1.3 Hours -
The left flap is finally finished and ready for mounting on the wing! All that I had left to do was to finish riveting the forward spar, so it was just a quick work session tonight.
After finishing the top side of the forward spar (these rivets were shot and bucked), I went back and re-did a couple of bad rivets. Then, I re-did them both again, because my second attempt was as pathetic as the first. Both of these rivets (the first and third from the inboard end) were giving me trouble due to reduced access for the bucking bar caused by the FL-706A angle. However, on the third attempt, I was happy enough with the shop heads to move on.
Once the rivets in the top side of the spar were set, I took the flap out of the stands and laid it on the bench upside down. I also weighed it down with a couple of cleco containers. With the other control surfaces, this method was used during final riveting to ensure straightness. I figured it should work here as well.
The bottom of the spar/hinge was the last area to get riveted. To make sure the flap stayed straight, I weighed it down on the table instead of working in the stand.
All of the rivets on the bottom side of the spar, which are also used to attach the hinge, could be reached with my pneumatic squeezer. With the squeezer, riveting is a breeze, so it took no time at all to finish the bottom side of the spar.
The last five rivets connect FL-706A & B, and they are easily squeezed.
The last thing that I did was to mark a line on the wing side of the hinge that is 3/16″ from the edge of the hinge. This is the minimum edge distance for drilling. When I’m ready to drill the flap to the wing, I just have to make sure I don’t go past this line. If I can’t align the flap without compromising edge distance, I’ll have to order a slightly wider hinge. Needing wider hinge seems to be a somewhat common occurrence among builders. Fortunately, if this happens to me, I won’t have to drill out the hinge on the flap side since it is only the width of the hinge that changes…not the size of the loops.
Now I get to repeat everything on the right flap. I hope I remembered all the little tricks I picked up!
The left flap is FINALLY finished...now I get to repeat it all on the right!
