Dimpling | Andrew's RV-7 Build Log

Deburred, Dimpled, and Primed Left Flap Lower Skin

November 16, 2011

Well, I’m still trudging along at this thing. I need to start getting my butt in gear a little more. Gotta finish this flap then get working on that other wing…

Tonight, I decided to do a little prep work for the left flap. The pictures are kind of lame, but deburring and dimpling are starting to get a little old.

Here's the left flap lower skin after deburring, dimpling, and edge finishing.

After dimpling everywhere I could with the hand squeezer, I had to get out the c-frame for 6 holes. After that, I thoroughly cleaned the lower skin, and dragged it outside for some priming. Here it is back inside for drying while I go upstairs to sleep.

Notice how I skipped the debluing with lines and such. I think I saved myself an hour here. I'll probably continue this wherever people (except readers) won't be able to see it.

Lastly, I pulled off the interior blue vinyl from the left upper skin, then immediately decided that sleep was more important than more deburring. Maybe I’ll get some more done this weekend.

I am getting close to assembly on this flap.

I should be more excited…but I’m tired tonight. Sorry, everyone.

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Leave a Comment » | Wings | Tagged: Deburring, Dimpling, flap, Priming | Permalink
Posted by Andrew

Ten Right Aileron Rivets

September 14, 2011

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Well, I always love setting a few rivets, and I tend to work in little spurts so that I can set at least a few. The next few rivets in the project are the ones for the aileron spar reinforcements.

First off (no pictures), I grabbed the right aileron spar and reinforcement plates I deburred and scuffed yesterday, cleaned them, and got them outside in the driveway (on a cardboard box, on my trash bin) for some priming.

While those were drying, I deburred and countersunk the counterbalance pipe. This was way easier than I thought it was going to be.

To check countersink depth, I grabbed a CSP-4 (is it CS4-4?) I can’t believe I can’t remember the rivet number…anyway, and countersunk until it was just deeper than needed.

This may be a couple clicks too deep. I'll back it off on the next ones.

Then, time to deburr the aileron leading edge.

Yup, that's what I'm doing...

With that accomplished, I followed in many other builders’ footsteps and dimpled the leading edge by clecoing it to the countersunk counterbalance pipe balanced on a 2×4.

Mine didn't seem to move around much, so I'm glad I didn't waste the time duct taping small dowel rods down the 2x4 to steady things.

I fished out my (Paul’s) c-frame die and my #30 male dimple die.

Was this picture really necessary?

And, after a whack and a half…

Wuhoo! Looks like a great dimple!

A shot without the rivet...this worked great for me...like everyone else.

Okay, inside with the pipe for some cleaning, and outside to prime (now that it’s no longer being used as a female dimple die for the leading edge skin.

Let’s start on some more deburring, dimplineg edge-finishing, and priming.

I snatched up the two leading edge ribs, and spent about 45 minutes edge finishing all the little crevices with a needle file.

This part of building an airplane sucks.

But, after a few minutes, I had a deburred, edge-finished, and scuffed leading edge rib. Time for dimpling!

Yup. Dimpling!

After that, more cleaning, and those went outside for priming, too.

Just in time for my spar and reinforcement plates to dry!

Okay, which of these rivets can I set? (Ten minutes of staring passes...)

Okay, this is the outboard side. Those two AN426 rivets are just in there for hole alignment. They can NOT be set at this time, only the three on the left.

Of which I've set one.

Look at that beautiful shop head.

More rivet setting, and moving over to the inboard side.

Over there, the three inner-most rivets can be set, along with the two AN426AD3-4 rivets for the K1000-3 nutplate, shown.

The foreground-most holes are for the aileron bracket and the main rib attachments, the clecoed row is for the leading edge rib attachments.

I guess I needed a picture of the manufactured heads.

I think this picture means the counterbalance pipe and leading edge ribs are primed.

Sweet. Let's go find some blind rivets.

The plans call for these.

One in each side...

For a total of ten rivets tonight.

Good night. A few parts primed, a few parts assembled.

1.5 hours. 10 Rivets. Wuhoo! (Time for bed, I’m exhausted.)

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Leave a Comment » | Wings | Tagged: Countersinking, Deburring, Dimpling, Priming, Riveting | Permalink
Posted by Andrew

Dimpled Right Tank Skin

June 4, 2011

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Well, Andrew went shopping today!

It’s been brutal in the shop, so I put up the electric heater I had on the bench and put in its place this new VORNADO. For such a small package, it does a pretty good job of moving air. You have to have it pointed right at yourself though.

