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A neat tool

S

Super11XP

Registered User
Hot Springs, SD
I recently got this knife makers 2X72 belt sander from Beaumont Metal Works.You can get profiling wheels from 1/2" up to 8". It really made quick work coping out the joint for this set of gear that I am building. It should be really handy on our up coming fuselage project.
Has anybody else used a sander like this?
 

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It sure beats a bench grinder with the ability to quick change grinding radius. New to me.

What kind of belt speeds are used?
 
It has a variable speed rheostat so any speed that you need. I'm using an 80 grit belt right now and higher speeds seem to be better with it. I've been really surprized how many times I have used it. I still have a bench grinder, but I think it will be on the bottom shelf collecting dust permanently now.
 
I know a guy that has one and uses the 1/2" roller for about every fishmouth he does. Its a nice machine, I have machine jealously now. You won't be finding belts for that at Harbor Freight. Going to make the fuselage build a lot easier. Burr King has a nice 2" belt sander but they don't offer smaller rollers.
 
and don't forget a good pair of aviation tin snips makes short work of making fish mouths in .035" chrommolly.. learned that from a guy that build allot of the fuselages for ?? forget the name now in eagle river years ago, interstate???
 
Everyone keeps saying you can use snips but I can't get good results with them. Maybe I'm needing a snip lesson or something. I use 2 grinders with wheels worn to take 1/2 / 5/8 and 3/4 / 7/8 and a wire wheel on the other side of one and a Scotch bright wheel on the other. They are a little messy but do work well.

I sure do like that sander though!!
 
Snips really works good on the .028 wall stuff in a cub, also good on .035 but .049 not so much.
 
Many years ago I fetched a Spezio fuselage kit for a friend. The kit was one of many made by Kerbie-J in Bear, Delaware. All the tubing had been jigged and cut on a Bridgeport mill. It sure seemed like overkill but everything was repeatable in their setups. The fuselage fit together surprisingly well with a minimum of fitting needed. I always wondered what became of them. jrh
 
I tried snips again this morning and they sorta worked on 5/8x.035 and like they say....a good welder can fix a broken heart so I guess I was close enough. Maybe with more practice I'd be more effective with the snips.
 
Super11XP said:
I recently got this knife makers 2X72 belt sander from Beaumont Metal Works.You can get profiling wheels from 1/2" up to 8". It really made quick work coping out the joint for this set of gear that I am building. It should be really handy on our up coming fuselage project.
Has anybody else used a sander like this?
Click to expand...

Love my 2x72 belt sander. I've got one from Grizzly. Combine it with belts from Red Label and I am a happy camper. I still use the bench grinder when I have to though. The belt sander doesn't work for everything unfortunately :(
 
Lowrider said:
I tried snips again this morning and they sorta worked on 5/8x.035 and like they say....a good welder can fix a broken heart so I guess I was close enough. Maybe with more practice I'd be more effective with the snips.
Click to expand...

Do you have left and right hand snips? And are they tight? When they are, you can snip a hair's width off if necessary.
 
Lowrider said:
I tried snips again this morning and they sorta worked on 5/8x.035 and like they say....a good welder can fix a broken heart so I guess I was close enough. Maybe with more practice I'd be more effective with the snips.
Click to expand...

EAA hints for homebuilders shows all kinds of tin snips it takes a special type...not the small straight ahead kind... to cut a straight line in the middle of a panel. You need to be a national EAA member to view [video]https://www.eaa.org/Videos/Hints-for-Homebuilders/Sheet-Metal/5430484363001[/video]
 
I have been looking at different tools for coping joints and curious what tooling Piper used in the early days of cub production. I assume companies like VR3 use a CNC mill for their kits. Did Piper manually mill every joint or did they have an industrial notcher for this?
 
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