Posts Tagged Rivet
Bulkheads Finished (1/22/12)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Bulkheads, Construction, Fuselage, Longerons on January 22, 2012
1.0 Hours -
With a Penguins hockey game and two NFL playoff games on TV today, I only planned for short work session. Priorities, right!
Since I had already primed my F-711 and F-712 bulkhead parts, all that was left was to rivet them. The F-711 needed the bulkhead halves, as well as the F-711C bars riveted together at this time. The F-711D angle won’t get riveted until later in assembly after the skins are on. All of the bulkhead rivets could be reached with the squeezer, so I was a happy camper.
The completed F-711 bulkhead. The F-711D angle doesn't get riveted until after the skins are on.
A side view of the F-711 bulkhead.
The F-712 bulkhead was even easier than the F-711. For the F-712, just the bulkhead halves are riveted together (it’s a bit more complicated if you’re building a tri-gear model). As with the F-711, the squeezer could reach everything, making my short work session that much easier.
The F-712 bulkhead is riveted together with flush rivets on the aft side.
A side view of the F-712 bulkhead.
With these two bulkheads done, all of the bulkheads are finished (for now), and it’s time to move on to something new. Unfortunately, the next step in the plans is to cut and bend the longerons. This seems to be an area where a lot of builders get stressed out, but end up with satisfactory results. To make this a bit easier (I hope), I bought some longeron bending dies off a Vansairforce.net member some time ago. The dies are milled out of a relatively hefty chunk of aluminum, and the idea is to squeeze the longeron in the dies using a vise to make the gentle bend. I’m sure it will be a fun process.
Up next is longeron bending. I bought these dies a long time ago to assist with making the shallow curve.
The longeron dies bend the longerons by squeezing the dies together in a vise.
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 Bulkhead Work (1/15/12)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Bulkheads, Construction, Fuselage on January 15, 2012
3.0 Hours -
I still feel like I’m doing a lot of work on these bulkheads with little to show for it! Oh well, back at it today.
The first thing I did was to rivet together the, now primed, halves of the F-707 and F-708 bulkheads. One bulkhead had 6 rivets that could be set now and the other had 8. All of these rivets could be squeezed, so they took no time to install. At least I now have a couple finished bulkheads to show for all my work!
The F-707 and F-708 bulkheads are easy to rivet together.
I couldn’t delay the F-706 bulkhead any longer. This is the bulkhead with the really crappy looking parts. Specifically, the sides and bottom are a mess…very warped and ugly aluminum. After deburring the edges of the parts, I attacked them with my fluting pliers in an attempt to get them straight. This was a lot of work and they still aren’t as straight as I would like them to be. However the metal is so thin and flexible that I don’t think it will be a problem if I have to slightly ”pull” them into place with clecoes through the skin when the time comes.
Next, there are three angles pieces that have to be fabricated out of .063 x 3/4 x 3/4 stock. The F-728B and F-729B angles are easy as they just have to be cut to the proper length. However, the F-729C angle takes a bit more work. For this part, the stock is cut to length, and then the plans state to close the angle very slightly to 88.5 degrees. To do this, I just clamped the angle in my vise and continued to close the vise jaws until the angle was closed very slightly. Easy enough.
The plans say to make the angle 88.5 degrees instead of 90...not much of a bend, but it was easy to squeeze closed in my vise.
After bending in my vise, the F-729C angle matches the plans perfectly.
All of the angles that need to be fabricated for the F-706 bulkhead have been made.
With all the angles made, I went ahead and match-drilled the two longer angles to the bellcrank support structure. The F-728B angle was drilled to the F-728A bellcrank channel, and the F-729B angle was drilled to the F-729A bellcrank rib.
The longer lengths of angle have to be match-drilled to the F-728A bellcrank channel and the F-729A bellcrank rib.
Finally, I clecoed the F-706 structure together for the first time. With the structure assembled, I could check the bend on my F-729C angle. It fit perfectly, so no more bending was needed. Next up, the structure will need to be final drilled, but that’s not going to happen today.
