Jack Savage joined me today to help teach me proper riveting technique. I have squeezed rivets and back riveted before, but I’ve never really used a gun and bucking bar, so I wanted some practice. Jack walked me through the remainder of my practice kit. He also gave me a lot of advice regarding tools and shop setup. It was a great learning experience.
I got a bunch of stuff done this weekend, and a tiny little bit done on the plane too.
First, tools! My shipment from Avery arrived… I now have everything I need to deburr, plus a back rivet set. I did a Lowes run and bought some miscellaneous items I needed. Many of my new tools had not been set up, so that was my main project for the day. I set up my cutting wheel, and bench grinder with the scotch-brite wheels. I also added connections to many of my air tools, and ran some extension cords for lighting. My die set has some additional pieces, so I also drilled spots on the organizer block and labeled all the parts.
The safety guard on the cutting wheel has got to go. It makes it hard to see, and gets in the way. I’ve got good safety glasses.
The C-Frame I bought, does not have a spring mechanism, and I know this will be come a pain in the butt when it comes time to dimple, so I made a very quick redneck fix with an old spring, a washer and a zip tie. I’ll have to think of a more permanent solution going forward.
I did my practice kit “homework” and deburred all the surfaces. I wanted to drill the skin and ribs, but noticed a slight length discrepancy between the skin and the spar. Figured I’d wait on Mike before I potentially mess it up any further. I’m already worried about the holes in the reinforcement spar being within an acceptable distance from the edge.
After deburring the practice kit, I measured the cuts required to the reinforcement bar.
And made the cuts with my new cutting wheel.
Getting the 6 degree angle was fairly easy since I had the old angle as a guide.
Here’s the final product after deburring and cleaning up. Lines up perfectly.
As far as planning goes, once I get a little more practice with some of the other skills, the horizontal stabilizer will not be far from done. I’ve decided to use AKZO as my priming system, and will have to put an order into Aircraft Spruce as soon as I have the funds.
It feels good to have done something other than buy tools, make plans, and set up the workshop. While just a small item, I’m getting impatient and it feels good to finally move forward.
Mike Bullock offered to give me a hand working on the practice kit at the last EAA chapter meeting, and today I took him up on the offer. We were able to get about 2/3 of the way through the project. The stiffeners are attached to the skin, and the spars and ribs have started to be drilled. More importantly, I got to try my hands at many of the skills that I needed for building. I feel much more confident to be starting this project. We plan to finish the practice kit in the next week or so.