The VORNADO. (insert ominous music here)

Also, I bought the craftsman circle cutter for the large 6″ holes I need in the fuel tank inboard ribs.

Time to cheat death.

i also picked up some 1/4″ and 3/8″ drive drill adapters. I hate having to use a ratchet all the time for bolts. Now I can use the drill.

Oh, and a 7/16″ drill bit for the inboard rib vent fitting holes. The -4 sized AN hardware requires a 7/16″ hole.

This stupid drill bit was $14. Jeesh.

Also, I bought a nice little kitchen scale. I thought about saving some bucks and going with the analog one, but I didn’t know if I would be happy not having the digital readout.

This one was about $30.

These pliers weigh 155 grams.

Okay, back to work, Andrew!

I broke out the c-frame again and loaded in my tank dimple dies. On all of the other skins, I’d been putting the male die on the bottom, putting the hole in the skin over the die, lowering the female die, and then holding it in place while I struck it with the hammer.

On these skins, I’m flipping the skin over (so the other half of the skin hangs off the front of the workbench toward the ground).

This means I have to have the female die on the bottom, and the male die on top. To avoid my figure-8 dimple from the leading edge, I removed the return spring from the c-frame so any fidgety hands won’t cause anything to move.

Here I am about halfway through with the bottom half of the right tank skin.

(Whiny voice:) My hand got really tired (the hammer is sooo heavy, sissy boy!), so I took a break.

Not sure why I weighed a cleco, but I was curious.

13 g. Hmm.

Back to work again. Here’s the bottom half of the right tank skin.

Since there are more holes on the bottom than on the top, I am more than halfway done!

A closeup of the top skin dimpled.

The hole (get it?) thing dimpled.

At this point, I had been working for 1 hour and 20 minutes, so I felt like I should find something to do for 10 minutes just so I can log 1.5 in the build log. I broke out the #8 dimple dies and dimpled the #19 holes in the outboard edge of the tank skin.

You can see the size difference between the #40 and #8 dimples (The numbered comparison is not right here. #8 screws require #19 holes, so you are comparing #40 to #19).

With a few minutes left, and a new tool just itching to be used, I broke out the 7/16″ drill bit and drilled the vent fitting hole in the inboard rib.

I’ve been following a few threads on VAF recently, and some people are really freaking about about an exact location for this. I followed Van’s directions explicitly, which say “approximate location.”

Ha. I didn’t even give myself a starting mark!

Looks good.

Then, I pulled out the -4 fittings and screwed them in, just to see what they would look like.

The plans show this pointed foward. Okay.

The VORNADO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1.5 hours. Proseal arrives on Monday. Next week is the black death!

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Leave a Comment » | Wings | Tagged: black death, C-frame, Dimpling, Tanks, Vornado | Permalink
Posted by Andrew

Right Tank Stiffener Prep

May 30, 2011

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So, among other horrible things that happened to me today (leaky toilet, Sopranos DVD that kept skipping, ground turkey burgers, which were delicious, except it was actually chicken), and dogs that are freaking out at the neighborhood fireworks, I managed to drop my ONLY set of cleco pliers behind my workbenches.

“But Andrew, you have both your workbenches on wheels,” you say?

Yes, except I still have the spar box, and it’s lengthwise under both workbenches, so I really can’t move either.

After a few minutes of maneuvering, I gathered up a few things I found under the workbenches.

I was wondering where my first-aid kit went.

Anyway, I spent about 30 minutes at the scotchbrite wheel edge-finishing my stiffeners.

After that, I got them clecoed into the skins (yes, I know I’m not doing them the same way as the elevators, I don’t think I need to drill them into wood this time).

I labeled them before continuing so I could get them back to the same spot when ready for final assembly.

Here, you can see 6A (aft) and 6F (forward).

5A anf 5F.

1A and 1F. I only show these because Van's cautions everyone to have enough room to the left of these stiffeners for water (contamination) to flow to the drain to the lower left. I think I've got plenty of room.

Then, I got to drilling. I went a little different route and drilled from the outside-in.

Lot's of clecos.

After drilling, I spent the last 30 minutes of my work session tonight deburring the holes, then scuffing just the bottom side (becuase that’s where the pro-seal will go), and finally dimpling the holes in the stiffeners using my tank dimple dies from Avery.

1st one done.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

All 12 complete.

All that’s left before actually breaking out the pro-seal is:

1) Cleaning these stiffeners up (along with the drain flange and filler cap)

2) Deburring, scuffing, dimpling, and cleaning the skin.

At that point, I can rivet the stiffeners, drain, and cap in. Then I’ll start into the ribs, but I’ll need to do a whole whole bunch of finishing on the ribs, too.

