After several short sessions, I managed to finish riveting the bottom aft fuse skin today. I had to remove one rivet, but otherwise I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.
I started deburring the side skins tonight, and couldn’t resist a photo opportunity. I clecoed on the left skin, rolled the section upright and snapped a couple of pictures. It’s starting to look something like an airplane part now! Then I unclecoed the side and went back to deburring…
Tonight I spent about 45 minutes riveting the bottom skin to bulkheads. I set about 50 rivets, most came out well. I’ll need to drill and redo one where there is too much of a gap between the sheer clip and the j-channel. I need to clamp down the end of the clip so it doesn’t lift away when I rivet. I’m going to finish riveting then come back to it. If I can get another 2-3 hours in tomorrow and Friday, I should have this step done by the weekend. Riveting with the gun is a noisy process, so I need to be mindful of my hours.
On Sunday I dimpled the bottom skin. Yesterday I clecoed the bottom skin onto the 6, 7 and 8 bulkheads, along with j-channels and battery angles. Tonight I set a few of the rivets before running out of steam.
Dimpling the holes was easy, and I was able to get it all done on my DRDT-2 dimpler. I needed to prop up the skin a few times, but that was easily done.
Clecoing the skin to the bulkheads required two saw horses, at least 3 feet tall. Since mine were not that tall, my dad made up a pair of cradles that attach to the top of my saw horses. These worked great, and clecoing was easy.
I set a few rivets tonight. I actually squeezed several that I could reach, then made up some practice pieces and set a few rivets using my gun. Since it’s been a while since I riveted with the gun, I wanted to make sure I remembered the right settings etc. 25 PSI is plenty to set 3-3 and 3-3.5 rivets. I taped over the holes around the edges, as these are riveted later.
Not much progress this week, there has been a lot going on with the Coronavirus grinding life to a halt. Today I primed the bottom skin and j-channels, which always seems time consuming. For the first time ever, I ran out of paint before I finished, so I had to mix another batch. I applied more than I needed to on the bottom skin, but I wanted to avoid tiger stripes and have a somewhat even appearance. Not that anyone will see it, unless they are inspecting the airplane.
My biggest concern was keeping the etch from seeping through onto the outside of the bottom skin. I used enough masking tape to hopefully prevent that from happening, but I’ll give it a close inspection later. There was a tiny amount of paint overspray onto the outside skin, but that will wipe away with some acetone.
Today dad helped me rivet the bulkheads and battery angles, and then we deburred the j-channels and channels that will stiffen the skin in the aft fuselage.
We deburred all of the j-channel lengths, fairly easy with not too many complex shapes. Also started dimpling the j-channel, as seen in this picture below. In the background are more stiffeners and the bottom skin, which needs to be deburred and dimpled next.
Today my dad helped me with some countersinking and riveting, and we assembled the battery angles. We also riveted together a couple of bulkheads and dimpled the flanges.
I forgot to get a picture, but we also riveted the two bulkheads (7 and 8) together, and dimpled the flanges of both.
With help from visiting parents, I was able to prime another round of bulkhead parts today. Paint finish was ok, the only problem I ran into was failing to realize how low the pressure was getting. Not used to the new hi-flow connectors, I wasn’t paying attention to the steadily dropping air pressure as I painted. I did notice the spattering of paint, and then realized the pressure had dropped from 120 to 80 PSI. Once it built up again, it was all good.
Today I deburred and dimpled bulkheads 7 and 8, including trimming one piece per the plans. To trim the bulkhead, I used the step-drill on the drill press to enlarge a hole, then cut out some material with the bandsaw. Then I deburred the part, and then dimpled the flanges of all 4 bulkhead pieces.
I didn’t get any pictures tonight, not much to see. Next I’ll prime these bulkhead parts and rivet then together.
Couple of short sessions deburring bulkheads yesterday and today. Nothing much to report.
Spent time tonight deburring the next couple of bulkheads. Not much to show, just scotch brite and sections of shiny aluminum. Hoping to have the next few bulkheads ready to prime this weekend.