Posts Tagged dimple
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.
Left Flap Work…Again (3/30/11)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Construction, Flaps, Wings on March 30, 2011
1.5 Hours -
I’m now ready to either start riveting the left flap together or take it apart and figure out a better way to do things. Again, despite what Van’s says, the flaps are not the easiest control surfaces to build! On another note, sorry about my poor photography on this post. I think the various flap parts I had on the table were, sometimes, causing the flash to bounce around too much, filling some of the pictures with way to much reflected light. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize this until I was resizing the pictures in Photoshop, so what’s done is done!
To start off the evening, I finished dimpling the left flap skins. The top skin is a bit odd since it has a partially curved leading edge, and the trailing edge is bent and continues about a quarter of the way back to the leading edge where it mates with the bottom skin. Because of this shape, every dimpling tool in my arsenal had to be used.
Next, I clecoed the ribs to the bottom skin and squeezed the single rivet that attaches the 4 internal ribs to the aft spar. This has to be done now, otherwise there is no access.
The flap ribs must be riveted to the aft spar first, otherwise, you can't access them.
Another view of the rib to aft spar rivet.
Then, I assembled the flap with clecoes and placed it in the wood, v-brackets I built for assembly. At this point, the forward spar is removed from the structure in order to gain access to the inside of the flap for riveting.
With the spar removed, I decided to rivet the FL-706A angle to the inboard end of the spar now rather than wait. It attaches to the spar with 5 rivets, all of which can be squeezed, and it felt good to finally assemble something on the flap!
The FL-706A angle is riveted to the spar with five rivets. The three open holes will be used to attach the inboard rib with blind rivets.
Next, I removed the inboard rib from the flap assembly and riveted the FL-706B plate and nutplate to the rib. The plate and nutplate must be riveted before the rib is riveted to the flap, otherwise access is extremely limited.
The FL-706B plate and nutplate are also riveted to the inboard rib now while access is still available.
Another view of the inboard rib with FL-706B attached.
At this point, the flap is ready to be riveted together. I played around with various bucking bars for a bit to see how I will access the inside of the flap. I have big hands, so I was having trouble figuring out a way to access all of the rivets. One tip I have seen is to use a squeezer yoke as a bucking bar since they are heavy and thin. This may be my best option. The other thing I’m considering is to take the flap apart and rivet the ribs to the bottom skin while they are separate from the rest of the structure. Once this is done, I could cleco everything back together and have far fewer, difficult to reach rivets left to buck.
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 Aileron Prep Finished/Assembly Started (3/12/11)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Ailerons, Construction, Wings on March 12, 2011
3.0 Hours -
After three hours in the garage, I finally had the left aileron built to the same stage as the right. Both are now ready to have the skins riveted.
The left aileron was no different from right. I spent most of my time deburring and dimpling all the parts. Once this was done, assembly was started.
The first step was to rivet the nose ribs to the counterbalance pipe using pop-rivets. Then, the counterbalance assembly is riveted to the spar. This time, I decided to rivet the assembly to the spar prior to clecoing the leading edge skin in place.
Unlike with the right aileron, this time I left the leading edge skin off until after I riveted the nose ribs to the spar.
Once the counterbalance and nose ribs were riveted to the spar, I decided to build some stands in attempt to help make riveting the ailerons slightly easier. I can’t take credit for this idea as I saw it first on Chad Jensen’s build site and then again on Brad Oliver’s site. Each stand is made by screwing together two 2×4″ blocks. The aileron spar is then stretched across two stands, and screws are inserted through the aileron bracket holes. The stands can be clamped to the table, and they are also small enough to make frequent repositioning of the aileron convenient.
Once the aileron was in the stands, I set the first few rivets on the top side. After the fifth rivet, positioning started to get awkward, so I decided it was time to quit. My Dad is coming over tomorrow and I’ll have him help me finish riveting the ailerons.
I built a couple of wood stands to hold the ailerons during riveting. A big thanks to builders that have gone before me and figured out all these little tricks!
The left aileron is ready for the skins to be riveted.
Right Aileron Final Assembly Started (3/9/11)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Ailerons, Construction, Wings on March 9, 2011
2.0 Hours -
Even though my birthday isn’t until the end of the month, I received a birthday present from my girlfriend today. She asked me what I wanted, and then chipped in for a JD Air Parts tailwheel link. This link will connect the rudder to the tailwheel and replace the steering chains and springs provided by Van’s. Like her present to me last year, a pitot mast, I probably won’t be ready to install this until my birthday next year. Oh well, at least I have my first tailwheel part!
The first tailwheel component I've received! This tailwheel steering link from JDair.com will replace the chains provided by Van's.
After inspecting the tailwheel link for a few minutes, I headed to the garage to get some quality time with my aileron parts. I focused on the right aileron today, and started by dimpling all the parts. Almost everything could be dimpled with the squeezer, but there were a couple of problem areas that required other tricks.
