Dimpling ribs

Tonight I started by addressing an over-sunk hole on the spar. I reamed the hole out to #30 size, then countersunk for a 1/8th rivet. Then I trimmed a 4-5 rivet to 4-4.5, and riveted it in place. This is the very middle rivet on the top of the spar, so it even looks symmetrical.

Then I used a beam-style torque wrench to torque the rear spar nuts to 28 inch pounds. The tool is easy to use for these low torque settings, and apparently sufficiently accurate.

Then I match drilled some holes for the inboard most ribs, then dimpled all the ribs, except for the specific holes that will take screws for the fairings etc.

Here is the forward spar with the inboard ribs clecoed on for match drilling. They are set at a 10 degree angle:

I used the squeezer to dimple the ribs. It was fast and easy.

Stack of dimpled ribs:

One thought on “Dimpling ribs

  1. Your torque wrench is just like mine which I bought in Fiji in 2005 but I bet yours cost a lot more than 20 Fiji dollars, That’s about $10.US
    It’s a bit frustrating being here and not being able to help you with your aircraft construction. 5

Comments are closed.