Tag: blind rivet

Began work on Fuel System (Section 31)

Took a break from riveting the the fuselage together. Jared’s lending me his engine-stand-fuselage-rotisserie. So I’ll wait until he drops by next weekend to finish the riveting. It’ll be a lot easier if we can roll the fuselage on its side.

So… Got started on the fuel system tonight. Picked and inspected all the parts.

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Separated the fuel line brackets and riveted to the cover ribs.

 

 

Disassembled the fuel selector valve. Oriented the fittings per the plans but couldn’t screw them in because I didn’t have the Loctite 648 that the instructions called out. Ordered some from Amazon. I riveted nut plates to the flanges of the valve. Finally I machine countersunk the screw holes in the face plate.

 

 

Crimped the connectors on the leads from the fuel pump. Added thread sealant to the fuel filter fitting and screwed it into the pump. Mounted the pump and filter into the into the fuselage.

 

 

Attached the AN elbows to the firewall and fuselage sides.

 

 

 

Today’s Time (hours): 3.0
Fuselage Time (hours): 136.0
Total Time (hours): 590.5

Dimpling, Countersinking, and Assembly continues

Constructed a support leg from scrap wood and bolted to the bulkheads. Then turned the fuselage assembly up on its side to rivet the bottom.

 

 

Put clecos in all holes to be riveted. The final drilled and blind riveted the bottom skins to the drag links. This is as far as I could get without a riveting partner.

 

 

Sealed the muffler ramp to the bottom skins with fuel tank sealant.

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Dimpled and countersunk all of the parts except the skins.

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Riveted the roll bar angles to the intercostal ribs.

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Fabricated the seat adjustment guides and assembled the seat adjustment stuff to the cross brace.

 

 

 

Today’s Time (hours): 5.0
Fuselage Time (hours): 94.0
Total Time (hours): 548.5

Continued assembly

Riveted the flange bearings to the control column.

 

Riveted the upper engine mounts to the upper longerons. Not sure why the Plans call out cherrymax rivets for some of the holes rather than solid rivets for all. Seems odd.

 

Riveted the engine mounts and doublers to the lower longerons. Same weirdness with the cherrymax rivets.

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Today’s Time (hours): 2.0
Fuselage Time (hours): 89.0
Total Time (hours): 543.5

Riveted the skin and worked on the baggage ribs and step bracket

Tammi helped me to rivet the bottom skin to the seat ribs. This was her first experience riveting. She’s a natural!

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Riveted the power outlet bracket to the center ribs.

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Blind riveted the seat rib angles to the seat ribs.

 

Dimpled and fluted the baggage ribs.

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Final drilled and machine countersunk the step attach weldment. Dimpled the step attach angles and riveted them to the weldments.

 

Riveted the weldments to the outboard baggage ribs.

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Dimpled the step attach ribs and riveted the doublers and nut plates to them.

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Riveted the step attach ribs to the outboard baggage ribs.

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Today’s Time (hours): 3.5
Fuselage Time (hours): 40.5
Total Time (hours): 495.0

 

Fitted the aileron trim and inboard bottom skins

I finished inventorying and stowing parts from the fuselage kit and avionics.

Crimped the pins onto the aileron trim wires, added a heat shrink tube, and inserted them into the molex connector.

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I centered the set the aileron trim using a 9-volt battery to drive the servo. I set the  assembly in place on the wing and set the aileron to the neutral position. Then I marked the point where the aileron trim arm rested over the  push tube. I remove the push tube and located the tabs 6 inches either side of the center mark. I match drilled and blind riveted them to the push tube. I attached the springs to the tabs.

 

I clecoed the inboard bottom skins in place on the wings. Ready to rivet.

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Today’s Time (hours): 4.0
Wing Time (hours): 264.0
Total Time (hours): 416.0

 

Finished assembling right tank.

Added a bead of tank sealant for the baffle. Clecoed the baffle in place. Riveted the baffle to the ribs and then riveted the z-brackets in place. Then riveted the baffle to the skin.

 

Installed the fuel drain, the fuel sender, AN fittings, and the fuel cap.

 

Machine countersunk the holes in the tank attach bracket for #8 screws.

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The right tank is now complete and once the sealant has cured, I can pressure test it. Hoping to get the left tank to the same state tomorrow.

 

Today’s Time (hours): 3.0
Wing Time (hours): 226.0
Total Time (hours): 378.0

 

Aileron assembly continues

Dimpled the leading and trailing edge holes in the top and bottom skins as well as the holes in the main ribs attached to them. Dimpled all the holes in the leading edge skins as well as the spars.

 

Machine countersunk the trailing edges.

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Riveted the skins to the nose ribs.

 

Blind riveted the spars to the nose ribs.

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Riveted the top and bottom skins to the nose assembly of the left aileron. Riveted the top and bottom ribs together. Riveted the nose skin to the counterbalance.

 

Prepared the left trailing edge by wiping it down the alcohol and applied the VHB tape to both sides. Then set it in place in the aileron and weighted everything down while resting the edge on a piece of angle iron. I remove the top backing tape by working my way across the aileron by removing a handful of clecos peeling the tape then replacing them with the next handful of clecos down the line until the whole backing tape was removed. I let the tape set up for a while and repeated the process for the bottom.

 

While the VHB tape sets up on the left aileron, I got started on assembling and riveting the right aileron. Got as far as riveting the top skin in place.

 

Today’s Time (hours): 6.0
Wing Time (hours): 185.5
Total Time (hours): 397.5