The F-706 bulkhead components clecoed together for the first time.
F-705 Bulkhead Riveted (1/4/12)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Bulkheads, Construction, Fuselage on January 4, 2012
2.7 Hours -
This evening was another work session where I spent a significant amount of time in the garage, but left with a feeling that I didn’t have much to show for my work.
The first thing I did was to cut the slots in the F-705G angles for the tip-up canopy latches. I used my drill press to make two holes, then I connected them using a small filing bit attached to my Dremel. These turned out all right, but definitely not my best work. However, I currently don’t know what will go through this hole, so I’m not going to worry about them too much now. They won’t be riveted to the F-705 structure for quite some time, so I’ll worry about whether or not I need to re-make them at that point.
Drill press, Dremel, and emery cloth was needed to make the slot. Not perfect, but I think it will do.
Next, I finally got to start riveting the F-705 bulkhead together. This was pretty easy since all of the rivets could be reached with my squeezer, but it still took a lot of time. There’s also a lot of holes that are left empty for now since they will be needed for seat/floor ribs or for parts of the canopy structure. The F-705G angles are also left out for now…they get riveted after the skin is riveted to this section.
The F-705 had a lot of areas that do not get riveted yet.
The F-705 bulkhead is riveted...at least as much as it can be at this stage.
The final thing I did for the day was to mark the F-661EF flap bearing blocks for drilling. These are plastic blocks that bolt to the F-705 bulkhead and hold the electric flap weldment. Two bolts will hold each block to the bulkhead, with one hole will getting drilled in each block while on the bench, and the other hole will be drilled using the bulkhead as a guide. For now, I only marked them since the plans recommend using a #10 drill for plastic parts and I don’t have a drill that size. Don’t ask me why, but a #12 drill, which is normally used for an AN3 bolt in metal, won’t work for an AN3 bolt in plastic. Rather than using a fractional drill that is close to the size of a #10, I decided to place an order with aircraftspruce.com. In addition to the #10 drill, I also needed some #40s, #30s, etc., so an order needed to go in any way.
The F-661EF blocks are marked for drilling, but I'm waiting for a #10 drill to arrive from Aircraft Spruce.
More F-705 Bulkhead Work (1/2/12)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Bulkheads, Construction, Fuselage on January 2, 2012
1.5 Hours -
The F-705 bulkhead structure is finally starting to come together. However, there is still a lot of work to be done.
The first thing I did today was to rivet the F-705L shim and F-705K plate to the F-705F channel. Once those were attached, I also riveted the F-705J angle to the channel. This was pretty easy riveting since everything could be reached with the pneumatic squeezer (best aircraft tool ever!).
The F-705K, J, and L are riveted to the F-705F channel. I guess this is a support for the seat backs??
Next, I clecoed the entire F-705 bulkhead frame together and final drilled the areas that will be riveted soon. After doing this, I had to take a break to figure out the best way to position the F-705G angles for match drilling.
The F-705 frame is clecoed together...still a lot of work to do.
After a brief internet search, I realized that no special measures were needed to position and clamp the hefty F-705G angles. However, this quarter-inch material isn’t much fun to drill, and I ended up with a slight edge distance issue with one rivet on the left angle. For now, I don’t think I’m going to worry about it since it is only one of many rivets that will hold this part. In addition, the angle won’t be riveted in place for quite some time, so I may change my mind later down the road.
It took me awhile to figure out how to do this, but I finally got the F-705G angle clamped in place while keeping everything aligned.
The F-705G angles were tricky to drill. The hole in the top left corner of the lower face of the angle is questionable for edge distance, but since there are so many other rivets here, I'm not going to worry.
The only thing left to do with the F-705G angles is to make a slot in each part. The slot is only needed for tip-up canopies, and it will catch the canopy latch mechanism. This should be easy enough to make using my drill press and some filing, but I didn’t feel like tackling the task today.
