---------------------------------------------------------- Pietenpol-List Digest Archive --- Total Messages Posted Sun 07/06/14: 13 ---------------------------------------------------------- Today's Message Index: ---------------------- 1. 01:50 AM - A perspective on Carbs, Mags and Certified engines (William Wynne) 2. 03:55 AM - Re: July 5th...New Milestone (john francis) 3. 05:44 AM - solo (Douwe Blumberg) 4. 05:58 AM - Re: Re: Happy 4th everyone (Jack Phillips) 5. 07:41 AM - Re: A perspective on Carbs, Mags and Certified engines (kevinpurtee) 6. 08:00 AM - BFR (Steven Dortch) 7. 09:01 AM - Re: July 5th...New Milestone (Steven Dortch) 8. 09:24 AM - Re: July 5th...New Milestone (AircamperN11MS) 9. 09:24 AM - Re: July 5th...New Milestone (AircamperN11MS) 10. 09:41 AM - Re: A perspective on Carbs, Mags and Certified engines (AircamperN11MS) 11. 01:12 PM - Re: Re: Happy 4th everyone (Ray Krause) 12. 05:48 PM - Cast aluminium hinges (AG) 13. 07:39 PM - Steel (AG) ________________________________ Message 1 _____________________________________ Time: 01:50:16 AM PST US Subject: Pietenpol-List: A perspective on Carbs, Mags and Certified engines From: "William Wynne" Builders, I have been an light aircraft mechanic in Florida for a long time. One of inspection tasks that is occasionally done is looking over a single engine plane before it flies to the Bahamas. The gap from West Palm to West End is 56 miles, and smart pilots, particularly those renting, get another set of eyes on the plane before they stick their family in it. When given 30 minutes to evaluate a certified engine's condition on the ramp, my focus is on the Mags and the Carb, as there two are the most likely sources of taking a swim. A slightly low compression cylinder is not the same trouble as a failed mag on a 95 degree day with four people in a C-172. If the Mags and the carb are working perfectly, odds of other trouble are quite low. The slightest hint of issue from either is a good reason to delay the trip. .. The exact same logic applies to Experimentals, and I can make a statistical case that flying the 40 hours on a new homebuilt, even one with a certified engine, is greater risk that flying for a week in the Bahamas. If a neighbor chose an A-65 Continental for his newly built Pietenpol, I wouldn't be concerned that the basic engine had 800 hrs. on it. If it has consistent oil pressure. it is not likely to throw a rod, but I would advise him to stack the deck in his favor and make absolutely sure that he had a perfect Carb and Mags on it, as they are the likely source of any issue. When looking at the O-320 headed to the islands, I look at the logs to make sure that the last people who touched the mags and carb were in a repair station, or the factory. After visual inspection for leaks and security, I run the engine to full power and try to make it misbehave with the throttle and mixture. A critical test is full static power and slightly leaning must show an rpm increase. Carb heat must work, and cutting off the fuel and letting it idle must cause a 25-50 rpm rise before it quits. Engine must idle as solid as a rock. Turn the prop and feel for low compression and listen for impulses to click at the same time. The 1/2" nuts holding the mags are checked for torque. Hands on mags to make sure they are secure. Leads traced to look for cuts, every 3/4 nut checked. Engine is started and the key is messed with to make sure a worn switch will not short. The run up is performed with the engine heat soaked, because mags have trouble when they are hot, not cold. Zero tolerance outside of limits on mag drop. The goal is to find the circumstances in which it misbehaves, not to show that it runs ok. Any discrepancy on mags or Carb, even one that is hard to quantify, is cause for the delay of the trip. If I bring any issue to the pilots attention and he responds with a variation on "It will be alright" I never fly with him nor work for him again. I am not a cat, I don't have 9 lives. .. If a newly finished home built has a used certified engine on it, and the builder is having trouble starting it, odds are the trouble is with the Mags or the carb. If it is stored in a reasonably dry place, a piston in a bore can happily wait 20 years to be re-stared, but the points in mags don't like this and carbs don't like fuel, especially auto fuel evaporating from them. (The sole common exception to the mags-carb rule is the camshafts on Lycomings left to sit often corrode and if the engine is run without correcting this the grind the lobes off in a few hours and pump the metal through the oil system.) A homebuilder is allowed to fix his own carb and mags if they need attention, and there are manuals and parts lists on the net, but I can make a case that this isn't always smart. .. Looking at the carb: aircraft carbs are deceptively simple, and they look far easier to rebuild than a four barrel. Here is the hidden issue: Many carbs on engines for home