The Homebuilder's Garage Workshop - Tools and Stuff

It has been said, although not so much lately (!), that a homebuilt airplane can be constructed using only ordinary hand tools. True, I guess. But you really wouldn't want to. Certain power tools are very much worth a little bit of extra setup expense as both timesavers and work quality enhancers. So, with the help of Tony Bingelis' fabulous EAA books on homebuilding, and several EAA Sport Aviation articles, I was able to figure out and put together a minimal yet effective workshop in my suburban two-car garage. This workshop will take me completely through airframe construction, with the exception of painting as I don't have an air compressor yet! (You can actually get away without having air for the first couple years of construction if you are willing to be creative).

Here are the important tools in my workshop:

Tabletop Power Tools

These all sit atop a small 3 1/2 foot square "work island" table on casters, which can be moved about the garage wherever it is needed next, or out of the way when not needed.

BANDSAW

A small 10" Sears wood-cutting bandsaw ($139) does the trick on all the wood and the aluminum fittings. I use the metal-cutting blade to cut both wood and aluminum. Note: this bandsaw will NOT do steel; for steel you would need a very slow moving bandsaw and specialy blades. But there are other clever methods for cutting steel, as you will see later as you read on.

BELT SANDER

A nice benchtop belt sander would be preferable, but I get along with a cheap hand-held belt sander, for which I've built a little plywood jig to hold it upright in the "bench" position.

BENCH GRINDER

This gets pretty much use on the project. If you use the grinding wheel dressing tool, you can shape your grinding wheels down to a round edge, and use this round edge for notching and fitting steel tubing.

DRILL PRESS JIG

A real drill press would be nice, but I'm able to get along with an inexpensive Sears upright drill jig, and an extra hand drill motor affixed to this arrangement.

Hand Power Tools

EXTRA DRILL MOTORS

SABRE SAW (JIGSAW)

Specialty Tools

METAL BENDING BRAKE

A small 18" benchtop bending brake was obtained from Aircraft Tool and Supply (ATS) for about thirty bucks, and is used for bending small fittings and fabrication.

RIVET SQUEEZER

Another specialty item from ATS. Necessary because I don't have an air compressor to drive a rivet gun (cheapskate). There are only a couple hundred rivets to drive on a biplane like this anyway!

POP RIVETER

HAND NIBBLER

You squeeze it and it "nibbles" through sheet metal, quietly and very neatly. You use this for cutting slots and holes etc. in various skins and tin.

CLECOS and CLECO pliers