The first problem area was the aft most holes on the aileron ribs. The top and bottom flanges are too close to get the squeezer in, and I couldn’t manage to get my pop-rivet dimpler in there either. I rummaged through my tool box to figure out another method and saw the small piece of steel with countersinks in the corners that I made during empennage construction for just this purpose. The countersink is the female die, and the male die is pounded into the piece with a mallet.
I had to use my steel dimpling plate, made during empennage construction, to dimple the aft most holes in the aileron ribs.
The second problem area was the leading edge skin holes that are used to attach the counterbalance pipe. Because of the curvature of the skin, you can’t use a female dimple die on the inside. In this case, the plans direct you to cleco the pipe in place and use the countersinks as the female die. The male die was then hit with a mallet from the other side. These dimples weren’t perfect, but the plans explain that they don’t need to be because the rivet and skin are soft enough to conform to the countersink when the rivets are set.
To dimple the leading edge's counterbalance holes, I used the counterbalance as the female die and then pounded the male die with a mallet.
After everything was dimpled, it was finally time to start final assembly of the aileron. The first step was to rivet the nose ribs to the counterbalance pipe using a single pop-rivet on each rib.
The first rivets set in the aileron attach the nose ribs to the counterbalance pipe.
Both nose ribs riveted to the counterbalance pipe with pop rivets.
Then, the leading edge skin and aileron spar are clecoed to the nose rib assembly and the nose ribs are riveted to the spar. These rivets (3 per side) could be easily reached with my squeezer.
The second group of rivets set attach the nose ribs to the spar.
Finally, the aft skin is clecoed to the top of the spar/forward skin, but the bottom is left open for access to rivet. I started to rivet the top side of the spar, but after the first few rivets, access started to get a bit awkward. My Dad is coming over on Sunday, so I’ll try to get the left aileron to this same stage and then have him help me finish riveting the top sides.
The third group of rivets to be set attach both skins to the top of the spar. I set a few, but will wait for a riveting partner for the rest.
Aileron Stiffener Work (2/24/11)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Ailerons, Construction, Wings on February 24, 2011
1.8 Hours -
Stiffener work is really simple, but it is also very repetitive, very boring, and very time-consuming. This evening, I started by final drilling all of the stiffeners to the rear aileron skins. Once this was done, I deburred all of the rivet holes in the stiffeners, scuffed them and dimpled them. These parts now need to be cleaned and primed before they are riveted to the aileron skins.
I didn’t want to clean and prime the stiffeners this evening, so I pulled out my soldering iron and removed some of the blue vinyl from the rear aileron skins. On the outside of the skins, I removed the vinyl from the stiffener rivet lines. All the vinyl was removed from the inside surface. The only reason I did the strips on the outside (rather than removing all of it) is because I’ll be back-riveting the stiffeners and I don’t want the back-riveting plate to scratch the skin.
Using my squeezer to dimple the aileron stiffeners.
Skin Prep Finished and Pitot Tube Assembled (2/19/11)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Construction, Main Structure, Wings on February 19, 2011
3.4 Hours -
There are a lot of pictures for this post. Some of them may seem a little repetitive on the pitot/AOA portion, but I wasn’t able to find many good descriptions for assembling the Dynon pitot/AOA with the SafeAir1 mast. Hopefully, my description and pictures will help out someone else.
Since deburring doesn’t make any noise that will wake up the neighbors, I started on the project relatively early this morning . OK, it probably wasn’t early by most people’s standards, but I know some people were still asleep in the neighborhood. After about a half hour, I had all the holes on the left bottom outboard skin deburred. Once deburred, I transitioned to dimpling and used my squeezer to dimple all the holes that it could reach. By this time, I figured it was late enough to start making some noise, so I pulled out my c-frame to finish the dimpling process. To wrap up my morning session, I scuffed cleaned and primed the inside surface of the skin.
Me, deburring the left bottom outboard skin.
A bonus picture for the FAA. Me, dimpling the left bottom outboard skin.
After lunch, I returned to the garage. Before I could start riveting the left bottom outboard skin, I needed to finish the pitot assembly. This could be done after the skin is riveted, but doing it now lets me see how things are going together inside the wing. Once the skin is riveted, I’ll just have to attach the pitot tube to the mast and connect the air lines.
The first thing that needed to be done was to match drill the mast and pitot. Unfortunately, neither of these have any holes to use as initial guides. The only indicator of hole location is on the pitot tube itself, where there are areas with thicker metal that indicates the proper location for the holes. I used a sharpie to draw lines on the outside of the tube where these thicker areas were. I could then insert the tube part way into the mast and transfer the lines to the mast.
The pitot tube has to be drilled through the sections that have extra metal...marked with lines here.
I transferred the lines to the mast, since I would have to drill through the mast first.
To drill the holes, I started with the mast. After some careful measurement to determine the proper distance that the holes needed to be from the end of the mast, I center punched the mast and drilled the initial holes to #40. These will have to be enlarged, but not until I know everything is lining up.
I drilled the initial holes to #40. These will be enlarged once I know everything fits.
With holes drilled in the mast, I reinserted the pitot tube. The lines on the tube were visible through the holes in the mast, so I knew the holes were in the right position. The pitot tube was a little loose inside the mast, so I wrapped a couple layers of aluminum tape around it before drilling. These two, thin layers of tape gave the pitot enough extra thickness for a tight fit in the mast.
