workshop

Back Riveting Setup

This entry was posted in Plans Tools and tagged workshop on by

Many builders spend a lot of time and energy in building the perfect shop, workbench, or the like. I guess it goes with the territory. People who are crazy enough to build planes, like to be elaborate. While I love my shop, and I strive to keep the organization near perfect, I’m not always about building the ultimate item. We have a farm, and farms always have lots of scrap material. If I can find a perfectly workable solution using scrap, there is no way I’m making a trip to Home Depot and spending money to make the perfect back rivet table.

I found this particle board laying around. Its not perfect, it could scratch aluminum pretty easily, but its free and is the correct width. I was also lucky enough to find an old can of urethane.

My idea is simple. I’m going to create another table top that I can lay on top of my existing workbenches with the particle board shown. I will make it in two pieces with the plate cut out and in the middle.

I forgot to take pictures, so I’ll post them the next time I go out. But I got the wood cut, sanded the surface and applied a polyurethane to the surface. If the surface is still too rough, which I doubt, I’ll either re-sand and reapply the polyurethane, or I will lay some extra rosin paper I have laying around over top of it. I intend to anchor this to the work bench with 4 predrilled screw points, so that I can easily attach and un-attach as needed for back riveting. It might not be pretty, but its functional and with a $0 investment and only an hour of time, its the perfect solution in my book. 20130414-215240.jpg

20130416-200647.jpg

Horizontal Stab 5 (1.75 hrs)

This entry was posted in Empennage Horizontal Stab Tools and tagged fixes practice workshop on by

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.

20130119-190013.jpg

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.

20130119-190024.jpg

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.

20130119-190034.jpg

20130119-190046.jpg

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.

20130119-185620.jpg

And made the cuts with my new cutting wheel.

20130119-211736.jpg

Getting the 6 degree angle was fairly easy since I had the old angle as a guide.

20130119-211748.jpg

Here’s the final product after deburring and cleaning up.  Lines up perfectly.

20130119-211759.jpg

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.