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What builder's log do you use?

Jim62

Member
I've been looking for a good builder's log that I can use on a mac. I couldn't find anything so I decided to use Kitlog Pro which is Windows only. I installed Parallels and Windows to run this on my mac, a little expensive.

I tried using it today with pictures and it's really painful to try to get the pictures to it. It can be done by converting to jpeg, moving them, etc, but I also don't like the interface.

I decided to look around some more and somehow found an iPad app called Aircraft Builder. It doesn't look outstanding, but getting pictures into it, etc is really easy. I'm wondering why I haven't heard of it on the forum and why it was so hard to find.

Does anyone have experience with this app or have a good solution for a mac user?

Thanks,

Jim
 
Numbers spreadsheet

Does anyone have experience with this app or have a good solution for a mac user?

Thanks,

Jim

Jim,
I use a Mac and I couldn't find anything easy to use, so my solution was to create spreadsheets in numbers, where I just paste in photos from icloud. I take the photos on my phone, then just make one entry per day detailing my work, time taken etc, then paste in the photos alongside in the columns.
Perhaps I'll end up with huge file sizes, but it that happens I'll compress photos or change them to links.
 
Does anyone have a good solution for a mac user?

I just use Microsoft Word for my log and keep the file on my Mac. I make a quick entry of what I did each time I'm in the shop, so everything is listed in chronological order. You can import photos into Word, but I just add them to iPhoto. It's a pretty basic system, but it gets the job done.
 
MyEAA

MyEAA is very simple to use and web based so it should work across platforms easily. Of course you need to be an EAA member to use it. It?s pretty much brand new so I expect there will be some additional development.

I am currently using MyEAA and a google blogger site for my build logs. At some point I will decide which one to continue with. They are both free. I already use google photos so pulling them into the blog is pretty seamless.
 
Hi Joe,

I think the first thing you've got to ask yourself is who are you writing the build log for?
If it's for the FAA (or CASA in our case) they really don't have massive expectations, and a simple log book with hours and a brief description will suffice.
If it's for helping others as you move through the process, then a web log is a great solution.
If it's for you and a document that you can have accompany your aircraft for the rest of its life (as it should) then as Mark says don't overlook the humble word document (or its Apple equivalent).

Although it may not appear as flashy, the upside to a word document is that:

1- It's easy to fill out. I would literally spend 2 minutes at breakfast hacking out some lines summarizing my previous days work, not for the FAA, but for me, so that if I have to go back and look at something in the future I will understand what I did so I don't make the mistake twice. I can not understate the importance of this, as you will work on things, botch them up, order new parts and a month later be back on that task again. Each day is simply a new paragraph with a date and a number of work hours followed by your comment. If it isn't easy, when you get halfway through and things get tough or time gets short, you won't do it, unless your the type that's really into recording things.
2- It's in a perpetual format. MS Word has been around since 1983 and I suspect it will be around for a long time to come. I bet there are still Mac programs that can read Clarisworks documents. There are plenty of hosting sites that have come and gone.
3- It's easy to word search, because it's all in the one document. This becomes critical over a long build when you want to go back and refresh your memory regarding what you did to a particular component.
4- It's small. My 100,000 word build log is only 339kB. I have plenty of photos which are in a corresponding folder. They can be sorted by date and easily matched up to my log entries. This makes is easy to load, save, send etc. because you haven't clogged it up with lots of formatting and pictures.

Frankly I started out with a word document because I was like you and hadn't decided yet on a fancy format to host my log, but once I got into it and I realized that I didn't want my log on full public display and that I was writing it to help myself and not primarily everyone else, I continued on with the word document. That's not to say that you can't help others with it. I regularly go back to this document and pull out relevant sections when posting solutions on this forum of sending them to other people, it's just not everything is out in the open the whole time. This encourages you to be more open about the analysis of your work as you move through the build, which can only be beneficial to the quality of your end product. It's fast, it's free, it's simple and it works.

Anyway, there's my 02c. A simple solution to a seemingly complex problem.

Tom.
RV-7
 
I chose the web log (Blog) path. At the end of the build I used an app called blogbooker to convert the entire thing into a "book" (pdf file) with high res photos for future reference if the blog ever comes down from the web.

I know there are folks who followed the blog and it still serves as a handy way to illustrate answers to questions (mostly of the "how did you do this" type).
 
Journaling software

Take a look at DayOne journaling software. I have simple needs and the software supports them nicely. Voice recognition and real-time photo support inside the app to create daily entries. At the end of each year, I use the “create a book” function to produce a hardcover book as documentation. Available on “i” devices, so I assume on apple desktop.
 
I'm cheap and easy. PLUS, I don't know how to use all that other stuff, pretty computer illiterate.
I just take pictures with my phone and post them to Facebook with brief description of what it is, or what I've done.:)
 
Please consider using an online solution, everyone benefits from seeing other build logs online, this really helps the next guy. We all reference online logs during our build even though not a large percentage of builders make theirs available. Every log that I referenced had something of value to me even those from first time builders like myself.
 
I started doing what Mark described in post #4, except bringing my photos into my document. Worked okay.

Currently, I'm using VAF. Yes, right here on VAF. It's in the section "My RV Build." Anyone can have a look. (The photos are currently hosted on TinyPic which is going away. I hope to have them transferred later this year).

The downside is that someone else hosts the file and a separate photo-hoster hosts the photos. Since I have no control over these, I make a PDF of every page after uploading the most recent post. That lets me maintain a file documenting my work.

Since I also use a Mac and as Pages has gotten unuseful, I now use the free open-source package called LibreOffice. It has a word processor that very easily accepts photos, much easier than Word did, it has a spreadsheet and a presentation package. So far I'm just using the word processor but it would do perfectly to document a build. I could share it by sending PDFs out but as it would reside on my computer rather than being uploaded somewhere, it wouldn't be public.

Dave
 
Another way to do it ...

I just setup a camera in the shop with some basic motion detection to start recording whenever there was activity.

There's no better log than the 14's manual to outline what you've done. If you want additional detail, or you vary from the plans, a spreadsheet will do with just the date and notes.

The video would be for you to prove that you built it for the repairman certificate. When they ask for the log (i.e., the steps you took) just hand them the manual. No point in a separate log that duplicates the steps.

Unless you like blogging in which case the posted information is invaluable to other builders! (Thanks, E)
 
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I make dated entries in a simple Pages table summarizing each session's completed tasks. Photos are uploaded into a Dropbox folder.

Simple. No need to overthink or over-engineer this.
 
I used a lab notebook one line per entry tabulated times old school. Made a good place for order lists, tips, ideas you name it.
 
MyEAA is very simple to use and web based so it should work across platforms easily. Of course you need to be an EAA member to use it. It?s pretty much brand new so I expect there will be some additional development.

I am currently using MyEAA and a google blogger site for my build logs. At some point I will decide which one to continue with. They are both free. I already use google photos so pulling them into the blog is pretty seamless.

Thanks for this I am starting a waiex build but do want to eventually build an rv-14 and this site is a nice free option well not free but I am already an eaa member so its a nice bonus to membership.
 
why not just use facebook? You can post pictures and videos directly from your phone. and you can make comments after posting. At some point, I created a RV-14 pages linked to me regular FB page. I will eventually load all my picture up to FB. I figure that I will get a bit of heads up if FB decides to go out of business.

just a thought.
 
I used Wordpress to create a blog. I take pics with my phone and have them sync to google photos. Wordpress has the ability to import from google photo's so it's super easy. I spent maybe 4 or 5 hours customizing the blog and adding a menu. I'm happy with the result as well as Wordpress. You can check it out at https://ronslosberg.com.
 
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