3.0 Hours -
I started off the day by finishing up the riveting on the left leading edge. However, I broke up the riveting with some countersinking on the right spar. After driving a dozen or so rivets, I would be ready for something else, so I would pick up the drill and work on countersinking the spar for the leading edge and skin dimples. After a dozen or so countersinks, I would return to riveting. Unfortunately, there was a lot more countersinking to do than riveting, so eventually, I just focused on the countersinks.
While riveting the leading edge, I managed to ding/dent the skin on two rivets for the stall warner mount plate. I do have the occasional ding while riveting, but I think this is the first time I’ve done it on two rivets in a row. I’ve added a picture of the dents…the picture is very close-up, so the dents look worse than they actually are. The camera really has a way of bringing out any flaws in your work.
While riveting the stall warner mount plate, I managed to dent the leading edge skin on both rivets. The picture makes the dents look much worse than they actually are.
By the end of the day, I had the left leading edge completely riveted except for the inboard-most rib. That rib has to wait until my replacement part arrives from Van’s.
I also managed to finish all of the countersinks and deburring on the bottom side of the right wing structure. I’ll still need to countersink/deburr the top side before I can attach the leading edge. In addition to countersinking/deburring, I’ll also need to dimple all of the ribs and the aft spar. In other words, there are many little things that need to get done before I can start the permanent assembly of the wing. Unfortunately, those little things are also the things that take the most time!
More tedious countersinking and deburring on the main wing structure.