builts are 60 years old and have had long periods of inactivity, previous owners mix and match parts, and people who like to drill out jets. A skilled guy in a FAA fuel system repair station can spot all of these, but a homebuilder is likely blind to them. I like aircraft carbs, and I teach people to use them after sending them to a professional. Maybe 3 of 10 NAS3's or MA3's sold at fly marts have mix and match parts inside. Hard starting is not the worst thing about poorly tuned carbs. First, a carb that is set too lean or has a malfunctioning enrichment circuit will damage the engine in flight. Second, ones that don't run smooth will often quit at idle. Put this on a hand prop plane and combine it with the fact that many pilots don't fly every pattern power off, and the new homebuilt ends up 100 yards short of the runway threshold. For more info on carbs, look at this link: http://flycorvair.net/2013/12/03/carburetor-reference-page/ .. I do not trust mags that have no logs, were repaired by amateurs, or have had a decade with no inspection of any kind. My neighbor owned a Mag test bench that could run all brands and evaluate them with proper loads on the leads, a tool you find in a Mag repair station. He just sold it on Ebay and got $4,000 for it. If it was actually possible to properly evaluate, repair, overhaul and test aircraft mags without this tool, then it would not be possible to sell it for $4,000. It is legal for a homebuilder to 'repair' his own mags, but no rational person who make the argument that a first time amateur without the test device could do as good a job as a professional with the correct equipment. .. Now lets think about a new Pietenpol getting ready for it's first flight: Plane is built by a nice guy, but planes are a hobby, not a career. A tech counselor looked at it, but that man's experience was building one RV-6A, and all his "looks good" offered was a false sense of security. It passes the FAA exam, with a DAR that charges $400 but didn't even ask to see it run. The plane is out of rig, but no one knows this yet. The low time pilot's time in type is two trips around the pattern at Brodhead. He got 3 hours of tail wheel in a Cessna 170, (a plane that could land itself) but he was not allowed to solo it. The pilot has never flown anything that has the short glide ratio of a Piet. At his last Biennial the CFI allowed him to drag the 152 in with power and plop it down on the runway. He is nervous enough even without the video cameras, but there is a growing group of spectators adding pressure. Under these conditions, does it sound smart that he is also flying the first aircraft carb that he has ever 'rebuilt'? .. A small continental is an easy engine to troubleshoot if you are trained on them. This training can come in many forms, but the most effective is learning them in person, from someone who knows them. Theoretically you could learn to fly by reading a book, but everyone understands that in person flight training works. I only make the same point with maintenance, that instruction is best, person to person. On a relative scale, making one run that is reluctant to start is very easy compared to doing an airworthy job overhauling a carb or a mag without specific tools or training. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion about this, but what ever difference in opinion is, the wager riding on the opinion is the same, the whole value of the plane and the lives of the people in it. Place your bet carefully. I like Continentals, and have a lot of time flying behind them. Their primary quality is reliability. This well earned reputation was made seven decades ago, when homebuilding was still illegal in the US. The Continental reputation was built on relatively new engines, installed at factories, and maintained by trained, licensed A&E mechanics, in a era where people had longer attention spans. Seventy years later, anyone expecting that the same reputation magically lives in the metal is deluding themselves. To get the same results, you have to get as close to the original format as possible. But the issue is that the parts can be old, the details of the installation on a homebuilt can be weak, and the guy working on the carb may have never built one before. Is the issue beginning to make some sense? To even get close to the original reliability, One must spend some money on parts, the used parts must have a history and be within limits, and critical items like mags and the carb should be done or at least checked by a repair station. You can choose to do otherwise, but it is not possible to then argue that you can expect the full reputation for reliability. Anyone who thinks that you can have the reliability of a certified motor when you buy one that is advertised as no logs or experimental only is mistaken. You dont get to have it both ways. Continentals reputation was not built on engines made of junk and spray painted. If the engine was just as