Posts Tagged dimple
Center Fuselage Final Prep Started (5/27/12)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Center Fuselage, Construction, Fuselage on May 27, 2012
1.0 Hours -
The temperature in the garage, even with a fan blowing directly on me, has definitely reached the ‘too hot for airplane work’ level! However, I took some time off from work and figured I better work on the plane at least a little bit. So, I spent an hour deburring and dimpling a few of the center fuselage parts. I only made it through the center section bulkheads and two of the seat ribs before deciding to quit since I was spending more time wiping sweat off the parts than actually working on them. There’s still a lot of work to be done on the center fuselage before riveting can begin.
Aft Fuselage Prep Finished (3/12/12)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Aft Fuselage, Construction, Fuselage on March 12, 2012
0.5 Hours -
Final prep of the aft fuselage parts is finally finished.
Today, I quickly finished dimpling the right side skin (I didn’t have many dimples left to make), and then I cleaned and primed the rivet lines on the inside only. Next up, riveting!
Aft Fuselage Final Prep Almost Done (3/11/12)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Aft Fuselage, Construction, Fuselage on March 11, 2012
3.5 Hours -
Another semi-long work session, but there’s still a bit more work to do. I finished the j-channels, including priming the mating surfaces, and finished most of the work on the right side skin. All that is left is to finish about half the dimples in the skin and then prime the rivet lines. After that is done, I’ll finally be back to doing some assembly!
Still More Aft Fuselage Prep (3/7/12)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Aft Fuselage, Construction, Fuselage on March 7, 2012
3.0 Hours -
The three hours I was able to work on the plane today was the longest amount of time I’ve been able to put in, during a single day, in quite some time. Even though I was only deburring, dimpling and priming, I still enjoyed it.
As stated, I spent most of my time deburring and dimpling, with a little priming mixed in as well. My main focus for the day was the aft fuselage bottom skin. Once the bottom skin was finished, I moved on to the J-channels. I was able to complete three J-channels before deciding to finally call it a night. The good news is that, with only one J-channel and a side skin left, I think I will be able to finish the aft fuselage final prep with one more long work session.
It's been awhile since I've taken a picture of me working on the plane. So, here's the latest deburring "action" shot.
More Aft Fuselage Prep (3/4/12)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Aft Fuselage, Construction, Fuselage on March 4, 2012
1.5 Hours -
There’s a limit to the number of deburring/dimpling pictures I can take, so no pictures today!
Most of my time was spent finishing the final prep on the left aft fuselage side skin. I used my c-frame to finish the dimpling tasks, then scuffed, cleaned and primed, the rivet lines on the inside of the skin only. Since I was spraying primer, I also primed the WD-409 tailspring weldment.
I also spent some time disassembling the remainder of the aft fuselage and deburring/dimpling the bulkhead flanges. This still leaves the final prep for the bottom skin, right side skin, and j-channels.
Aft Fuselage Final Prep Continued (3/3/12)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Aft Fuselage, Construction, Fuselage on March 3, 2012
2.2 Hours -
Two hours of deburring and dimpling and I’m still not finished with the first aft fuselage side skin. Getting the aft fuselage ready for final assembly is definitely going to take some time. For today, I removed the left skin and deburred all of the edge and holes. I also started dimpling, but I only made it through all the holes that could be reached with my squeezer. The c-frame will have to wait for tomorrow.
Prepping the aft fuselage's left side skin.
Prepping the aft fuselage's left side skin.
Aft Fuselage Final Prep Started (2/26/12)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Aft Fuselage, Construction, Fuselage on February 26, 2012
2.0 Hours -
I’m back to deburr, dimple, scuff, clean, prime. This will be the theme of the next several entries as I work on getting the aft fuselage ready for riveting.
I decided to fix some of the aft-most holes in the F-779 assembly by enlarging them slightly to #30. This is an easy fix for my oval holes, and it will also allow for installation of slightly stronger rivets in the tail where a lot of stresses will probably occur.
Upon inspection, I found a few holes that were a bit oval. For a fix, I enlarged the holes to #30 (copper clecoes).
Once the holes were enlarged, I started disassembling the aft fuse so that the individual parts could be deburred, primed, etc., for final assembly. For today, I removed the F-779/F-711/F-712 assembly and deburred the edges on any parts that hadn’t previously been deburred. I also deburred and dimpled all the holes.
Finally, I decided to give a little extra protection to the F-779 skin. Since I’m building a taildragger, and plan on landing on many grass runways, this skin could see more moisture than the same skin in a nose gear model. With this in mind, I decided to give the inside of the skin a coat of primer followed by a coat of sealer.
After deburring and dimpling the F-779 skin, I decided to prime it and give it a coat of primer sealer. Being a taildragger, this area could see more moisture than the rest of the plane.
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, 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.
Firewall Dimpling/Countersinking Started (12/20/11)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Construction, Firewall, Fuselage on December 20, 2011
1.6 Hours -
I only briefly worked on the plane tonight, but I did manage to finish dimpling the firewall and start countersinking all the angles and gussets.
Since the firewall is stainless steel, I wasn’t sure how difficult it would be to dimple. Turns out that it dimples about as easily as aluminum does. I was able to use my squeezer to dimple anything it could reach, and then I pulled out the c-frame to finish things up.
I had to pull out the c-frame to dimple the firewall. The stainless steel dimples as easily as aluminum...no challenges there.
Not being able to put it off any longer, I started countersinking. Countersinking is one of the few times that I switch to an electric drill. For some reason, I get a lot of chatter when I use the air drill while countersinking, but no chatter with the electric.
There are both #40 and #30 countersinks that need to be completed. Fortunately, I have two countersink cages and could set-up both sizes and then just switch back and forth. Once I got both cages set to the proper depth, everything went pretty smoothly, but I only made it through a few pieces of angle before calling it a night. With the cages already set-up, I should be able to finish relatively quickly.
My countersinking setup. Countersinking is one of the few times I switch to an electric drill.
A picture of me having "fun" countersinking the firewall angles.
The finished product. The last hole on the right is a #30, the other is a #40.
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