Since I'm making a tip-up canopy, I'll need to cut slots (blue outline) in the F-705G angles.
F-704 Bulkhead Finished For Now (12/29/11)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Bulkheads, Construction, Fuselage on December 29, 2011
4.3 Hours -
With just a few tasks left, I thought I was going to quickly finish the F-704 bulkhead today. However, those few tasks took a lot longer than I thought they would.
The first thing on the list was to finish the F-704M web stiffeners. I had already marked a line down the back of one side of the angle pieces, so all I had to do was line-up that line in the bulkhead’s holes and drill. I used the holes in the bulkhead to drill the #30 and #19 holes. Once those holes were drilled, I removed the stiffeners and used a nutplate as a guide for drilling the nutplate rivet holes. One of my nutplates got a little askew, but it really doesn’t matter since there is plenty of edge distance and the screw hole stayed aligned…cosmetics only. Since the stiffeners are made from angle (non-alclad), I decided that I would prime them. As soon as the primer was dry, I riveted the nutplates on.
The blue line is used to position the F-704M stiffeners for drilling.
After drilling the stiffeners, I primed them and installed nutplates. The nutplate on the left got a little crooked, but that doesn't matter.
The web stiffeners get riveted to the back side of the F-704A bulkhead with three flush rivets. The flush head of the rivet will be on the forward side of the bulkhead, so I had to countersink the bulkhead’s webbing appropriately. Once this was done, I riveted the stiffeners to the bulkhead.
The F-704M web stiffeners are riveted to the back of the F-704A bulkhead using flush rivets.
With the web stiffeners in place, the next task was to install the cover support ribs to the forward side of the F-704A bulkhead. These are attached using a combination of rivets, screws and bolts.
The cover support ribs and installed on the front of the F-704A bulkhead using a combination of rivets, screws, and bolts.
Next came the center section verticals and shear bars. As when I final-drilled these parts, I decided to partially insert the NAS1307 bolts prior to riveting to ensure that the alignment was perfect. I then squeezed as many rivets as I could reach with my longeron yoke, and then bucked/shot the rest. On the F-704B bulkhead, I also riveted the shear bars in place once the verticals were finished.
When installing the vertical center sections to the bulkheads, I squeezed all the rivets I could reach with my longeron yoke.
What I couldn't reach with my squeezer, I had to buck/shoot. All rivets turned out pretty good.
Now it was time to put everything together for a test fit. The plans call for fabrication of two F-904J center section spacers made from aluminum tubing. I started to search for the appropriate sized tubing when I remembered that there were some miscellaneous pieces of tubing and a few other things that came with the wing kit but never got used. When I located these parts, I found two pieces of tubing that were already cut to the perfect length. I’m assuming these are my spacers and the plans just haven’t been updated to let you know that they have already been made.
The plans say to make the F-904J spacers. However, I found these in some misc. parts that came in the wing kit. The size is perfect, so I'm assuming they are the F-904Js.
I also started to make some wood spacers for the bulkhead assembly, but then I realized that these are just going to get set aside for a while and I stopped. Two spacers are already made, and I’ll need two more…I’ll make them some other time or I’ll find a better solution than sections of 2 x 4. For now, I just assembled the bulkheads with two bolts just so I could see what the finished assembly would look like. After taking a couple of pictures, it came right back apart and will be stored for a short time.
The F-704 bulkhead is temporarily assembled. This thing is heavier than it looks.
Another view of the completed F-704 bulkhead. The spacing is only approximate at this point.
Misc. F-704 Bulkhead Work (12/28/11)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Bulkheads, Construction, Fuselage on December 28, 2011
2.8 Hours -
There’s still a lot of little things that need to be finished on the F-704 bulkheads before I can start riveting things together. The first thing I did today was to drill and countersink the top flanges of the F-704A/B bulkheads for nutplates. Once everything was drilled, countersunk, deburred, etc, I went ahead and riveted all the nutplates on.
The top flange of the F-704A/B bulkheads has to be countersunk for some nutplates.
