More about Legs

Last night I completed the initial stage of the 2nd leg, enough so that I can start working on the shoulders and begin reinforcing them later this month before I put the top on and skin them. They are far from complete, but I'm learning a lot on this part of the project, and really getting into my groove. Since these parts will never really be seen again after I put the top on them, I'm wanting to take the time to discuss them fully, and document what I did. This is not only for others that may stumble upon my blog about the build, but also for myself when I go to do build #2.

The pipe I used in the main leg structure is a 1/2" CPVC plumbing pipe. I chose this because of price, availability, dimension and weight. The CPVC was easy to cut, very durable, and stays in place. I used a 5/8" boring bit to cut the holes in the leg struts, after measuring 1/2 way up and across from a set corner. What I did was mark each piece on the order onto the pipe and which was was up, so the holes were more in a straight line than the first leg. On the first leg I had a lot more cleanup once the struts were attached before the LLC pieces would weld.

I doubt I'd go the CPVC direction a 2nd time, as the pipe tends to have a bend in it. It's strong, and very lightweight, and having a little give to it helped with any light mistakes on the struts, but the tendancy to have the bend in it made it very frustrating to get put on. What I ended up doing to get it to lay flat in the tray was to put 7 1/2 lb weights across the leg structure to keep it flat. That also introduced an issue of the struts not keeping perfectly square to the LLC portions. if I had to do this again I'd attach the LLC and then the struts so I could put 90's on to keep the struts straight while weight was on them.

The part I like the most are the reinforcements I put up at the top of the pipe near the shoulder. This is the one section I had been contemplating since I first saw the leg designs last fall, and I like how this came together. One of the big things that Dave E puts in the plans is that reinforce near the shoulder where the major part of the stress will be found. By adding the extra strut right near the top, and welding it to the shoulder supports, I should be sharing the weight (and associated stress) onto the leg itself, and allow the entire superstructure to take the stress instead of just that one shoulder support. Time will only tell if I'm right or if I'm going to be re-building/repairing these, though.