0.7 Hours -
My replacement #40 countersinks arrived from Avery Tools this afternoon. As usual, Avery’s service is great. Items I’ve ordered from Avery often arrive next day (it helps that they are in Dallas…about a 4 hour drive from San Antonio).
While I wasn’t planning on doing any airplane work this evening, the spars called to me as I passed through the garage after returning from the gym. Fortunately, it had cooled off significantly and the garage was almost comfortable once I turned a fan on.
After setting up the new countersink cutter in the cage, I finished countersinking all of the hole in the left spar that are used for attaching the fuel tank platenuts. Unfortunately, this is only about 75% of the holes that need countersinking in the left spar, and the right spar is still untouched!
Next up, I’ll rivet on all of the platenuts. Then the center hole for the screw can be countersunk.
Countersinking is relatively simple. You just have to setup the countersink cage for the appropriate depth and then start drilling. However, this gets really repetitive on the spars. I’ve also noticed that I don’t use consistent downward force when countersinking, causing some holes to be countersunk appropriately while others are too shallow. This adds more time to the process as I feel that I need to check every countersink for appropriate depth by placing a rivet in each hole and checking that the head is flush with the spar. Oh well, I have plenty of time.
Sorry, no pictures today.
