Riveted everything together

I finished back riveting the stiffeners to the skins. I had one oops where a rivet got cockeyed just before I drove it. It left a ding in the skin but didn’t penetrate. I debated replacing the skin but opted to move on.

I used 3M F9460PC double stick VHB tape to secure the trailing edge extrusion to the skin and clecoed it together. I put some long rivets through every tenth hole or so, put the tape on both sides of the wedge, and used the rivets to properly register the taped wedge to the right skin. Then I clecoed it in place and removed the rivets.

I riveted the stiffeners and shear clips together. I removed the backing from the other side of the tape while I pried the skins slightly apart so the strip didn’t tear. I removed clecos as I worked my way to the top of the trailing edge. I pressed the left skin into the tape and clecoed every hole.

I mounted the counterbalance. I had to file a bit off of the forward corners to clear the shop heads of the rivets holding the counterbalance rib in place. I riveted the skin to the spar, and riveted everything else except the trailing edge. That will be tomorrow’s adventure.

I neglected to shoot progress photos along the way but here’s the result of today’s work…

This is the tape I used…

Today’s Time (hours):	6.0
Empennage Time (hours):	36.0
Total Time (hours):	36.0

Primed rudder parts, assembled spar, drilled trailing edge

I primed all the rudder parts and skins today. I picked up a roll of hardware mesh at Home Depot and put it up on some blocks over my paint table. I did this to keep all the small pieces from being blown around by the spray gun. It worked really well.

I got the shipment of VS replacement parts from Van’s today. Unfortunately only four of the five parts I ordered arrived. They shipped the wrong part for the fifth on. I ordered a VS-705 they shipped an E-705. I called and they’re shipping the correct one. Oh well. I’ll just continue on with the rudder until it arrives.

I riveted together the spar, reinforcement plates, counterweight rib, bottom rib, rudder horn and shim. The I screwed up and riveted the rudder attach nut plates to the wrong side of the spar. Drilled them out and re-riveted correctly. Cost me six rivets and an extra thirty minutes. No harm no foul.

I’m still struggling with my riveting technique with the gun. There was one rivet on the rudder horn that couldn’t be reached with the squeezer. I managed to put a big smile into the rudder horn. I think it will be okay.

I made a drill guide from a paint stirrer so that I could more accurately drill perpendicular to the chord of the rudder. I cut a 6 degree angle on the end and held it flush to the rudder and aligned the drill to the edge of the stick.

Off to Vegas tomorrow for a conference. won’t be making ay progress until next weekend.

Today’s Time (hours):	6.5
Empennage Time (hours):	27.0
Total Time (hours):	27.0

Deburred and scuffed all the vertical stabilizer parts.

I’ve been using a single flute de-burring bit in my drill on the low speed setting to deburr all the holes. It seems to work pretty well. I hit it with about two turns and light pressure. That leaves a nice clean finish without enlarging the hole or leaving a visible chamfer.

Today I dispelled the notion that this airplane is going to be perfect. I was trying to de-burr the edges of the skin on the scotch bright wheel and accidentally touched the other side of the skin to the grinding wheel. It hit the top corner of the skin and bent it a bit and took a nick out of the edge. I was able to straighten it. It was only bent a few degrees. I was also able to file the nick out of the edge. Probably not the worst mistake I’ll make. It only cost me about ten minutes.

I picked up a bit extension from home depot yesterday so that I could use the de-burring bit on the insides of the flanges. This kept the bit sufficiently straight and produced an acceptable result.

Used a maroon scotch bright pad and scuffed everything up. Ready for priming.

Today’s Time (hours):	3.0
Empennage Time (hours):	7.5
Total Time (hours):	7.5

And so it begins!

I didn’t get to shoot primer on the practice project today. I had to work and then brine the turkey for thanksgiving. There wasn’t enough daylight left after all of that. So instead we decided to actually start work on the airplane this evening. I’ll spray primer on the practice project and the vertical stabilizer all together this weekend.

Screen Shot 2019-05-27 at 9.50.30 AM

Remy had the honor of drilling the first holes (front spar doubler to front spar).

Vertical stabilizer rear spar, doubler, and rudder brackets ready for drilling

Today’s Time (hours):	2.5
Empennage Time (hours):	2.5
Total Time (hours):	2.5

We built a toolbox and mostly bought some primer.

Sophie and I started off this morning by heading to the Sherwin-Williams store in Roswell to see if they had any P60G2. Of course they didn’t but they said that the Marietta store had 4 gallons in stock. Drove to Marietta. They had the P60G2 but no R7K44 reducer. When the lady in Roswell said they had the P60G2 I assumed they would have the reducer so didn’t bother to ask. The gentleman at the Marietta store indicated that they had the R7K44 at their Product Finishes Center in Lithia Springs but that they closed at 12:00. Swell. I bought the P60G2 from him and drove to Lithia springs in search of reducer. He was wrong. They are closed on Saturdays. I travel next week and return to ATL Thursday morning. So I’ll swing by Lithia Springs on the way home from the airport.

On a brighter note, the airplane factory is coming together. We gave it a trial run and built the Van’s toolbox practice project. Remy is a natural. All his rivets looked great. I mangled everything I touched. Despite my ham-handedness we managed to turn out a pretty neat toolbox. We had lot’s of fun learning new skills together. I’m going to complete the other vans practice project, a section of control surface, before I start work on the plane. The empennage should be here next week!

I also covered the two worktables I intend to use for assembly with heavy brown craft paper. I had a big role hanging around the house. I was thinking I’d pick up some carpet remnants but then thought I’d give the paper a try first. I just stapled it to the two-by-fours around the sides of the tables. Worked pretty well for us today. If it get’s messed up I can just rip it off and replace it. It seems like it will be pretty durable though. And it’s easily cleared of chips and scraps with a bench brush and dustpan.