Hi Ondra and Alistair - thanks for looking in. It's nice to hear from you. I confess to having not had time to take a look at what others are doing myself which I do feel a bit mean about but bear with me guys I'll get there eventually
I haven't done a great deal but I do have a bit of a 'grin on'
It's also amazing just how long it takes sometimes for the 'brain to get in gear
I bought this assembly fixture off my friend Paul.
In the process of assembling this fixture I felt that holding the wings in a firm fixed position laterally could prove a problem so reverted back to using my original balsa fixture that was used on the Camel build.
The problem experienced with this was its low level to the bench and the difficulty in holding it at varying angles. I could only use a vise to hold it vertically
It was pressed into use on the Nieuport build with a similar degree of restriction so as the time approached to get that top wing on I began to think about modifying it to allow more movement. I thought about buying one of those 360 degree stands that Lance has but as usual the last minute casting about in the workshop led to a 'I really ought to buy a swivelling vice' kind of thought (something often considered when the need arises but a way is usually found around things and the moment is lost) Then the penny dropped.
Long before the Camel build I bought a piece of kit for the engineering workshop 'because it was cheap' (twenty quid) and looked purposeful. No, that's right I've never used it todate! Bingo! the lights came on. Two drilled holes later and my little balsa fixture is transformed
Modified to take the SE5's wider wing and a new fuse support first
It was bolted to a 360 degree swivelling table that can rotate through 90 degrees.
It must have been a very expensive kit in it's day as it is precision made with both movements having a drag associated with very close tolerance fits. It has no apparent means of adjusting those fits. It presents a firm but gentle resistance to movement but stays firmly where left. There are two very small locks to hold it but in this use are simply not necessary. There is no makers name but I would imagine that it was designed either for inspection work or more probably for use on a surface grinding machine.
As you can imagine it's rather heavy but that too is a bonus as on a piece of non slip mat it's not swanning off across the bench
It's been fully field tested - well the tail-plane is rigged so far
but the initial impression is I'm bloody chuffed. To think it sat under the bench without a thought through the previous two builds - well that's gotta be an age thing
Nothing left for it now - that top wing is next!
Regards - Tug
