Posts Tagged deburring
F-711 and F-712 Bulkheads Started (1/21/12)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Bulkheads, Construction, Fuselage on January 21, 2012
2.4 Hours -
Back to work on the bulkheads…
The F-710 bulkhead and F-710B angle received a coat of primer the other day, so, today, I riveted them together. Fortunately, all of these rivets could be reached with the squeezer, so it was an easy task.
The F-710 bulkhead and angle are riveted together.
Next, I finished up the F-711 bulkhead by trimming away a section of the bulkheads and making the F-711D angle. The bulkheads are trimmed to make room for the elevator pushrod, and it was an easy task to remove this material with the bandsaw. The F-711D angle was another easy piece to make because it just had to be cut to length, clamped to the bulkhead and match-drilled. With the angle made, I then prepped all the F-711 parts for priming.
A big chunk of the F-711 bulkheads gets trimmed away to make room for the elevator pushrod.
The F-711 bulkhead prep work is finished. After priming, this will be ready for assembly.
The F-712 bulkhead is the last bulkhead that I have to make. This one is like the F-711 bulkhead in that it is two halves that get riveted together, back to back. There are no angles or other parts to be made for this bulkhead, so it was as simple as final-drilling, deburring, dimpling and prepping for primer.
The F-713 bulkhead is made from two halves riveted back to back just like the F-711 bulkhead.
Finally, I put a coat of primer on all the F-711 and F-712 parts. Tomorrow, I’ll rivet these bulkheads together, and then it’s on to the dreaded task of bending the longerons!
The F-711 and F-712 bulkhead parts are ready for a coat of primer.
F-706 Again And Still Not Done (1/18/12)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Bulkheads, Construction, Fuselage on January 18, 2012
1.5 Hours -
If I had time for one long work session, I could easily wrap up the F-706 bulkhead. Unfortunately, working an hour or two every other day is really dragging out this section. Today, I managed to get the F-730 plate and the F-729 rib riveted to the F-706 base. Once this was riveted, I final-drilled the F-706 sides to the base. Once drilled, I deburred the holes and prepped the sides for priming. With the primer sprayed tonight, I should be able to rivet the sides to the base tomorrow.
The F-706 bulkhead base with the F-730 plate and F-729 rib riveted.
A close-up of the F-706 base structure so far. The scuffing around the upper holes is from my dimple dies...the camera flash really makes any marks pop-out from the shiny aluminum.
The F-706 sides are also being primed. I can't wait to be done with this bulkhead.
F-706, F-709 and F-710 Bulkhead Work (1/16/12)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Bulkheads, Construction, Fuselage on January 16, 2012
3.0 Hours -
Another day of bulkhead work…
My first task was to get some of the F-706 components ready for priming and riveting. However, before I could do that, I still had to match-drill, deburr, and dimple (as necessary), the F-706 base, F-730 plate, F-728 bellcrank channel, and F-729 bellcrank rib. Once that was done, I scuffed, cleaned and primed all of the angles and the F-706 base.
Another picture of priming. This is a few of the F-706 bulkhead parts.
Next, I started working on the F-709 and F-710 bulkheads. The F-709 was the easiest to complete since it is a one-piece bulkhead and it only needed to be deburred and fluted for now. The F-710 was a little more complicated, but not by much. The F-710 is also a one-piece bulkhead, but it also requires a small length of angle to be fabricated.
I would have made quick work of the F-710B angle if I could have found the correct angle stock. However, I spent well over a half-hour searching the garage for the 17 inch length of .125 x 1 x 1 angle stock that was listed on the inventory sheet. Since it was checked off the inventory, I knew it was hiding somewhere. When I was just about to give up, I finally found it buried deep inside the parts crate. For some reason, I didn’t put this piece of angle stock in the same place as all the other angle stock! Once the angle was located, making the F-710B was a piece of cake.
It took me longer to find the right angle stock than it did to make the actual part!
The F-709 and F-710 bulkheads after being straightened.
F-706, F-707, F-708 Bulkheads Continued (1/14/12)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Bulkheads, Construction, Fuselage on January 14, 2012
1.8 Hours -
I’m back to work on the plane after taking about a week off from the project. The main reason for the break is that I got married last weekend. We had a small beach ceremony in South Padre Island, TX. The weather was perfect and it was nice to see some family members that we had not seen in a while. Now, I’ve got to get this plane built so that we can cut down the travel time to South Padre. Six hour drives are no fun, but two-hour flights are!
