Ok,
now we're fully involved with the fuel tanks. We're taking a
different approach to this section. We plan to debur every part
before pre-assembly. That way once we start assembling we just
keep rolling with it.
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(18-2 step 1): My
first task was to finish fluting and straightening the ribs.
After we did a few of these a little while ago it became apparent our
fluting pliers weren't going to cut it. So, we got a new
pair. Here you can see the difference.
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And
here's the issue… Up until now, the wide flutes have fit between
the rivet holes in the flanges of the ribs. The fuel tank ribs
have holes that are much closer together on the flanges. So close
in fact that the flutes do not leave enough room to fit a dimple die in
between (this pic shows our small diameter dimple die) If we
tried to dimple the rivet holes like this, it would gouge the inside of
the flanges pretty good. The upper rib in the picture was done
with the newer pliers. Its fairly obvious the dimple die will
have no problem fitting in there!
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(18-2 step 2):
Angela separated the skin stiffeners a while back. At the
end of the "stick" that made up the stiffeners there is a small piece
that is used as a bracket for the vent tube inside the tank. It
has a hole in it that needs to be opened up. Angela didn't
realize this at the time (it would have been much easier to drill
before separating from the stick) so she had to devise a method to hold
it while drilling...
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Guess it worked ok!
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(18-2 step 3): After
Angela finshed up the vent tube brackets she tackled the tank
attachment zees. Like the stiffeners, these came in "sticks" that
needed to be separated.
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I took over the zees while Angela started on dinner…
Here they are all deburred and ready to go. These will be riveted
to the rear of the fuel tanks and are what attach the tanks to the main
wing spar.
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