2.5 Hours -
My new torque wrench arrived in the mail today, so the first thing I did was torque the bolts holding the HS-411PP center bearing to the rear spar. The plans recommend 20-25 inch pounds of torque for these bolts, so I set them to 25 and marked them with some “torque seal.” Ok, my “torque seal” is actually some nail polish that my girlfriend bought for me earlier in the day and I went a little overboard with it. Keep in mind, this was my first endeavor into nail polish use!
My new beam style torque wrench from Park Tools.
"Torque seal" (aka nail polish) on the center bearing bolts.
My girlfriend "torque sealed" her toes.
Next, I continued my work on the left HS by riveting the bottom of HS-707 to the skin. You can use solid rivets or blind rivets here. I couldn’t figure out a good way to buck rivets in this confined space, so I decided to just go with blind rivets. I’ll try to avoid using any blind rivets on the tops, but on the bottoms, where no one will see them, I decided the blind rivets would be a better choice than trying to buck and doing a horrible job.
I chose to blind rivet the bottom side of the HS-707 rib.
Three blind rivets were also used to connect HS-707 and HS-708 to the front spar. These were also a little tricky to place thanks to the confined quarters created by the skin.
Blind rivets attaching the left HS-702 to HS-707 and HS-708.
Assembly of the left HS continued by riveting the outboard most rib, HS-706, to the front spar. Using two universal head rivets.
Finally, I started to rivet the left skin to the front spar. The small flush rivets used to attached the skin are relatively easy to set, but getting the bucking bar into place was, once again, a challenge. I spent a good thirty minutes trying to develop a plan of attack. Eventually, I started to buck rivets and set all the rivets attaching the skin to the bottom of the HS-702 front spar before calling it a day.
Bucking rivets is a slow process, but I'm happy with the results so far.
Tomorrow, my Dad is coming over to lend a hand again, and I think we will be able to finish up the HS!
