Long Ez Autocad Templates

[tonyslongez]

Hey Guys just wondering if there are any templates that have been drawn on autocad that have all the dimensions of the bulkheads on them? I allready have NG-30 and F-22 drawn with dimensions. I also have included a bulkhead with the standard mods in place. One drawing is for a bone Stock LongEZ, the other drawing of the same bulkhead has some of the more favorite modifications on it such as a slightly more rounded F-22  bottom, makes for a really nice nose. If you want a longer nose then NG-30 changes slightly,  NG-30 drawing is the same length as the stock LongEZ however it is slightly wider and flatter on the bottom, so the NG-6 position changes slightly and I have dim'd that out as well. So my question is do I keep going or is this a waste of time? Also all dimensions are rounded to the nearest 1/16 my reasoning for this is while I'm building my LongEZ the measurements are down to the 64th's however, while I measure a piece of foam down to the 64th I mark all my lines with a felt tip pen and then I cut the foam wiith a hacksay or some ohter primitive device so even rounding to the closest 1/16 is still pretty precise with the crude methods of cutting the foam.  I only use the word "crude" because as a machinist cutting with a hacksaw seems very crude. no offense to Burt. I will put these in PDF format and Autocad 2000 or lower if anyone wants them they can be plotted to full size. I'm not saying you can build from these templates  :wink:  just that the dimensions are very correct and very close +/- 2/32. By the way I'm building a LongEZ and have rounded all my dimensions to the nearest 1/16 and my life was so much easier. Do you know how hard it is to count 59/64 or 23/32 Jesus!  (measure with a micrometer, mark it with chaulk, cut it with a hammer. :lol: ). Tell me what you guys think. I will donate these to the EZsquadron when I'm done.  If they want them, they will be free. all the modifications drawn on the bulkheads I have on my airplane. For the sake of the NG-30, the "modified" version includes the mounting for the Jack whilhelmson nose lift. I will not be doing any flying surfaces templates the reason is because you can buy precut wings. those templates are still pretty easy to get a hold of.

Tony

[Waiter]

"Close enough for Government work"

1) Measure it with a micrometer.

2) Mark it with a crayon.

3) Cut it with an Axe.


Tony, What would be a reasonable inexpensive "CAD" program for peopel like me who don't do CAD.

Waiter

[tonyslongez]

Waiter

I believe you want what is called (Autocad LT) it allows you to view cad drawings and has slightly less drawing capacity as a full autocad version, a great way to learn cad techniques before spending thousands on autocad. I think you can pick this program up in a frys or Circuit city or some office supply store. There may be some other programs out there that can convert cad files into some other format that may be less exspensive. But in the end there is no substitute for a good drawing program you can do wonderful things with it.  

Tony

[Waiter]

AutoCAD LT,  I'll see if I can come up with it.

I MISS FRY'S.  I lived out in San Jose in the mid 80's when the first Fry's electronics opened.  WOW, Parallel Printer cables for under $5. Now look!!

I passed through Indianapolis a couple months ago and seen one there. I should have stopped in.

Waiter

[Radioflyer]

Tony,

That is great news. I may be getting a set of torn, folded, crumpled, used plans with a LongEz, but definately no templates. I feel deficient having plans without templates to accurately remake a replacement part and your drawings would be very appreciated.

About 1/16" tolerance...Your point is well taken. However, my gut feeling that plus/minus 1/32nd would be better. Some builders, I think, can use a thin cold wire saw around a formica template and that would produce more accurate cuts than a hacksaw. Just my opinion.

It would be good to have both the "original as drawn" and the "improved, mod'ed" versions of the templates. That would make it easier to judge if the improved drawing works in a given case or not.  Again, IMHO.

I would be using TurboCad. It can do more than I can and is very affordable. There might even be a free version somewhere.

Thanks.

[Hmanvel]

When I was starting my airplane I had the pleasure of having a couple of "seasoned" builders coaching me on the hot wiring etc.  One time I was laying out a ruler on a foam block, couldnt seem to get it to sit on the exact position in "tenths" that I wanted.  One guy grabbed it from me, eyeballed it without a tape, and put some nails in the rule to hold it to the foam.  I measured it and it was perfect.  He said something that stuck with me: "You will never reach the level of perfection called for in some of these plans.  Which is good because you're not building a swiss watch".  I applaud your efforts to put the stuff in CAD.  And Waiter, go online and search for "free cad software".  Most everything will import autocad.

[tonyslongez]

That is good news guys I'm glad we are on the same page. I was a bit worried that these drawings wouldn't be well received. Also I'm not sure if any of you noticed that when you where building your LongEz there where a few mistakes made in dimensions on the originals, these have been corrected for. They are nothing major and I doubt you noticed them while you where building the airplane, but I made corrections as I went along.
So I'll press on and I will post them to the group as soon as I have double checked my work and make sure they are absolutely perfect. Thanks for your posts.

Tony

[Drew]

Many issues (most?) of the Canard Pusher issued corrections to the plans.  The plans are of limited value if you don't have a copy of the CPs.

[Waiter]

I just ordered TurboCAD Deluxe 11 for $80.

Time to learn something new.

Waiter

[tonyslongez]

Drew I agree the C.P.'s did address most of the issues. However, I'm drawing the bulkheads with the correct dimensions. So for at least  the portion for the bulkheads of the C.P.'s the corrections have allready been drawn in, and dim'd. So the C.P.'s will not be needed for the bulkhead assembly everything else though you will need a copyof the C.P.'s.  I believe all of the C.P.'s are now on CD and you can buy them relatively easily. My goal is to draw the templates that have to be used during the building of the fuselage. As I mentioned before the wings and canard you can buy precut which I would recomend for any new builder, so the wing templates I won't be drawing right now. The only other templates needed to build the airplane are in the fuselage which I'm drawing now. With these drawings it is possible to rebuild a bulkhead should any of them get damaged.  
and the tolerances will be within +/- 1/32. Not tooting my own horn but I think that is pretty darn good.

Tony

[Drew]

Tony,
I see that I did not read your first post very carefully-----pretty cool

[tonyslongez]

 O.K. just to let everyone know the cad files I have made are done. this is for the long nose mod and a few others I have done to my bird. I have e-mailed them to the web master I hope he will post them soon if not e-mail me at tonyslongez@cox.net and I can send them that way. I sure wish I had these when I started building. I will be posting more as I finish off the rest.

Enjoy Tony

[Waiter]

Got my copy of TurboCAD 11 today, I can't wait to get home and see if I can crash my computer.

Tony, I'll see if I can load those drawings into TurboCAD 11.


Waiter

[tonyslongez]

Hey you guys let me know how those look and if you need anymore dimensions. I'll be working on the firwall, and front seat, and back seat bulkheads for wider fuselage pretty straight forward really.

Tony

[JB]

For those of us who maye are a little computer stupid.   How do I open these files?

JB