SonexBuilders.net

I believe this may be my first post on this forum and although I well into a OneX build, this post is not specific to the build at all.

The reason for my post is that I needed to find a solution for keeping better track of time spent on my build. Having built a Rotorway 162F a few years ago, I realized how poorly I kept track of my actual hours spent on the build. I wasn't going to let that happen with this OneX build so I wrote a small Time Clock app in a platform called NodeRED.

NodeRED is a flow-based development environment that requires almost no actual code (not completely true but very little). Using the NodeRED platform, the Flow (as the programs are called) can present output to and be interacted with via a web-based Dashboard.

The app or Flow is incredibly simple and I have it displayed on an iPad with a keyboard in my hangar. The app consists of a Punch-In and Punch-Out button. When I punch in my Amazon echo device announces it (completely useless feature but it was fun to play with) and when I punch out a text box is enabled for me to enter a title of the work done that day. This text along with the duration that I was punched in is emailed to me and ultimately becomes the start of an entry into the EAA build log.

I hope to automate the log entry in the EAA build log site at some point but for now the app is meeting my needs.

I should note that this app runs within the NodeRED platform which is installed on a Raspberry Pi 3.

Happy to share the flow if anyone is interested. I'm sure there are probably mobile apps that can do the same thing but I'm not one to take the easy route. :-)

Take care
-johan

Maybe it's just me but I wouldn't want to have to punch a time clock in order to work at a "job" let alone to pursue a "hobby". Besides, I'd be embarrassed for anyone else to know exactly how many hours and minutes it took me to build my Sonex. (probably 4 times longer than anyone else ever took). But..........to each his own.

Art,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Sonex taildragger #95,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Jabiru 3300 #261

That's a fair statement. The spirit of the time clock idea was to get an accurate idea of what it takes to build an aircraft for me. I don't think time clocks are good or bad - they serve a purpose and for me it was do a better job tracking the build. When someone asks me how long it took (to your point) I may have to tweak the number I give them. :-)
Speaking of burning time on a build - I spent 45 minutes looking for a part that I later realized I had already used. It's a bracket that connects the vertical stabilizer to the fuselage. So, I added to my app which now has the feature of being able to look up part numbers and report back qty ordered, qty shipped, qty received, qty on back order, the location in my hangar where I stored the part after the initial inventory and ALSO whether I have used the part elsewhere.

Anyway, thought I would share.
-johan