FTS Projects

retread · 21 July 2003, 06:27 PM

Achim,
First class work throughout, including your presentation here on the Forum. Its like an engineering treatise.
A couple of questions, I see you turned your pulleys out of a single piece of stock. Were they cut on the lathe as well?
Is the bracket you mount the throttle on aluminium? It looks like it may be in the photo. I have heard it is possible to Oxy-Acet weld aluminium although I have never seen it done.

AchimEngels · 21 July 2003, 09:47 PM

Hello Weldboy,

Your are welcome with any question *

.

The pulleys: I have read that some of them were made from cast aluminum, but I have been fortunate enough to closely inspect those of the odd Fokker D.VII in Munich some years ago, and although they were painted I was able to see at some locations where the paint flaked off that they have been made from aluminum, but did not show the usual casted surface, but lathe marks. I assume that they have been done in both ways during WWI, cast aluminum and turned on the *lathe depending on the manufacturer.

As a matter of fact I have no historic information on what type of pulleys have been used by Fokker and if they have been made at Fokker or if they were purchased from a subcontractor. I also do not know, if there was a regulation whether cast aluminum pulleys or turned pulleys have to be used.

At least the Munich Fokker D.VII (which in fact, although not Fokker built, is a 1920ies machine) used turned ones of the same type. I am not able here to get casting done so I thought it would be appropriate - and not completely incorrect from the historic point of view - for me to use the lathe to get them done.

The bracket where the throttle is mounted to is made from steel (is sandblasted and therefore looks like aluminum) and all parts of this throttle assembly have been welded oxyacetylene. Aluminum can well be welded using Oxy-Acet, but it requires a bit of exercise *

. In fact welding of aluminum was introduced in WWI and Rheinhold Platz at the Fokker plant (he was not the chief designer there as usually spread around) was a gifted welder and responsible for the layout of the welded joints there used it to good advantage and introduced it in that firm. At the end of the war they even welded aluminum cowlings for the rotary powered aircraft!

I have personally welded a ammunition box for a Triplane using Oxy-Acet, but when you are not in it every day it gets very difficult. Personally - when it comes down to welding aluminum - I prefer doing it with my TIG welder. It looks the same way in the end, although it is sure not historically correct *;D.

Hope this answered your questions.

Hey: yesterday I joined the first two sideframes of the fuselage . My workshop is getting smaller!!!!!

I hope to post first images of the whole thing later this week.

Enjoy

Achim

AchimEngels · 24 July 2003, 09:56 AM

As I said! HELP *;D - My workshop is getting too small *:

I have joined the first two fuselage side frames today. I started at the front with some sort of special jig, not seen in the pictures, to make sure both sides are parallel and in line. Otherwise it would result in funny flying characteristics *;D. But I think this is well known to all who work on steel tube fuselage frames.

[sup]Here only the front section is joined[/sup]

[sup]The fuselage raw frame is almost completed now[/sup]

*

Our making inspector comes tomorrow at 10 o'clock AM to inspect the parts of Wulffo´s aircraft manufactured till now. Following his approval we will put together Wulffo´s tail plane and fuselage as well and all of a sudden we will have two aircraft like looking steel tube accumulations in the workshop.

And then....a long period of making small pieces that no one will take note of....

.

The next big challenge will be the making of the drop shaped steel tubes for the undercarriage and the wing struts.

Enjoy!

Achim

AchimEngels · 25 July 2003, 07:46 AM

I knew of course, that it will become big! But this hit me anyway! No room left to walk. I do not even talk about work *:

And this is just one of two!!!!

The making inspector was here this morning and was very pleased with what he saw. "No need to control your all the time", he said and continued: "Go ahead and give me a call when the complete fuselage with all the interieur is finished! This thing will fly!".

You can imagine that I in turn was very pleased with this statement of his!

Enjoy!

Achim

AchimEngels · 31 July 2003, 08:55 AM

The news are ticking again!

The last week I have been working on the fuselage tail: making the stabilizer and rudder fit, making templates of the attachment points for Wulffo´s fuselage which still is in the jig *:-/, preparing the attachment of the tail skid and such things.

Yesterday I got a visit from a reporter of a German aviation magazine (Flugzeug Classic). He took some photographs of the fuselage and interviewed me to bring out a news note with one of the next issues.

Here are now finally some images of the rudder attachment and the tail skid swinging point.

I admit, seeing the pictures now I quess I should have cleaned the welds before taking them *:

Enjoy!

Achim

AchimEngels · 10 August 2003, 08:55 AM

Hi all!

Wulffo´s fuselage is comming along well. Today I have TIG welded the second fuselage side frame. Unfortunatley I ran out of argon before the second side frame was completely completed.

We have also bent the corner pieces of 8 mm steel tubes with a 2mm wall thickness to attach the internal fuselage bracings to. We did all of these for both aircraft so Wulffo´s fuselage will be comming together very quick now.

Unfortunately I also forgott my camera in the workshop, so this update will have to be without images this time. :-[

Will be coming along with more soon!

Enjoy!

Achim

21 August 2003, 08:25 PM

Achim,

I am impressed and in awe!!!!

My dream would be to build a DR1, as close as possible to original, not to worry about safety issues of modern aircraft construction, but to build it true to 1917 knowledge and craftsmanship.

I like that you did not use a TIG welder, but kept it honest.

Keep going, I'm hooked!!!

m

AchimEngels · 28 August 2003, 08:03 AM

Hi Wvoss-48,

Thanks for the kind words.

I know I have been lazy for a while in posting things, but this was just because I have to doublicate so many things that I have already shown, to bring Wolffo´s D.VII to the same stage. I thought showing one and the same thing so often twice would not be of interest at all.

Now I have some new images to show the stage of Wulffo´s plane.

Here we go:

[sup]Wulffo´s stabilizer is being put together[/sup]

[sup]More stabilizer being put together[/sup]

[sup]A "tube-sick" man is taking a few minutes off and was caught by his wife that way. Hey Wulffo, don´t think I usually work that way! *:

[/sup]

[sup]Wulffo´s stabilizer is installed to his fuselage for the first time, while our fuselage rests in the background[/sup]

[sup]Another view[/sup]

[sup]Close up of the stabilizer front attachment point[/sup]

[sup]The same from the opposite side[/sup]

Enjoy!

Achim
*