reliable with out of spec parts, then they wouldnt be out of spec would they? .. There are always people who argue that they have to have a reliable certified engine and that they will not fly auto engines. Then the first thing they do is go out and look for the cheapest collection of parts bolted together that are masquerading as a certified engine, made of out of spec parts. That behavior isnt rational, but people who are compulsively cheap often are satisfied with the illusion of reliability instead of the real thing. Want to know who isnt fooled by this? Our old friends Physics, Chemistry and Gravity. If the FAA considers the engine un-airworthy in a certified plane, it is just as un-airworthy in an experimental one. Physics, Chemistry and Gravity dont care if the plane was built in a factory or your garage. An engine built of out of spec parts doesnt magically become airworthy when it is bolted on an experimental. .. I am an Embry-Riddle trained A&P with 24 years of continuous work on light aircraft. I am qualified to work on virtualy any part in GA planes, but that doesn't mean I am reluctant to hire other mechanics with greater experience and better tooling. When the right mag had excessive drop on the C-85 in my wife's Taylorcraft, I could have replaced the cracked coil myself, but instead I took both mags to a repair station and waited while they were overhauled. In the last 10 years we have finished several homebuilts, and I could have overhauled each of the carbs myself, but I elected to send them all to a certified repair station. The difference between 'fixed' and 'Yellow tagged' is often hundreds of dollars. It sounds like a lot of money until you have lived through to plane crashes and attended a few funerals. 90% of the people reading this make more money than I do, and 95% have less experience with aircraft engines. If those people are trying to save money by fixing a mag or a carb themselves, when I would send the same part out, they should rethink that plan. My known specialty is training amateurs to build aircraft engines for experimental aircraft. It doesn't matter that the hardware is mostly Chevrolet and not Continental, It isn't about metal, it is about the capacity of builders to learn, and I am not speaking of turning wrenches, I am speaking of learning to make good decisions in a very unforgiving environment. No one has to agree with my perspective, but I have been doing this for long enough, with enough homebuilders that it is worth considering carefully. Homebuilding, including building engines, can be done with reasonably low risk, but only when the builder makes good decisions. -ww Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=426182#426182 ________________________________ Message 2 _____________________________________ Time: 03:55:02 AM PST US Subject: Pietenpol-List: Re: July 5th...New Milestone From: "john francis" Congratulations Michael! Youll fly with more confidence now knowing that guy in the right seat isnt really needed. John -------- John Francis Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=426183#426183 ________________________________ Message 3 _____________________________________ Time: 05:44:35 AM PST US From: "Douwe Blumberg" Subject: Pietenpol-List: solo Congratulations Mike! Douwe ________________________________ Message 4 _____________________________________ Time: 05:58:02 AM PST US From: "Jack Phillips" Subject: RE: Pietenpol-List: Re: Happy 4th everyone Thanks, Ray. We opened our Fly-In Bed & Breakfast last December. You can check it out at www.bedfordlandings.com . We've had a number of Fly-in guests, but so far nobody has come in a Pietenpol to stay the night (half off if they do!). We have had some interesting airplanes in here, such as Gene Rambo's 1927 Travel Air (you might remember seeing it at Brodhead last year). Here is a picture of it in our hangar: As for my jury struts, they are 5/16" x .035" round tubing. Jury struts are necessary to keep the lift struts from buckling under compression loads, but they carry almost no load themselves, so they don't need to be very stout. Jack Phillips NX899JP Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia _____ From: owner-pietenpol-list-server@matronics.com [mailto:owner-pietenpol-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of Ray Krause Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2014 10:21 PM Subject: Re: Pietenpol-List: Re: Happy 4th everyone Jack, Beautiful photo. I was just in Virginia last week, absolutely beautiful! Do I remember that you are that you are planning on an airport bed and breakfast? I visited Kill Devil Hills for the first time, very impressive. They let me take many photos of the 1903 Flyer...close ups. Are your jury struts just round tubing, what size? Thanks, Ray Krause Building SkyScout Sent from my iPad On Jul 5, 2014, at 10:16 AM, "Jack Phillips" wrote: Never got up yesterday - just didn't feel like fighting such winds, but today