Amber and Ethan - South Padre Island, TX - January 8, 2012
Back in the garage, it took me a little time to remember what was left to be done on the bulkheads. I had received my #10 drill from Aircraft Spruce, so I decided to finish up the F-661EF flap bearing blocks first. After enlarging the first hole in the blocks to #10, I mounted the blocks on the F-705 bulkhead assembly with one bolt and a clamp.
After drilling one hole in the flap bearing block, I used a bolt and a clamp to position it for drilling the second hole.
Since I had marked a center line on the blocks, it was easy to make sure the blocks were straight. Once aligned, I used my air drill to start the hole for the second bolt. However, I only drilled this hole about 1/4″. Then, with the hole “marked”, I moved the block to the drill press to finish the hole since I didn’t think I could make a straight hole by hand through the two-inch thick blocks.
I only drilled the second hole about 1/4" while the block was clamped to the bulkhead...it will get finished on the drill press.
The drill press makes straight holes quickly in the plastic.
Once the second hole was drilled in the blocks, I temporarily installed the blocks on the bulkhead using the appropriate bolts, washers, and nuts. However, I only loosely installed the nuts for now since the blocks will be removed to rivet the skins.
The finished product. Only loosely installed for now since they will have to come off to rivet the skins.
With the flap blocks out-of-the-way, I moved on to the F-706, 707, and 708 bulkheads once again. As I stated in a previous post, these parts are just plain ugly and they need a lot of finishing work. For today, I finished deburring and fluting the F-707 and F-708 components. However, I decided to wait on the F-706 bulkhead parts as they will require the most work. Since these parts are all such a mess, I’m going to prime them. In this case, the primer is mainly for appearance, not corrosion protection. I managed to clean, scuff and prime the F-707 and 708 parts today, so at least I’ll be able to rivet those together and set them aside tomorrow.
The remaining bulkheads are made from such crappy stock that I'm going to prime them.
F-706, F-707, and F-708 Bulkheads Started (1/5/12)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Bulkheads, Construction, Fuselage on January 5, 2012
3.0 Hours -
I couldn’t resist drilling the F-661EF flap actuator bearing blocks even though I don’t have the correct drill size yet. The closest drill I had to a #10 was a #12, so I chucked it into the drill press, clamped the block into place and drilled. The plastic was, of course, easy to drill, and I was actually surprised when I test fit a bolt and found that you really do have to go up in drill size when working with plastic. So, I’ll have to enlarge the hole once I get the #10 bit, but that’s easy. I’ll also wait until I have the other bit before drilling the second hole.
I started drilling the flap bearing blocks even though I don't have the right size bit. Clamped to the drill press with a piece of angle, the hole came out nice and straight.
Next, it was time to move on to some other bulkheads, so I had to spend some time rearranging the plans. I have so many large plans sheets now that rearranging them can take some time. It didn’t help that the drawings for the F-706, -707, and -708 bulkheads are split between two sheets.
After organizing the plans, I had figured out what parts I needed and set out on a search through the parts crate. After a bit of searching, I found everything I needed and got to work. The first thing I did was to locate and enlarge all the snap bushing holes for the rudder cables, wiring, and static system. Once these were all drilled, I started doing the finishing work on the bulkhead parts. These parts are in pretty rough shape out of the box. They are made from thin aluminum and they are severely warped in areas due to the way they are formed at the factory. Because of this, the bulkheads are going to take a lot of fluting to get them straight again. For today, I only finished the F-708 bulkhead components.
The raw parts for the F-706, 707, and 708 bulkheads are pretty rough looking...definitely going to have to prime these.
The bulkhead components are fairly warped from the bending process...time to do some fluting.
After fluting, the bulkheads look much better. There are still not perfect, but better.
New F-601J Made and More Firewall Deburring (12/19/11)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Construction, Firewall, Fuselage on December 19, 2011
1.0 Hours -
After looking at the F-601J brackets again, I wasn’t happy with the positioning of the left one. It looked like it has moved very slightly during drilling, and there was now a small gap between the upper portion and the stiffener angle it sits on. At first, I was going to leave it, but after thinking about it throughout the day, I realized that I have extra stock angle, and it didn’t take me very long to fabricate the bracket, so why not make a new one. So, that’s what I did, and, thirty minutes later, I had a new F-601J that fit perfectly. It probably wouldn’t have mattered if I left it as it was, but it eases my peace of mind.