Next, I dug through the parts crate to find the four cover support ribs. Once located, these were match-drilled to the F-704A bulkhead.
The cover support ribs are match-drilled to the forward bulkhead.
After match-drilling, the cover support ribs were removed so that I could enlarge three holes in each rib for snap bushings. Each of the three holes is a different diameter, so I had to pay close attention to the plans to make sure I was making the correct sized hole in the correct location. The holes were enlarged using a unibit. After enlarging, I went ahead and deburred the edges of both the parts and the new holes.
Several big holes have to be made in the cover support ribs to accommodate snap bushings.
The last bit of work to do on the cover support ribs was to drill for and install several nutplates. Since the flange supporting the nutplates is a little narrow, I opted to use NAS1097 “oops” rivets for nutplate installation instead of trying to do a full countersink.
The cover support ribs also need some nutplates installed.
With the support ribs complete, the next task is to fabricate the F-704M web stiffeners. These are made from some .063 x 3/4 x 3/4 angle, cut to fit between the stiffener bars on the F-704A bulkhead. For today, I only made it as far as cutting the stiffeners to length and marking a center line on one side for alignment. Tomorrow, I’ll match drill these to the F-704A using the bulkhead as a drill guide.
The F-704M web stiffeners have to be fabricated. For today, I just cut them to length.
Firewall Finished, F-704 Bulkhead Started (12/26/11)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Bulkheads, Construction, Firewall, Fuselage on December 26, 2011
2.5 Hours -
Before I got too far along on the fuselage, I wanted to build another workbench that is bigger than my other ones. I also wanted another bench so that I wouldn’t have to keep moving things around in the garage. I knew that I would also need sawhorses eventually, so off to Home Depot for supplies. I ended up buying two FatMax sawhorses and some wood. The FatMax sawhorses have slots for 2x4s in their tops, so I decided to construct a table top and use the sawhorses to hold it. The nice thing is that I can easily take the top off for storage if I need to free up space. As much as I hate working with wood, this actually turned out pretty good.
All it takes to make a nice 4ft square table is two FatMax sawhorses, a couple of pieces of MDF, some 2 x 4s, and about an hour.
Once the table was built, it was time to focus on airplane construction again. I set up my back-rivet plate under the firewall. The firewall flange is slightly taller than my back-rivet plate, so I ended up putting my back-rivet plate on a piece of 2×4 and then made some blocks for leveling the rest of the firewall. Once all of this was set-up, the actual back-riveting was simple and quick. However, I did run into one issue when I got to some of the weldment rivets…the rivets called for in the plans were too short, and I ended up having to go up one size in these areas.
The areas of the firewall that couldn't be squeezed got back-riveted. I had to put my back-rivet plate on some blocks to account for the firewall flange.
The forward side of the finished firewall.
The aft side of the finished firewall.
After finishing the firewall, it was time to move on to the F-704 bulkhead. The F-704 bulkhead parts were delivered a long time ago with the wing kit. When I received the wings, these parts got stored under one of my workbenches, and they didn’t come back out until now.
The F-704 bulkhead parts haven't been touched since I got the wing kit.
The first thing the plans tell you to do with the F-704 parts is to drill a bunch of 5/8″ holes for snap-bushings. You know these parts are crucial when Van’s sends them partially assembled with a gold anodized finish, so it is almost painful to have to drill big holes right from the start. Fortunately, the plans are very clear where the holes go, so I didn’t stress over it for very long before attacking the parts with a unibit. It didn’t take long before I had made/enlarged four holes in each of F-704A&B, and one hole in each of the F-704C&Ds. After deburring all of these new holes, I decided to call it a day.
The first thing done to these very important parts is to drill a bunch of 5/8" holes.
All snap-bushing holes drilled in F-704A&B...4 holes in each part.
One snap-bushing hole is drilled in each F-704C&D. These will be used for the rudder cables.
