Finally back to work! Last month, I was all over the US. For the first two weeks, I had a family vacation in Utah. We stayed in a time share, with our extended family in Saint George. I visited places such as Bryce Canyon, Zion, Valley of Fire, and Kolob Canyon. Then we flew back to Mississippi from Las Vegas. I even got to meet the Pilots! After only a few days of rest (where I was at the gym every morning) I found myself on a bus to West Virginia for the BSA 2017 National Jamboree, an event I had been saving for via 3 years of Boy Scout fundraisers. At the Jamboree, I whitewater rafted, walked a million miles, traded patches from all corners of scouting, ran a Spartan Race, earned the geology; archaeology; and game design merit badges, and played in the Highland Games. All in all July was a great month, full of high adventure and exploration!
Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, and Reverent. I didn't manage to find the 13th which is of course: Hungry.
When I arrived home, aside from doing laundry, my highest priority* was to get back to building. Over the past week or so, I have been preparing the wings for the skins to be riveted. This job entails 3 basic parts, First De-Burring. When you drill a hole in aluminum, the edges of the hole get awfully messy and sharp. De-Burring is the process of removing these 'Burrs'. Using a specially tapered sharp tool, you can easily knock the burr off the side of the hole, making it much smoother. Alternatively you can use a simple file to do the same task sometimes even easier.
In the middle of De-Burring, Smoothing, and Dimpling, I finished my landing light bracket. It fits between two nose ribs near the tip of the wing. Previously I had measured the gap, and estimated the size I needed to make the bracket. Now, I fit it directly into the bay and set the exact distance it needed to cover. The bracket is made of two pieces, you then rivet the pieces together to make the length perfect for your particular wing. I took the two pieces (held together by painter's tape) and marked out locations to drill, I pilot drilled them with a small #40 drill bit, then followed it up with a final size #30 dril bit which corosponds to a 1/8" rivet. I riveted and installed the bracket, then went back to De-Burring the wing ribs.
Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, and Reverent. I didn't manage to find the 13th which is of course: Hungry.
When I arrived home, aside from doing laundry, my highest priority* was to get back to building. Over the past week or so, I have been preparing the wings for the skins to be riveted. This job entails 3 basic parts, First De-Burring. When you drill a hole in aluminum, the edges of the hole get awfully messy and sharp. De-Burring is the process of removing these 'Burrs'. Using a specially tapered sharp tool, you can easily knock the burr off the side of the hole, making it much smoother. Alternatively you can use a simple file to do the same task sometimes even easier.
Next you use a abrasive scotchbrite pad to smooth out the metal, and remove stress rising scratches. For most area's these two steps are enough, but the plans call for the leading edge of the wing to be flush riveted. This means rather than a rivet's head making a little dome on the skin's surface, The skin has a dimple for a specially shaped rivet to sit in. Using this method the rivets blend much better into the skins, and when at high speeds (such as air racing) where every drag producer must be dealt with, airplanes use exclusively flush rivets.
Everyone I talked to about dimpling seemed to dread the process. As such the dread rubbed off on me a bit. After dimpling all of the nose ribs in just a couple of hours with only the skins remaining , I came to the conclusion that "You shouldn't spend time trying to avoid doing it, if you treat it like a cold shower and jump right in, you will find that the work is not nearly as hard as it seemed."
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| To dimple the skin you need a two piece die. One with a recessed part, and the other with an extended matching shape. you pinch the skin between these pieces and force them together using the hand dimple pliers. (yellow/black) |
In the middle of De-Burring, Smoothing, and Dimpling, I finished my landing light bracket. It fits between two nose ribs near the tip of the wing. Previously I had measured the gap, and estimated the size I needed to make the bracket. Now, I fit it directly into the bay and set the exact distance it needed to cover. The bracket is made of two pieces, you then rivet the pieces together to make the length perfect for your particular wing. I took the two pieces (held together by painter's tape) and marked out locations to drill, I pilot drilled them with a small #40 drill bit, then followed it up with a final size #30 dril bit which corosponds to a 1/8" rivet. I riveted and installed the bracket, then went back to De-Burring the wing ribs.
(it seems that every time I get a new table in the garage, I use it for storage. This is the recycling can, with a tub lid on top.)
* Highest priority is not entirely accurate as I still wanted to tell my mom and sister all about Jamboree.
Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me.
Mr John
Paul Shadwick
Stan Whitfield
Ron Sipple
Ralph and Joyce Shultz
Paul and Beth Duff
Paul Hockin
Nicholette Shultz
Gordon Fern
Anon Anon
Jeannette Shultz
Mike David
Jonathan and Julia Wolfe
Jon Palmstrom
Laurie Burns
Donna Mickel
Dana Baker
Mrs Nadine
Eric Johnson
Tammy Reap Hayes
Jeff Shultz
Brandon Lenart
WP Marsh
Michael Couillard
Mr Anonymous
Joe And Judy Green
Mrs Brenda
Mrs Cathy
Paul and Vickie Laberge
Judy and Roger Kemmerle
The purpose of this blog is to document and share my experience of building and later flying an airplane. In the first portion, I will thank all the wonderful people who donated to me. Then in the second section I will post a building update, hopefully every 3-4 days ,explaining what I have done in detail and with pictures. Finally in the third and last section, I will post my flying adventures, and any maintenance I do. Thank you or your support and interest, I am pumped to be executing this project.