The lines on the pitot tube are visible through the holes in the mast. This is a good sign, but I'm still nervous about drilling into a $200 part!
I then drilled the holes in the pitot using the mast holes as a guide. I did this extremely slowly because, if I was off, I could easily drill through the tubing inside the pitot. If this were to happen, the pitot would be ruined ($200 down the drain). After drilling the holes in the pitot, I tapped them for #6 screws.
After drilling the holes into the pitot tube, I tapped them for #6 screws. I also placed two layers of aluminum tape around the pitot to give it a snug fit in the mast.
Next, I enlarged the holes in the mast in order to accommodate #6 screws. I opted for flush screws, so I needed to countersink the mast. Since the mast is curved, a countersink cage would not work, and I decided to countersink by hand using a deburring tool. This method doesn’t create the prettiest countersinks, but it gets the job done.
Since the mast is curved, I had to countersink for #6 screws by hand with a deburring tool.
After countersinking the mast, I assembled the pieces for the first time and everything went together easy and the hard part was behind me!
The pitot tube and mast assembled for the first time. This wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be.
I’m using the SafeAir1 pitot/static and AOA tubing kits. These kits use plastic tubing, while the Dynon pitot/AOA has aluminum tubing. To connect the two types of tubing, SafeAir1 provides the appropriate AN and push-on fittings. To install these, I cut the tubes on the pitot/AOA to the appropriate length. For this, I decided to cut them so that the coupling hardware would be partially inside the pitot mast. Once cut, I used my Rolo-Flair to flare the ends of both tubes. After that, it was just a matter of installing and tightening the fittings.
The ends of the pitot and AOA tubes had to be cut to length and then flared. My Rolo-Flair made quick work of that!
The SafeAir1 hardware enables a transition to plastic lines using push-on connectors.
Here's the finished product off the wing. I'll probably wrap the fittings with some tape so they aren't vibrating against each other or the inside of the mast.
To wrap up the day, I did one last test fitting of the assembled pitot/mast on the wing, and then I clecoed the left bottom outboard skin to the wing. Finally, I ran the pitot and AOA tubing into the wing just to see how it would work. I’m planning to run the tubing under the bellcrank, and I may need to install an adel clamp to hold the tubing down and prevent it from rubbing on the bellcrank. I’ll wait to do this until the bellcrank is installed and I can see how things are actually going to work.
Here's what the pitot assembly will look like on the wing.
Both wings are now ready to have the final skin riveted!
Just for fun, I ran the pitot and AOA lines. I will run them under the bellcrank. If needed, I'll install a clamp to hold them down and prevent them from rubbing on the bellcrank.
Bottom Skin Work Continued (2/17/11)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Construction, Main Structure, Wings on February 17, 2011
1.4 Hours -
This evening, I decided to spend some time in the garage with the RV project. There were a couple of things that didn’t quite get finished during my last work session, so I wanted to get those done.
The first outstanding item was to finish mounting the pitot mast in the left wing. The first thing I did was cut the forward flange of the pitot mast so that it would not overlap the row of rivets in the main spar that attach the leading edge. I only had to remove about 1/8″, and the bandsaw, followed by a few passes with a vixen file, made quick work of that. I checked the fit and it was perfect, so it was time to drill.
The mast attaches to the wing by three rivets in the forward spar and two rivets through just the skin. I held the mast in place while I slowly drilled the first hole using the holes in the skin and spar as a guide. Once drilled, I clecoed and moved on to the next one. After the three spar holes were drilled, I used the paper template that came with the mast to mark the locations of the two holes that will go through the skin and the mast on the aft portion of the mast. Once marked and punched, these holes were also drilled to #40. Other than some dimpling/countersinking, the pitot mast is now ready. However, before it is riveted, I’ll have to figure out how I’m attaching the pitot tube to the mast. This will be much easier to do on the bench than on the wing.
Here's a picture of the SafeAir1 pitot mast after shaving off some of the inboard and forward flanges and drilling all the rivet holes.
The picture is a little out of focus, but it shows the pitot mast positioned just outboard the bellcrank and clecoed to the wing skin.
The next task was to finish prepping the right bottom outboard skin. My Dad had deburred all the holes already, so all I had to do was deburr the edges and dimple all the holes. I deburred the edges using a Scotchbrite wheel on my die grinder. This makes quick work of smoothing the edges, but it can take material off too fast if I’m not paying attention!
Once the edges were deburred, I used my squeezer to dimple all the holes that it could reach. The remaining holes had to be dimpled with the c-frame. Once all of the holes were dimpled, I scuffed the rivet lines on the inside surface of the skin, cleaned it, and primed with some NAPA 7220. On to the next, and final, skin!
Another bad picture...mainly because I'm in it...but I have to keep the FAA happy by showing that I actually built this beast!
Everyone's favorite...a picture of a freshly primed part. This is the right bottom inboard wing skin.
Interesting Stuff
Help Me Buy Some Rivets