Next, I returned to my task of prepping the firewall components for riveting. I still didn’t feel like countersinking all the angles, so I deburred all the holes in the firewall instead. For the most part, I just used my Avery deburr tool, but I had to use emery cloth on some of the bigger holes. By the way, stainless steel burrs are really sharp! At least now that the deburring is done, I’ll be able to handle the firewall without getting a bunch of little cuts on my hands!
Firewall Deburring (12/18/11)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Construction, Firewall, Fuselage on December 18, 2011
1.5 Hours -
Today, I continued deburring and edge finishing the firewall parts. I finished all the parts except the firewall itself.
As usual, as soon as everything is together, it's time to take it apart again.
I also squeezed a few rivets in the firewall recess so that the clecoes holding the sides together could be removed. Six fuselage rivets set…several thousand to go!
The firewall recess has 6 rivets that help it hold its shape. Now this gets set aside until much later.
After finishing the deburring, I decided to call it a day. There is a lot of countersinking that needs to be done, and, since countersinking is one of my least favorite things to do, I think I’ll save it for later.
This is my pile of parts that need countersinking...not fun!
Right Flap Top Skin Prep (4/21/11)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Construction, Flaps, Wings on April 21, 2011
0.7 Hours -
Once again, I only had a short amount of time to spend on the RV project. No pictures, but I started to prep the right flap’s top skin for final assembly. I managed to get the edges and holes deburred, and I started to dimple, but I still have a couple dozen holes yet to dimple. I should have time to finish this up tomorrow.
More Right Flap Final Prep and Riveting (4/17/11)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Construction, Flaps, Wings on April 17, 2011
1.0 Hours -
I only had a little time this morning to work on the plane, so I didn’t make a lot of progress. If you add up the hours, I really haven’t spent that much time on the flaps, but they are starting to feel like a never-ending sub-assembly. At least I was able to rivet a few things together today.
I wanted to get a few parts off the workbench, so I started off by riveting the FL-706A angle to spar. After that, I also riveted the FL-706B plate and nutplate to the inboard rib. Both of these assemblies are easy to rivet since all the rivets could be squeezed.
The FL-706A angle is riveted to the right flaps forward spar.
The FL-706B plate and nutplate are riveted to the inboard rib.
Next, I deburred and dimpled the bottom skin. With the bottom skin prepped, I could rivet the aft ends of the interior ribs (and shims) to the aft spar. Again, these rivets could be squeezed.
After preparing the bottom skin, the aft ends of the ribs are riveted to the aft spar. All other rivet holes are left open for now.
Another view of the aft end of the ribs riveted to the aft spar.
At this point, all that remains is to deburr and dimple the top skin, then rivet everything together.
Right Flap Final Prep Started (4/16/11)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Construction, Flaps, Wings on April 16, 2011
2.0 Hours -
Today was a full day of aviation and airplane building. I started off by going for a short flight in a Cessna 172. This was the first time that I had flown since January, and it was the first time I flew a C-172 in over 2 years! To top that off, I was flying with a new instructor out of an unfamiliar airport. The airport is Boerne Stage (5C1), and I chose to fly there because it is relatively close to our house and they also have the cheapest rental rates around…$88/hr wet for a C-172!
The first takeoff was ok, then we did a couple of steep turns…also ok, but my first landing attempts were horrible. On both attempts, I was way too high on final. After that, things started to get better. No more high approaches, and mainly smooth landings. I’ll still need a couple more flights before I feel comfortable as a solo pilot again!
When I returned home, I decided to do a little work on the RV project. I hadn’t worked on the plane for 10 days, and the right flap, clecoed together on my work bench, had been calling my name every time I went into the garage. All that is left to do on the right flap is to deburr, dimple/countersink, and rivet. Today, I made it through all the parts except the skins. However, it should only take me another hour to have the skins deburred and dimpled.
Surprise, surprise, another primer picture...I probably took an identical one for the left flap.
My workbench is a mess with spar parts and tools. I definitely need to do some cleaning/organizing once the right flap is finished.
With my benches a mess, the best place to store the flap skins is on the aft side of the wings.
Interesting Stuff
Help Me Buy Some Rivets
