Side skins riveted

Guess what came from Fedex today?  My repaired rivet gun.  Sure have missed that thing.  So we went back to work on the side skins.  The rivet gun makes fast work. N, T, & B helped me rivet the side skins.  We were able to get both sides completed in less than 1 hr.

B also got to be the first one to sit in the plane and imagine flying.

Time: 0.75 hrs.

Riveting side skins

B riveting side skins

B, T, & N working on side skins

Left side 

B imagining flying

Vents, roll bar brackets

I had a little help from B today in installing the air vents.  It took a little assembly, unassembly to modify the slot enough so that the door would open and shut smoothly.  I then worked on the lower cowl hinge and riveted it to the fuselage. I received the #4-40 tap in the mail so I tapped the switch mount plate on the roll bar.  The roll bar brackets were then bolted to the fuselage and the roll bar was placed over the brackets. It is a tight fit.  The support frames were clecoed and the the roll bar brackets were match drilled from the roll bar.  I disassembled the roll bar brackets and primed them as per plans.

I prepared the parts for the baggage bulkhead and clecoed that nutplates and parts together. They will have to wait until next time to rivet them.

Time: 3.5

Air vent

Air Vent

Lower Cowl hing

Tap Switch Mount plate

Match drill roll bar

Match drill roll bar

Prime roll bar brackets

Baggage bulkhead and nutplates clecoed together

Side skin rivets

Waiting on parts to place all the LP4-3 rivets on the side skins, but it the mean time I placed the nutplates on the remaining side skin. I then placed all the non-LP4-3 rivets as per plans using the hand squeezer.  Sure glad I don't have to do all rivets by hand.

Time: 1.25 hrs

Side skin nutplates

Side skin nutplates

Non LP4-3 rivets placed

Longerons completed, side skins started, rivet gun jammed

Today was productive, but ended in frustration.  I continued work on the longeron which involved the side skin. The longeron was put in place and the side skin clecoed. I then match drilled the longeron. The parts were disassembled and deburred.  The side skin was prepared for the wing by opening as per plans.  I then primed the longeron, doublers, and side skin as per plans.  All this took about 4 and half hours.

This evening with the kids home I thought I could get some good help and complete the side skins this evening.  Well, that didn't happen and ended in frustration.  T and B helped me for a bit.  We started by attaching the nutplates to the side skin as per plans.  These use CCR-264SS-3-2 rivets which the shanks seem to get caught in my hand riveter. Since we have several to put in I thought I would change the tip on the rivet gun and use it to save on time.  BAD MISTAKE. I placed the first one and the rivet shank got caught in the rivet gun.  It seemed to dislodge easy, so I did a second, and then a third. By the time I got to the third the rivet gun stopped working.  This was disappointing in that we have a lot of rivets to place on the side skin and this would prevent us from easily doing them.  I finished the nutplate rivets with the hand squeezer and B and T clecoed the right skin to the fuselage.

T and I then spent 2 and half hours on disassembling the rivet gun to clear the jam.  It took us a bit to find out what was going on.  There ended up being 2 shanks got in the gun.  We were finally after 2 hours able to get access to them and remove them. We then put the gun back together, but then the gun would not move.  The piston seemed to be catching.  After messing with it for a bit it was decided that I would order the parts to replace the rod seal (rod seal kit) along with the lubricant, hydrolic fluid, and jaw lubricant as per rivet gun manual.  As soon as I get them in then I will hopefully be able to resurrect the gun.  I may have to recharge the hydrolic fluid, I am not sure.  This is a little set back, but there are always other things we can do in the mean time.  I will most likely move on to another section until the parts arrive and we get the gun working again.

Time:  7 hrs.

Longerons in place

Opening side skin for wing

Attaching Gusset 

Side skin in place

Longeron, doubler and side skin priming.

Seats, longerons

The longeron dies have arrived, but before starting back on the longerons I wanted to complete the seats. The seats were riveted together as per plans and hinge pins made. I then installed them in the fuselage.  They are all complete except for the safety wire as per plans. I will installed that after I paint the seats.

Then a return to longerons. I tried the 6 lb soft face hammer that I ordered to open the angle.  It seems to work but very slowly. I picked up a metal pipe coupler as some had suggested in my readings to try that. I place the coupler along with the longeron and extra angle in a vise to open the angle.  This worked fairly well.  The angle was opened. I then twisted it as per plans with a crescent wrench. The longeron dies were used to make the bend. This worked very well and I am glad I purchased them.  The angle at the aft end was bent and a portion of the end was trimmed for optional weight savings.

I then matched the bend of the longeron to the bend of the canopy deck. I begin match drilling the holes from the canopy deck to the longeron.

Time: 2.5 hrs

Seat backs installed

Seat backs installed

Opening angle of longeron

Longeron die

Matching bend of longeron to canopy deck

Longeron matched to canopy deck

Corner removed for optional weight savings.

Roll bar / misc

Several miscellaneous items completed today. I first started with assembly of the rollbar with attaching the latch plate.  It calls for match drilling #43 the hole in the latch plate. I did not have a #43 bit so I used a 5/64th bit that is a little smaller. The holes in the roll bar were then enlarged to #30.  The plans call for using a #4-40 tap to tap the hole in the latch plate. I did not have one of those either, so that will have to wait until I order one. T and B helped me rivet the rollbar together.  I then prepared the rollbar braces and the baggage bulkhead.  Trying to get as much ready as I can so once the longerons are complete we can move forward.

I went back through the plans to do some "catchup" of items that I saw needed worked on. Once was the holes for the steps. They were a little tight so I opened them up some to allow the step to insert correctly. I will be waiting until later in the build to permanently install the step.

I had also noticed the hole in the light extensions to be too small for the wiring so I enlarged them some.

I then started on preparing the parts for the vents.  I will assemble them later after the longeron is complete and while working on the side skins.

Time: 3 hrs

Latch plate riveted to rollbar

Riveting roll bar

Completed rollbar

Support frames and bracket

Baggage bulkheads

Step hole tight

Step trial fit

Light opening enlarged

Vents prepared

Mid fuselage skeleton / Start Roll Bar

Continued working on the midfuse skeleton. The fuselage latch pin was riveted to the arm rest and then the arm rest was installed on the fuselage.  At this point I need to wait until tools arrive before I can make the longeron and proceed with the side skins.

I decided to start section 24 - Roll bar, so I prepared the roll bar parts and clecoed them together as per plans so the holes could be match drilled. The outside holes were then countersunk as per plans.

Time: 2 hrs

Fuselage pin latch

Mid fuse skeleton

Match drilling roll bar

Countersinking rollbar

Countersinking rollbar

Start section 23 - side skins

Started section 23 today which starts out in fabrication of the longerons.  I did not expect it to be hard to work with the metal and opening the angle as per plans, but no matter what I tried it would not open.  I only had a mallet on hand. So I have ordered a 5 lb soft faced hammer to see it that will do the trick.  In reading others experiences there is also a way to use a vise and a pipe coupler to help open the angle. I also read that there is some longeron dies that can be used to help form the curve of the longeron, so before even wasting time trying to form it by hammer as per plans I have ordered the dies and hopefully this will reduce the stress of making these longerons.  For now I have skipped the longeron fabrication until tools arrive and have moved forward with other pages that can be done.

The roll bar attach plates were prepared and nutplates attached. The mid fuse brace, closeout, and roll bar attach plates were then riveted to the fuselage.  The mid fuse skeleton was then started with attaching the bulkhead side channels.

Time: 2 hrs

Roll bar attach plates

Mid fuse brace

Roll bar attach plate installed

Mid fuse brace close-out

Mid fuse skeleton