February 21, 2007:
While we were waiting for decent weather to open up the garage to prime
the leading edge parts, Angela got to work straightening &
fluting
the tank ribs.
February 23, 2007:
While we were waiting on the weather to allow
us to get outside and prime the Leading
edge parts I continued working on the
tanks. So, I
picked up where Angela left off and continued deburring the ribs.
February 24, 2007: I spent a bit more time today on the tank ribs. I was against the clock as we had plans for the night. Didn't quite get them done… they're close though… maybe next time.
February 25, 2007: Ok, so the wind is still blowing like crazy around here so alodining/priming the leading edge parts was a no-go until later on tonight. So, I finished up deburring the tank ribs. I decided to take it a step further as well and scuff all of them. Again, I'm kind of disappointed in the number of scratches in these things… 3 of the ribs had some pretty good gouges in them. We didn't see anything like this in the empennage kit... oh well... hope it doesn't become a trend!
March 18, 2007:
After fluting a few of the ribs 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.
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!
February 23, 2007:
While I was deburring ribs Angela came out for a little while
and separated the tank
stiffeners. These originally come in the kit as 7
pieces.
They're pre-punched to show where to split them, and then cut to the
shape you see here. Once it's all said and done there are 28
of
these guys.
March 18, 2007:
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.
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.
March 20, 2007:
I cut the J-stiffeners & deburred them prior to pre
assembly of the tanks.
March 20, 2007:
I deburred the edges and 'non-rivet' holes of the skins with
most of the other parts prior to pre assembly of the tanks.
See page 4 step 2 for more.
March 21, 2007: I clecoed the fuel drain flange to the bottom of each tank during their full pre-assembly.
March 22, 2007:
The last thing I did during the pre-assembly final drilling
was to final drill the skins to the tank
stiffeners. The most inboard of these on the lower surface
get an
extra hole drilled in them.
March 24, 2007: Ok, here's the explanation for the extra hole… the inboard rivet holes of the inboard most stiffeners don't line up with the holes in the tank skins (intentionally). Instead, the tank skins had a hole that needed to be match drilled into the stiffeners as can be seen in the pic. From this 'new' hole a mark is made 1/4". The stiffeners will be trimmed at this mark. The purpose for this is so the stiffeners will have a gap between them and the inboard rib on the lower skin. This provides a channel for water that may be present in the fuel to migrate to the rear, where the drain is located.
March 24, 2007: Ok, here's the explanation for the extra hole… the inboard rivet holes of the inboard most stiffeners don't line up with the holes in the tank skins (intentionally). Instead, the tank skins had a hole that needed to be match drilled into the stiffeners as can be seen in the pic. From this 'new' hole a mark is made 1/4". The stiffeners will be trimmed at this mark. The purpose for this is so the stiffeners will have a gap between them and the inboard rib on the lower skin. This provides a channel for water that may be present in the fuel to migrate to the rear, where the drain is located.
See page 4 step 2.
March 22, 2007: After the full pre-assembly of the tanks I set out to get all the final drilling done. I mostly stuck with the order in the plans to ensure I got everything. First up was match drilling the skins to the ribs.
March 22, 2007: After the full pre-assembly of the tanks I set out to get all the final drilling done. I mostly stuck with the order in the plans to ensure I got everything. First up was match drilling the skins to the ribs.