Posts Tagged deburring
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.
More Left Flap Work and Aileron Installation (3/27/11)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Ailerons, Construction, Flaps, Main Structure, Wings on March 27, 2011
4.0 Hours -
About half of my time in the garage today was spent deburring the left flap skins and dimpling anything I could reach with my squeezer. However, I got stuck on about 4 holes on the top skin. I can’t find any way to dimple the aft-most holes because the bend in the skin is so tight that nothing I have can get in their. So, as I thought about what to do, I moved on to other items including priming the FL-706A & B (these will be the only flap parts that get primed) and installing the ailerons on the wings.
On the ailerons, I decided to start by installing the bellcranks even though I don’t have any of the push tubes completed. To install these, I had to remove both bellcrank brackets and re-drill them to 1/4″. Apparently, the drill bit I used originally was slightly undersized and the AN4 bolt wouldn’t go through. I was going to have to remove at least the top bracket anyway, so removing both wasn’t such a big deal.
After re-drilling the brackets, I reinstalled the lower bracket, then slid the bellcrank bolt through the top bracket, bellcrank bushing, bellcrank and lower bracket. Before installing the bushing, I lubricated it with some Aeroshell 33. Van’s just says to use your preferred grease. Since I don’t have one, I decided on Aeroshell 33 since it advertises itself as and all-purpose airframe lubricant.
The aileron bellcranks were easy, but time-consuming to install since parts of the bracket have to be removed to insert the long bolt.
Next, I installed the ailerons on the wings. First, I had to make a spacer for the lower end of the inboard aileron bracket. This spacer was just a piece of tubing stock cut to the appropriate length. Actual installation of the ailerons was simple, but sliding all the washers into place is a bit of a pain. It was nice to see the ailerons in place. For some reason, they make the wings look more like wings!
The ailerons are attached to the inboard bracket using a spacer and several washers.
The aileron is attached to the outboard bracket using several washers and there isn't much room to work.
The outboard end of the wings with the ailerons installed.
Another view of the aileron on the right wing.
Left Flap Continued (3/26/11)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Construction, Flaps, Wings on March 26, 2011
3.3 Hours -
The second sentence on the flaps section of the instructions states, “The flaps are the easiest control surfaces on the RV-7/7A to build.” I’m going to have to strongly disagree with this statement. In fact, I would say that they are the most difficult. It’s not that they are complicated, but there is a fair amount of fabrication, and the instructions are the vaguest instructions thus far. Because of this, I had to take a few steps back today in order to complete a few things I missed (actually, I didn’t miss them, the plans just weren’t clear on when they needed to be done!).
I still needed to finish the fabrication on the FL-706A angle and the FL-706B plate. The angle needed five holes drilled in it and then it needed to be matched drilled to the spar.
I drilled 5 holes in the FL-706A angles per the plans prior to match drilling to the spar.
The rest of the holes in the FL-706A angle are drilled using either the spar or the FL-706B plate as a guide.
Once the angle was in place, I turned my attention to FL-706B. These plates need to have a slight bend put in them. The plans call for one to be bent up 6.3 degrees and the other down 6.3 degrees (this creates a left and a right piece). I’m not sure why they don’t say 6 or 6.5 degrees…who’s going to be able to get 6.3? Even with a digital level, like I’m using, it’s not that accurate. Even if the display reads 6.3, it’s not exactly 6.3. Anyway, I clamped each plate into my vice and used some wood scraps to gain leverage on the part. In the end, I had one bent to 6.0 degrees and the other to 6.2 degrees on my digital level. Once the plates are clamped to the rib/spar, I’ll be able to finesse them further if needed.
The FL-706B plates need a slight bend...the plans call for 6.3 degrees. This is my bending setup.
6.2 degrees on the digital level should be close enough. The other one came out to 6.0.
Next, I drilled the plate to the inboard rib and FL-706A angle. I had to do this with the spar and ribs clecoed to the bottom skin so that I would know the inboard rib was at the correct angle to the spar. The angle of the plate matched the rib perfectly. Once the plate was drilled to the rib, I enlarged the aft hole to 1/4″ for the AN4 bolt that will attach the flap to the actuator. I also drilled the holes for attaching the nutplate using the nutplate as the guide.
FL-706A & B are drilled to the inboard rib and spar.
The aft hole on FL-706B is enlarged to 1/4" for a nutplate.
Fabrication of the left flap is pretty much done now, so I disassembled everything and deburred the holes in all of the parts except for the skins. I also countersunk the bottom of the spar. The spar is countersunk to accept the dimples in the skin, and the hinge is left untouched.
The bottom side of the spar is countersunk to accept the dimples in the skin. The hinge isn't countersunk or dimpled, but I used it as a guide for the countersink cutter.