Firewall Riveting Started (12/24/11)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Construction, Firewall, Fuselage on December 24, 2011
2.2 Hours -
My parents came over for the day today, allowing my Dad and I to spend a little time working on the plane.
No pictures, but we started riveting the firewall together. There’s a fair number of rivets that can be reached with a longeron yoke on a squeezer, so those were first on the list to be completed. Eventually, a bracket or weldment would get in the way of squeezer access, making us switch to another area. After a couple of hours of this, every rivet that could be squeezed had been squeezed.
Next, we started setting up the rest of the firewall for back-riveting. We placed rivets in all the remaining holes and then taped them over with some rivet tape. Once all the rivets were taped in, it was time to quit for lunch. The actual back-riveting will have to wait for another day, but it should go fairly quickly.
Wings Complete!!! (12/4/11)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Ailerons, Construction, Flaps, Main Structure, Wings on December 4, 2011
2.3 Hours -
The wings are now completely finished!!! That’s not even one of my usual ”finished except for…” lead-ins. They are now going to sit as they are until it’s time to mate them to the fuselage. Speaking of the fuse, I received a shipment notice/tracking number from Van’s, and the fuselage is scheduled to be delivered by ABF on 12/7/11. Great timing!
The fuselage is on its way! If all goes well, deliver should be in three days.
The work I did today to finish the wings was pretty easy. The first thing I did was to reinstall the left aileron on the wing. To make this a little easier, I decided to install the push-rod on the aileron while the aileron was sitting on a work bench. Once the push-rod was attached, I could insert it into the aft end of the wing before positioning the aileron on its brackets. Once the aileron was positioned, it took a little time to get all the washer/spacers into the correct positions, and I also had to remake one spacer (the original was too short and I didn’t catch it before), but I eventually got everything connected.
I forgot to mention a new tool previously, but I did spend $30 to get a set of washer wrenches from Avery Tools. They seemed a little expensive for what they are, but they really do make washer insertion much easier. In my opinion, they pretty much paid for themselves during aileron installation.
The Avery washer wrench set has a total of four wrenches like this one. Each wrench holds two different sizes of washers.
Next, I riveted the pitot mast to the left wing. The mast attaches with only 5 rivets, but I managed to screw up one of those. I had been doing great with my riveting, with almost no re-dos on the bottom skins, so I guess I was due. In addition, as I was working on the mast, I had my first broken cleco. The cleco wouldn’t stay in the wing. When I checked it, I found that one of the small “dogs” had broken off. Unfortunately, this is an unfixable issue. However, this little cleco had seen a lot of use…you can still see some of the tank sealant on it from when it was used on the fuel tanks.
This cleco gave its life for the cause.
Once the mast was riveted, I routed the pitot/AOA tubing through the wing. For now, I have it running under the bellcrank. It looks like it should be fine, but I may decide to anchor it to the spar sometime down the road.
For now, the pitot/AOA tubing is routed under the bellcrank. I may clamp it to the spar sometime in the future.
The pitot mast with the pitot/AOA tubing protruding.
With the tubing in the wing, I decided to go ahead and install the pitot/AOA tube as well. This was just a matter of pushing the two tubes into the fittings, and then using four #6 screws to attach the pitot tube to the mast. I had purchased a cheap pitot tube cover, but it is about an inch too short for the Dynon pitot/AOA. It will function OK for keeping the pitot tube clean in the garage, but I’ll have to buy or make something else once the plane is ready to fly.
The installed pitot/AOA tube...hopefully, there's no leaks!
My cheapo pitot cover is a bit small. I'll have to buy a different one or maybe make one. Of course, the old rubber chicken is always an option!
Next, I reinstalled the flaps on both wings. With the wings in the cradle, installation of the hinge pins is a bit tricky, so I don’t have them in all the way yet. I really hope they are easier to install once the wings are on the plane!
The last thing I did was to install the access cover plates on the left wing. With the covers in place, there was nothing left to do with the wings but try to find a good place for storing them in the garage while the fuselage is built.
Wings...DONE!!!
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