Continued assembling the mid-fuselage bulkheads

I was using the squeezer to do some dimpling and riveting. About halfway through it started leaking air from the valve. I disassembled the valve and found that the o-ring that prevents the poppet from-over extending had sheared in two. I called Cleaveland Tool and they were more than happy to ship a new o-ring at no charge. Nice folks over there. In the meantime I’ll be using the DRDT-2 and C-frame dimpling duties and shooting all the rivets with the gun.

I assembled the bulkhead bars. Unfortunately I screwed up one of them and had to order a new part from Van’s. Here’s the good one…

I moved on the the aft center section bulkhead. I machine countersunk all the holes then riveted the nut plates in place. Then I riveted the side angles to the bulkhead.

I countersunk and riveted the bearing brackets.

I dimpled the cover ribs and riveted the nut plates in place. I riveted the bearing brackets to the ribs as well.

Machine countersunk the bearing bracket braces and riveted on the attach angles.

Moved on to the forward center section bulkhead. I machine countersunk the holes on the flanges and riveted on the nut plates. Then riveted and bolted the side angles in place.

Today’s Time (hours):	5.0
Fuselage Time (hours):	11.0
Total Time (hours):	465.5

Primed parts and started assembly

Primed all of the parts.

Dimpled the bulkhead and side channels.

Riveted the doubles to the bulkhead.

Riveted the side channels and doublers to the bulkhead. Unfortunately I didn’t see the note in the instructions indicating that the manufactured heads should be on the aft side until after I had driven all the rivets. So I got to drill them all out and do them again. Yay.

All’s well that ends well.

Today’s Time (hours):	3.0
Fuselage Time (hours):	6.0
Total Time (hours):	460.5

Cut, deburred, and scuffed mid fuse parts

Peeled the blue vinyl from all the parts.

Cut the parts that needed to be separated on the band saw.

Deburred all the edges and scuffed the parts.

Ready for priming. Plans call for reaming several off the holes to .311″. I didn’t have a .311 reamer so ordered that from McMaster. Should have it by next weekend’s build session.

Today’s Time (hours):	3.0
Fuselage Time (hours):	3.0
Total Time (hours):	454.5

Started work on Fuselage

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Cleaned up the shop and picked and inspected the parts for the forward mid fuselage bulkheads.

Today’s Time (hours):	0.5
Fuselage Time (hours):	0.5
Total Time (hours):	451.0

Wings are complete!!!

Completed the repair to the attach hole that I blew out last week. The fiberglass and micro cured up nicely. I sanded it flush, re-drilled and countersunk the holes, and riveted the nut plate on.

The molex connectors that I ordered from McMaster arrived so I inserted the pins and bundled the wires with wire ties.

This completes construction of the wings! Very excited to move on to the fuselage.

Today’s Time (hours):	0.5
Wing Time (hours):	298.5
Total Time (hours):	450.5

Completed left wingtip–Almost

All the things I did to the right wing yesterday, I did to the left wing today.

Thought I was finally at th end of the wings… but ran into another snag. When I was countersinking the screw holes in the tip, I hit a thin spot in the fiberglass and the countersink caught and made a giant hole. So I made a fiberglass patch. I’ll fill in the other side with some micro once the patch sets up. Then I can install the final nut plate and be done with the wings!

Traveling this week. So I will begin work on the fuselage next weekend.

Today’s Time (hours):	5.0
Wing Time (hours):	298.0
Total Time (hours):	450.0

Completed Right Wingtip

Laid out the cut the left and right wing tips. I made over-ran on of the cuts by an inch or so on the left wing. So I did a little patch and fill with some fiberglass and micro and set it aside to cure. Then continued work on the right wingtip.

Cut and installed the nav light lens.

Installed the nav/strobe light. Used the template from the plans to drill the wingtip. Terminated the wires with Molex .062 pins. Unfortunately Vans provided a 4-pin molex housing instead of the 5-pin one that matches the wiring harness in the wing. <sigh> Now I get to pay $10 in shipping for two $1 moles housings. Mounted the bracket and installed the light. Tested it out with a 9-volt. That sucker is bright!

Fit the wingtip to the wing and set it in place with a ratchet strap. Match drilled the holes from the wing skins to the wingtip. Final drilled and dimpled the holes in the wing for #6 screws. Final drilled the screw holes in the wing tip and then used a nut plate, a screw, and a cleco as a drill jig to drill the nut plate attach holes. Machine countersunk the screw and rivet holes and riveted the nut plates in place.

Fit the wing tip rib to the wingtip. Laid out and match drilled rivet holes. Riveted the rib in place.

Bam! Right wingtip done.

Today’s Time (hours):	8.0
Wing Time (hours):	293.0
Total Time (hours):	445.0

Bottom Skins Complete

Received the new quick-disconnect terminals and replaced the bad ones. Then I final-installed the pitot tube into the wing and hooked up the plumbing and the electrical. Had to uninstall and reinstall the aileron push tube so that I could get my hands in there.

Reinstalled and torqued the aileron push tube in the right wing and installed the aileron trim. Getting those springs on is tricky. I also took the time to bend the actuator arm aft a bit. I just saw a picture on VAF where someone’s springs had almost worn completely through the push tube. Plenty of clearance now. No rubbing.

Riveted the nut plates for the right wing inboard fairings and inspections plates.

Almost done! Just the wingtips left to do.

Today’s Time (hours):	2.0
Wing Time (hours):	285.0
Total Time (hours):	437.0

Finished riveting the bottom right skin

Finished riveting the bottom right skin.

Today’s Time (hours):	3.0
Wing Time (hours):	283.0
Total Time (hours):	435.0

Finished riveting the bottom left skins

Finished riveting the forward half of the outboard left skin.

Riveted the nut plates to the inboard bottom skin and the inspection ports.

Installed the pitot mast, pitot tube, and pitot heat control box.

Two of the crimp-on quick disconnect terminals on the pitot tube were not properly crimped by Garmin and pulled off when I went to connect them. Disappointing! Unfortunately I had already put in an Aircraft Spruce order this weekend. I’ll wait until I have more stuff to order and get some new connectors.