Saturday July 8, 2006
Preview Plans & Shop Setup (Shop Setup)

This is technically the first post for this site, so I'll have to fill you in on what has happened up to this point.

I made the decision to build in early June and immediately ordered my preview plans for the RV-7. A week or two later, I had the plans.

I've registered for Tom and Nickie Emery's RV builder workshop in August, as they are very highly recommended by many people. Between now and then, my plan is to transform my relatively messy garage into a workshop, purchase the necessary tools and accessories, and order the empennage kit.

My father and I built a couple of standard EAA chapter 1000 workbenches.

We used 3/4" MDF for the surface and standard 1/2" plywood for the bottom shelf. Standard stuff here.

I ordered a Craftsman 25 gal 2 HP oiled air compressor that many people recommended on the Van's Airforce forums. It was on sale. It was simple to setup and break in. I pumped up the tires on my wife's Civic, but that's about all I'm going to do with it for a while.

The garage space I have to work with is fairly small, but I don't plan to be living in this apartment for more than the next year, so it should suffice. I've still got a bit of work left to get it completely cleared of boxes and stuff that we had stored, as you can see.

Ophelia was curious about the proceedings.

The garage had a somewhat rickety storage shelf in it when we moved in. My dad and I reinforced it with some new 2x4's and it's much more solid now. This is the only way I'm going to get away with using the rest of the garage as my workshop.

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