The time has come to remove the dreaded column from the middle of the work area. This wooden 8"X8" column has been located dead center of my 20-foot by 20-foot work area and has been a big pain to work around for the last four years. The column needs to be removed before the fuselage is rotated into position to allow the wing and fuselage to be joined. The objective was the removal of the column without bring the second story of the house down. There was great motivation in getting this right, as collapsing the house would be a big set back to the airplane project, not to mention I would never here the end of it. A beam spans 20 feet down the center of the work area supporting the second story. It is made from two 10 foot beams wooden with this column in the center supporting them both. The design goal was to place a steel I beam under the exiting structure that would be both strong enough to span the length unsupported, as well as stiff enough that the floor above would not be a trampoline.
| The column. It must go. | |
| The trusty Radio Flyer to the rescue. The beam steel weighs in at almost 500 pounds. With a Radio Flyer at one end and a hand truck at the other we managed to get the beam from the trailer to the the garage without losing any toes. | |
| Now for the fun part. Lift a 500 pound beam seven feet over the top of the horizontal stabilizer without dropping it. Hydraulic jacks to the rescue. | |
| Column removed and beam installed . Time to rotate the fuselage into position so the wing can be joined. | |
Beam design notes:
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The total dead load would be 47,000 pounds. The dead load is everything that is part of the house, walls, roof, ceiling, floor… |
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In addition the live load requirement would be, 5781 pounds, people furniture, snow, wind… |
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The span would be 230 inches |
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Modulus of steel 2.90E7 |
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Max stress allowed 60 KSI |
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The max deflection with the total live load applied is require to be less than: |
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(length/360) = .62 inches |
A type W6X25 beam will meet these requirements.
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Inertia=53.4 |
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Gyration=6.38 |
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Weight =479 pounds |
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Stress with a uniform load 4.3 KSI |
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Deflection with a uniform load .613 inches |
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