Keith Miller - Turning Jig

Here are 3 images of my jig for turning my KIS upside down or at any angle in the longitudinal plane .

The jig was made around the Keep it Simple technology , and uses 2 of the original 3 support frames that we all built early on to support the fuselage bottom during its construction. Onto each of these are bolted a simple "A" frame made again from 2x 2 and a bit of ply with a tube strapped and welded on the tops The rear "A"frame must be high enough to allow the verticle stabilizer to clear the floor at all times .

The firewall attachment consists of a couple of bits of 2 x 2 bolted to the engine mounting points and then a 1/2" sheet of cheap plywood glued and screwed on . The mechanism is a tube welded to a plate which is bolted to the plywood approximately lining up with the centre of the firewall .

The tailpost consist of a couple of pieces of 1/2" ply either side of the vertical tail post and a similar welded tube plate bolts the two pieces together through the hole cut for the port rudder cable .

The tubes run inside each other and I can spin the fuselage with one hand all the way around , due to the C of G being low down it has a natural urge to try to put itself in the upright again, the fix would be to attached the firewall tube lower down , but this has the disadvantage of raising the front up a bit too high for me to work comfortably .

Finally there is a photo of my KIS upside down - its so easy and pleasurable to work on the bottom now.

Keith Miller