was spectacular. I took my wife, Karen, up and she got a number of good pictures of Smith Mountain Lake, where we live. I never get tired of the views flying over the lake. Here is my favorite of the pictures she shot: Jack Phillips NX899JP Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia _____ From: owner-pietenpol-list-server@matronics.com [mailto:owner-pietenpol-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of Boatright, Jeffrey Sent: Friday, July 04, 2014 10:32 PM Subject: Re: Pietenpol-List: Re: Happy 4th everyone Glorious morning flight today on the 4th! Very cool temps for this time of year in Atlanta. I was actually chilly at 2300 MSL. Went down to 1700 MSL for warmth and, oddly, fewer bumps. -- Jeffrey H. Boatright, PhD, FARVO Professor of Ophthalmology Emory University School of Medicine From: Jack Phillips Subject: RE: Pietenpol-List: Re: Happy 4th everyone I'm waiting till this evening. Right now we have winds at 15 knots with gusts to 25, directly across the runway. Too much work flying in such winds! Jack Phillips NX899JP Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia -----Original Message----- From: owner-pietenpol-list-server@matronics.com [mailto:owner-pietenpol-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of AircamperN11MS Sent: Friday, July 04, 2014 10:20 AM Subject: Pietenpol-List: Re: Happy 4th everyone Good morning Pieters, I flew for 30 minutes this morning before it gets hot. Lifted off at 5:45. Great smooth ride. Happy Landings, -------- Scott Liefeld Flying N11MS since March 1972 Steel Tube C-85-12 Wire Wheels Brodhead in 1996 Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=426073#426073 http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Pietenpol-List http://forums.matronics.com http://www.matronics.com/contribution _____ This e-mail message (including any attachments) is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this message (including any attachments) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please contact the sender by reply e-mail message and destroy all copies of the original message (including attachments). ~ _____ ________________________________ Message 5 _____________________________________ Time: 07:41:38 AM PST US Subject: Pietenpol-List: Re: A perspective on Carbs, Mags and Certified engines From: "kevinpurtee" Thanks, William. As always, I appreciate your insight on risk management in homebuilding. Thoughtful builders will read carefully. -------- Kevin "Axel" Purtee Rebuilding NX899KP Austin/San Marcos, TX Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=426186#426186 ________________________________ Message 6 _____________________________________ Time: 08:00:03 AM PST US Subject: Pietenpol-List: BFR From: Steven Dortch Not on the 4th, but on the 5th I did a biennial flight ride in a 1947 Piper Cub. Sure felt good. After almost 2 years of not flying. CFI had about 300 hours in a taildragger, mostly as an instructor. He is still a little edgy about landings. The old pilot who taught me tailwheel in a Champ really taught me right. All of my landings were spot on. Much better than the instructors two. Wheel landings and three point. He also was slightly nervous about 3 point takeoffs. Just to brag, he said he had never seen better landings. Before going on this flight I reread the tailwheel chapter in "What I didn't learn in flying school" by Vern Foster. It was a great refresher. Since Vern (96 Years Old) gave me my tailwheel checkout, I really understood his description of tailwheeling. This Piper cub is very basic, like a Piet. Not even a ball. It rents for $85 per hour. You have to have renter's insurance for $40,000. It only rents out 4 times a month. If I wasn't doing my Piet, that would sure be a cheap way to fly once a week. Blue Skies, Steve D -- Blue Skies, Steve D ________________________________ Message 7 _____________________________________ Time: 09:01:29 AM PST US Subject: Re: Pietenpol-List: July 5th...New Milestone From: Steven Dortch Congratulations, Once I was signed off to fly on my own it was hard to motivate myself for my ticket. I was happy just flying around on my own. Blue Skies,Steve D On Sat, Jul 5, 2014 at 5:26 PM, Michael Perez wrote: > It has been a long time coming, but today I finally soloed! It was great > weather for it and after three circuits around the pattern, I did another > three solo. I was very surprised that I was not nervous, concerned or > worried in any way. Everything felt really good and I was very calm...no > different then when driving a car. It all went very well and I could not be > more pleased. > > As I mentioned in another thread, tomorrow it is back to trying for my > first engine start. > > Mike Perez > Karetaker Aero > Attempting first engine start > > * > > > * > > -- Blue Skies, Steve D ________________________________ Message 8 _____________________________________ Time: 09:24:22 AM PST US Subject: Pietenpol-List: Re: July 5th...New