Started working on the ailerons tonight. First step is to get the
stiffeners final drilled.
May 6, 2002 3 hours
Started working on the ailerons tonight. First step is to get the
stiffeners final drilled.
Next is working on the spar/skeleton. This is the reinforcement plate.
Still
working on the ailerons. I'm trying to get everything
drilled/de-burred/dimpled and ready for priming. I did go ahead and prime
the inside of the water pipe (I mean counterbalance weight). Stiffeners
have been drilled and de-burred ready to dimple. The aileron skeletons
have been drilled, de-burred and countersunk where necessary. The skins
and the stiffeners are next to be dimpled, then rivet everything back together.
Pictures soon.
I dimpled the stiffeners and primed everything in sight. I just used the
rattle can to do this as I didn't have much time.
De-burred and then dimpled most of the aileron skins. I hope to get the stiffeners riveted to the skin and the skeleton riveted together in the next couple days.
I'm not getting much time to work on building at this point. I have consultants in house for the next 8 weeks at work, I'm trying to finish out the garage before the fuselage arrives the end of June and it's finally looking like spring is arriving in Iowa so there is yard work to do around the house.
This makes an interesting point. I'm still able to get an hour in every now and then. I wouldn't be able to do this if I was building away from the house (i.e. in a hanger at the airport) as I wouldn't make the drive for just a few minutes of work time.
This is after the stiffeners have been riveted to the skin. Bring out the
ole crunch board.
I clamped the spar to the table before drilling the counter-weight bar to avoid
a twist. Stole this from Phil B.
The plans state to make sure the trailing edge is held straight. I used a clamp to hold it down to the door.
Here the skin is drilled to the counterbalance bar.
Oh yeah, the bottom skin to spar needs to be drilled out to #30.
At this point I started taking everything back apart to de-burr/dimple. I got all the 3/32 holes dimpled but could not find my 1/8 dimple dies. I spent an hour looking for them and finally gave up. What a royal pain.....
Tonight was the first opportunity that I have had to work on the plane this week. I assembled the right aileron following the same procedures as above and final drilled holes, deburred and dimpled everything except the 1/8" holes. At this point both ailerons are waiting for the 1/8" dimpling and then final assembly.
The 1/8" dimple dies never materialized so I ordered another set which should arrive tomorrow. I also ordered the vise-grip version of this size die as well. I really like using the vise-grip dimplers on the skin edges.
Finally had the opportunity to get some work done on the plane. It has been really difficult to find time to work on the plane since summer arrived with all the outdoor responsibilities and outings. I have been insulating my garage and putting paneling up on the walls in anticipation of the fuselage shipping in the next couple of weeks. So that has taken any free time.
First step was to dimple the bottom of the spar and the bottom side of the skin (the 1/8th dimple dies did arrive). Then it was just assembling. I started with the right aileron tonight and it's finished with the exception of attaching the attach brackets (five holes and five bolts).
I clamped the spar down to a stack of 2 by's to hold it steady while riveting.
Linda came and helped me rivet the rivets in the center as I couldn't rivet and
buck these by myself. I did use the blind rivets in the bottom of the skin
to spar as the plans call out. I believe that you could use solid rivets.
You
could buck by sticking your arm up inside the aileron. (at least I could,
long arms and all.)
Not much excitement. This was all straight forward assembly.
Tonight I finished up the right aileron by attaching the attach brackets to the spar. I also finished up riveting the aileron gap seal in place. I must admit that I did place the aileron on the wing (pinned with a couple of nails) just to see how it would look. It looked great!
After finishing the right aileron, I jumped right into assembling the left aileron. I riveted the top skin on with solid rivets and finished the night by installing all the blind rivets.
I finished the left aileron tonight. Riveted the outside ribs to the spar/skin. Also attached the attaching brackets to the spar. Aileron assembly complete. I do need to make/install/set the push tubes.
I installed the aileron bell crank on the wing spars. First, I drilled out the
brass bushing to 1/4 so the #4 bolt would fit. I used an old flaring tool to
hold the brass bushing straight while drilling in the drill press.
I also had to take one of the attach brackets off the spar in order to get the
bolt through the bell crank and the brackets. There is not enough room
between the spar edge and the bracket to get the long bolt in without taking it
off. This was all painless enough except I put the left bell crank on the
right spar and had to switch it out when I realized the left one was incorrect.
I double checked the torque of the tank-spar-"Z" bracket bolts while I had the torque wrench out. When I original did this, the spar was right side up and I had to read the torque wrench upside down. Just an extra check but all were fine.