Peter

About Peter

plbarrett.com | Certified Flight Instructor (Single & Multi-Engine, Instrument, and Advanced Ground) | Commercial Helicopter

Wing Spars 4 (3.0 hrs)

This entry was posted in Spars Wings on September 29, 2013 by Peter

Today I finished all of the countersinking for the spar nut plates. I also attached all of the nut plates (for both the fuel plate and the inspection panels) to the bottom of both spars. I did not prime the countersinks for the rivets prior to riveting but I did prime the screw countersinks after riveting the nut plates. All that remains is to flip the spars and rivet / prime on the other side. This part is quick and I hope to get back out to the garage before my primer hits its pot life today to finish up. Next up, I believe will be the Z-brackets.

Here’s a shot of the finished countersink for the inspection access plates.

I drilled, deburred and dimpled all of the access plates and labeled them to their corresponding location. I did not follow Van’s procedure for these countersinks either. I again used my back plate with a pilot hole. The instructions say to use the #40 countersink… and you would have to if you were using the nutplates as the pilot hole, but since I used the backing plate, and the holes had to be drilled out to #28, I used the #30 again. These countersinks came out perfect as you can see here.

Here’s a look at my q-tip primer application.

Almost complete….

Wing Spars 3 (3.0 hrs)

This entry was posted in Spars Wings on September 28, 2013 by Peter

No photographs today. All I did was complete the #8 screw countersinks on the spars. It was extremely slow going having to re-clamp my guide piece each time, but the results were worth it. I could have gotten the same amount of work done soooo much quicker using Van’s method…

New Tools

This entry was posted in Tools on September 28, 2013 by Peter

I made a run to Harbor Freight earlier this week with two things in mind. A cart for working on the plane, and a mechanic’s 301 piece tool set. I know what you’re thinking… you bought a socket set at Harbor Freight?!?!?! Yes, yes I did. I did some research online and several sites did some testing, turns out the Pittsburgh hand tools from HF ranked just as good as Craftsman and Kobalt for a better price. More than that, the 301 piece tool kit was ranked as the best kit under $200 dollars in one article HF now also has a lifetime warranty on all hand tools, and since I’ve already got a binder for airplane receipts, I’m confident I’ll be able to save this receipt. Sears is in serious financial trouble, so who knows how much that warranty is worth?

I also got a few more clamps and a fatigue mat for where I’ll be standing. Finally I stopped at the dollar store for a ton of small baskets and tupperware bins for tool and part organization. All told I spent $12 bucks for about almost 40 small baskets.

Here is the cart I bought prior to assembly.

Fatigue mat.

Cart assembled and ready for work on the wings.

You can see a few of my cheap dollar store baskets on the right both on top and in the drawer.

Here is one of the storage peices from the 301 piece mechanic’s tool set. The storage container were so nice, I couldn’t see not using them so I had to do some major reorganizing of my tool chest.