Next, I built a flap assembly jig to help with riveting the flap together. For this, I just screwed a couple of pieces of scrap wood together, traced the outline of one of the outer flap ribs, cut the v-shape out of both pieces simultaneously, and then attached each piece to a base. I was able to reuse my aileron assembly bases as the bases for the flap assembly jig. Although I’m calling it a jig, it is really nothing more than a stand for holding the flap in an optimal position for access during riveting.
I also made some v-brackets to hold the flaps during riveting. I screwed to pieces of wood together so that I could cut both sides at once.
The bases for my v-brackets are the stands I used for riveting the ailerons.
Finally, I wrapped up the day by removing the blue vinyl from the skins in order to prepare them for finishing.
The last thing I did for the day was to remove the blue vinyl from the skins in order to prepare them for deburring and edge finishing.
Flaps Started (3/20/11)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Ailerons, Construction, Flaps, Main Structure, Wings on March 20, 2011
3.3 Hours -
At first, my plan for the day was to mount the ailerons on the wing. With this in mind, I started working on the aileron bellcranks. I drilled the holes in the bellcrank to the proper size for AN3 bolts. Then, I pulled out the brass bellcrank bushings and used a 1/4′ drill, chucked in my drill press, to open up the bushings for AN4 bolts. After doing this, I rethought my plan for mounting the ailerons and decided to switch to building the flaps. No real reason for this change.
I started the day by working on the aileron bellcranks. I got as far as drilling the bellcrank bushings to size, then decided it would be better to wait on the rest until I'm ready to install the ailerons on the wings.
My flap work for the day consisted of a lot of deburring and fabrication. By the end of the work session, I had everything made that is fabricated by the builder (not much), and I completed the edge finishing on all the parts except for the skins.
On to the flaps!
First up, I finished the edges of all the ribs. This includes four FL-704 exterior ribs and eight FL-705 interior ribs. These were finished using only my large Scotchbrite wheel mounted in the drill press.
Here's a pile of flap ribs after deburring their edges.
After the ribs, I needed a little break from deburring, so I fabricated the FL-708 spacers. These spacers will be placed at the bottom, aft of each of the exterior flap ribs to fill a gap between the skin and the rib. As usual, Van’s provides a full-scale drawing with detailed dimensions for parts that the builder fabricates. Since this part is nothing more than a small rectangle of .025 alclad, I didn’t have to rely on the drawing too heavily! To make the spacers, I cut them from scrap aluminum using my bandsaw, and then finished the edges on the Scotchbrite wheel.
The FL-708 spacers (2 per flap for a total of 4) had to be fabricated from scrap aluminum...fairly simple stuff.
Four FL-708 spacers ready for drilling.
Next, I deburred the edges of the FL-703 spars. The long edges were easy to finish using the large Scotchbrite wheel, but the small lightening holes are more of a pain. For these, I used a combination of tools including a swiveling edge deburr tool, small Scotchbrite wheel in a die grinder, and a maroon Scotchbrite pad. Fun stuff (not really)!
The flap spars after deburring...the lightening holes take a significant amount of time to deburr.
With the spars deburred, I moved on to the FL-706B plates. These plates are made from thick aluminum and they reinforce the area where the flap actuator mechanism attaches to the flap. Since these are made from thick stock, I first filed the edges with a vixen file to remove all the marks left from fabrication at the factory. Then, I ran them through the big Scotchbrite wheel to knock of the corners and polish the edges. These parts will be given a slight bend later on, so I went ahead and marked the bend line now. One will be bent up approximately 6 degrees and the other down 6 degrees in order to create a left and right part. The actual bending shouldn’t be difficult, but it’s going to have to wait for another day.
I deburred the FL-706B plates and marked were they are to be bent. One goes up 6 degrees, the other down 6 degrees.
The final thing I did today was to fabricate the FL-706A angles. These are used in combination with the FL-706B plates to reinforce the area of the flap where the actuator is attached. As with the FL-708 spacers, a detailed drawing with dimensions is provided, and it is up to the builder to cut these from supplied angle stock. Again, these are fairly simple parts. The angle stock is cut to the appropriate length. Then, the short side of the angle is cut down even further. Finally, the parts are deburred using a combination of a vixen file and Scotchbrite wheel.
The FL-706A angles have to be fabricated from this piece of stock angle.
As usual, Van's provides dimensions for parts that the builder fabricates. Here's the FL-706A drawing.
The FL-706A angles after cutting to size and deburring the edges.
With all of these parts prepped, it should be a relatively quick process to finish up the flaps. The only thing I’m not looking forward to is dealing with the flap hinges.
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