Milestone From: "AircamperN11MS" Mike, Congratulations isn't enough. Good job. Now you need to decide whether you want to cheat gravity by yourself or build. Tough decision considering we only have 24 hours in a day. Keep plugging away. Happy landings, -------- Scott Liefeld Flying N11MS since March 1972 Steel Tube C-85-12 Wire Wheels Brodhead in 1996 Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=426193#426193 ________________________________ Message 9 _____________________________________ Time: 09:24:37 AM PST US Subject: Pietenpol-List: Re: July 5th...New Milestone From: "AircamperN11MS" Mike, Congratulations isn't enough. Good job. Now you need to decide whether you want to cheat gravity by yourself or build. Tough decision considering we only have 24 hours in a day. Keep plugging away. Happy landings, -------- Scott Liefeld Flying N11MS since March 1972 Steel Tube C-85-12 Wire Wheels Brodhead in 1996 Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=426194#426194 ________________________________ Message 10 ____________________________________ Time: 09:41:51 AM PST US Subject: Pietenpol-List: Re: A perspective on Carbs, Mags and Certified engines From: "AircamperN11MS" Hi William, Could you please give me a quick call at first chance. I tried calling the office but your mail box was full. 661-400-1876. Regards, -------- Scott Liefeld Flying N11MS since March 1972 Steel Tube C-85-12 Wire Wheels Brodhead in 1996 Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=426195#426195 ________________________________ Message 11 ____________________________________ Time: 01:12:29 PM PST US From: Ray Krause Subject: Re: Pietenpol-List: Re: Happy 4th everyone Thanks, Jack. Your jury struts are the first ones I noticed that were not ai rfoil in shape. Not sure it would make much difference on such a draggy plan e! I will try to remember you Smith Mountain "resort". Maybe pay you a visit s omeday! Thanks.....nice plane that Rambo guy has! Ray Krause Sent from my iPad > On Jul 6, 2014, at 5:56 AM, "Jack Phillips" wro te: > > Thanks, Ray. > > We opened our Fly-In Bed & Breakfast last December. You can check it out a t www.bedfordlandings.com . We=99ve had a number of Fly-in guests, bu t so far nobody has come in a Pietenpol to stay the night (half off if they d o!). We have had some interesting airplanes in here, such as Gene Rambo =99s 1927 Travel Air (you might remember seeing it at Brodhead last year). H ere is a picture of it in our hangar: > > > > As for my jury struts, they are 5/16=9D x .035=9D round tubing . Jury struts are necessary to keep the lift struts from buckling under com pression loads, but they carry almost no load themselves, so they don=99 t need to be very stout. > > Jack Phillips > NX899JP > Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia > > From: owner-pietenpol-list-server@matronics.com [mailto:owner-pietenpol-li st-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of Ray Krause > Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2014 10:21 PM > To: pietenpol-list@matronics.com > Subject: Re: Pietenpol-List: Re: Happy 4th everyone > > Jack, > > Beautiful photo. I was just in Virginia last week, absolutely beautiful! D o I remember that you are that you are planning on an airport bed and breakf ast? I visited Kill Devil Hills for the first time, very impressive. They le t me take many photos of the 1903 Flyer...close ups. > > Are your jury struts just round tubing, what size? > > Thanks, > > Ray Krause > Building SkyScout > > Sent from my iPad > >> On Jul 5, 2014, at 10:16 AM, "Jack Phillips" w rote: >> Never got up yesterday =93 just didn=99t feel like fighting s uch winds, but today was spectacular. I took my wife, Karen, up and she got a number of good pictures of Smith Mountain Lake, where we live. I never g et tired of the views flying over the lake. Here is my favorite of the pict ures she shot: >> >> >> >> Jack Phillips >> NX899JP >> Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia >> >> From: owner-pietenpol-list-server@matronics.com [mailto:owner-pietenpol-l ist-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of Boatright, Jeffrey >> Sent: Friday, July 04, 2014 10:32 PM >> To: pietenpol-list@matronics.com >> Subject: Re: Pietenpol-List: Re: Happy 4th everyone >> >> Glorious morning flight today on the 4th! Very cool temps for this time o f year in Atlanta. I was actually chilly at 2300 MSL. Went down to 1700 MSL f or warmth and, oddly, fewer bumps. >> -- >> >> Jeffrey H. Boatright, PhD, FARVO >> Professor of Ophthalmology >> Emory University School of Medicine >> >> From: Jack Phillips >> Date: Friday, July 4, 2014 at 1:08 PM >> To: "pietenpol-list@matronics.com" >> Subject: RE: Pietenpol-List: Re: Happy 4th everyone >> gs.com> >> >> I'm waiting till this evening. Right now we have winds at 15 knots with >> gusts to 25, directly across the runway. Too much work flying in such >> winds! >> >> Jack Phillips >> NX899JP >> Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: owner-pietenpol-list-server@matronics.com >> [mailto:owner-pietenpol-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of >> AircamperN11MS >> Sent: Friday, July 04, 2014 10:20 AM >> To: pietenpol-list@matronics.com >> Subject: Pietenpol-List: Re: Happy 4th everyone >> >> >> >> Good morning Pieters, >> I flew for 30 minutes this morning before it gets hot. Lifted off at 5:45 .. >> Great smooth ride. >> Happy Landings, >> >> -------- >> Scott Liefeld >> Flying N11MS since March 1972 >> Steel Tube >> C-85-12 >> Wire Wheels >> Brodhead in 1996 >> >> >> >> >> Read this topic online here: >> >> http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=426073#426073 >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Pietenpol-List >> http://forums.matronics.com >> http://www.matronics.com/contribution >> >> >> >> >> >> >> This e-mail message (including any attachments) is for the sole use of >> the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged >> information. If the reader of this message is not the intended >> recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution >> or copying of this message (including any attachments) is strictly >> prohibited. >> >> If you have received this message in error, please contact >> the sender by reply e-mail message and destroy all copies of the >> original message (including attachments). >> ~ > > > http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Pietenpol-List > http://forums.matronics.com > http://www.matronics.com/contribution > ________________________________ Message 12 ____________________________________ Time: 05:48:11 PM PST US Subject: Pietenpol-List: Cast aluminium hinges From: "AG" Hi everybody - I am wondering if anybody has a set of the aluminum cast hinges (Vi Kepler - I believe) for the tail feathers. I am debating what type of hinges to used (debating if I want to make my own or not) and I was wondering if there are even any of those cast alum. hinges available. Thanks Andy Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=426214#426214 ________________________________ Message 13 ____________________________________ Time: 07:39:34 PM PST US Subject: Pietenpol-List: Steel From: "AG" Hi, Here's a question which I'm sure will be controversial (sorry...) I'm getting ready to start making/welding my metal fittings for the control assembly and landing gear. I was all set to order a bunch of 4130 steel sheet/tube - until I started reading about welding 4130... Apparently it is quite sensitive to sudden heating/cooling - (i.e. what happens in welding) I am very experienced with mig welding but have limited experience with gas welding. >From my understanding mig welding 4130 can be very tricky. As I started to research this issue I came across an experienced Piet builder (built/flew 3 piets) who used mild steel (I'm assuming 1018 mild/cold rolled). He argued that the original Piets were designed/built by Bernie Pietenpol using mild steel and so it is completely adequate (and the fittings are designed to work with the strength of mild steel). I know I can safely weld mild steel with mig - so I'm wondering if I should just use mild steel. On the other hand I could go with 4130 which would presumably make my plane safer (technically stronger). However, if welded improperly (or heated/cooled improperly) I could actually end up with fittings that are weaker than properly welded mild steel. I do have limited access to an oxy/acetylene welder and I could take a sport-air class on aircraft welding - if that is absolutely the best option I'll just have to get the gas welding skills (or get someone to weld for me) - I guess I'm looking for some help thinking this through - Is anyone else building with mild steel? Is anyone using mig to weld 4130? Thanks (and sorry for the lengthy question) Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=426218#426218 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other Matronics Email List Services ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post A New Message pietenpol-list@matronics.com UN/SUBSCRIBE http://www.matronics.com/subscription List FAQ http://www.matronics.com/FAQ/Pietenpol-List.htm Web Forum Interface To Lists http://forums.matronics.com Matronics List Wiki http://wiki.matronics.com Full Archive Search Engine http://www.matronics.com/search 7-Day List Browse http://www.matronics.com/browse/pietenpol-list Browse Digests http://www.matronics.com/digest/pietenpol-list Browse Other Lists http://www.matronics.com/browse Live Online Chat! http://www.matronics.com/chat Archive Downloading http://www.matronics.com/archives Photo Share http://www.matronics.com/photoshare Other Email Lists http://www.matronics.com/emaillists Contributions http://www.matronics.com/contribution ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These Email List Services are sponsored solely by Matronics and through the generous Contributions of its members.