'm just not a good woodworker.
I took the easy way out. I borrowed these from another builder.