1.5 glorious hours of edge-finishing, drilling, deburirng, and dimpling.

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Leave a Comment » | Wings | Tagged: Deburring, Dimpling, Drilling, Pro-seal, Stiffeners | Permalink
Posted by Andrew

Primed and Started Riveting Right Rear Spar

September 12, 2010

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Well, after a $15 stop at Napa ($10 for primer, $5 for sensor-safe RTV), I got back to work on the rear spar.

I spent a lot of time just kind of staring at everything today. The instructions are careful to point out that at the inboard part of the spar (where the reinforcement fork is), you can’t reach the spar flange holes with dimple dies for later dimpling, so you should do it now.

With that in mind, I wanted to make sure I got everywhere that may need dimpling later, so I also dimpled above the two (middle and outboard) doublers. You can see in this picture (the middle doubler) where I decided it would be a good idea to dimple (drill, deburr, then dimple, of course) the flange holes. I did this for both the spar and the doubler plates, which also have flanges on them.

The middle spar area, shown after drilling, deburring, and dimpling the flange area.

Same thing here. Also, I dimpled the 4 outboard holes (instead of countersinking), per previously approved builders who have talked to Van's.

I got back to thinking about the tank dimple dies, and whether they were really helping with skin-to-structure attachments. The idea is the the tank dies (which are deeper to account for pro-seal while riveting the tanks), when used on the skeleton, allow the regular dimple in the skin to sit better once riveted.

I got out some scrap, dimpled the “skin” with regular dies, and dimpled the “skeleton” with one tank and one regular die.

You can see on the left, those are the regular dies. The ones on the right is a regular die sitting in a deeper tank dimple. The tank dimples didn’t help anything sit better, because they were both fine.

A little blurry, but the "skin" sat equally well for both set of dimples.

The tank (deeper) dimple is on the right. You can see I'm not having any "seating" issues on the left.

Anyway, I think I am going to go back to using the regular dies on everything. Enough about that, though, let’s prime!

The rear spar components, getting primed after some more edge finishing, washing, drying, and positioning in my wood floors boxes.

Also, I went back and masked off the spar where I had countersunk.

Some of the nutplate attach rivets are not as flush as I would like them to be. I may get a rivet shaver and shave some of these down and reprime. We'll see how the tank skin sits on them.

Back on the rear spar, I posted a couple pictures of my edge finishing procedure. First, use the Permagrit block to smooth out the tooling marks. This picture is the resulting burrs that need to be deburred.

The permagrit is great, but it does leave some pretty decent sharp edges.

Then I used my “v” deburring tool to knock off the 45°.

After this, I usually use a scotchbrite pad to smooth everything out.

After blowing the aluminum dust off with shop air and a good wipe-down with MEK, I took the spar outside so I could paint the grass with my overspray.

I think this is the second side. Only one bug landed on my spar. I left him there for now. (He may be my first passenger.)

After a few hours, I returned out to the garage (workshop/mancave) to do some riveting.

First step: Ignore Van’s suggestions to tape off all of the holes that don’t get riveted now. (I know the warning bells must be going off right now, but it all worked out fine. Just have to read the plans carefully.

I left clecos in all of the “do not rivet now” holes. 6 regular AN470AD4-4 rivets on the left, and some AN426AD4-4 (I think) rivets in the dimples on the right.

SEP 14 UPDATE: WHOA! Those 4 on the right can’t be set now, because the W-712 outboard rib will get riveted to these holes, too. Glad I didn’t get to happy with the rivet squeezer.

These 10 can be riveted now. (Sep 14, 2010 Update: Nope. Just the 6 on the left can be set now.)

Same exercise here. Only 5 rivets can be set now.

I didn't really mark anything here, because I didn't really start on riveting the fork on yet. Next post, I'll be very careful about what to rivet.

Then, I actually started riveting. I love my new Cleveland Main Squeeze. Squeezing these An470AD4- rivets is so easy now.

Here are the 5 shop heads from the middle of the rear spar.

The same 5 from the manufactured side.

Oh, and I did 6 more at the W-707F doubler plate, but forgot to take pictures. 11 total. Also, I was mixing this and house projects over the course of a few hours, so I’m going to estimate it was about 2.0 hours today.

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Leave a Comment » | Wings | Tagged: Deburring, dimple dies, Dimpling, Drilling, edge finishing, flange, Permagrit, primer, Rear spar, reinforcement fork, rivets, RTV, scotchbrite pad, tank dies | Permalink
Posted by Andrew

Left Elevator Counterbalance Skin

July 13, 2010

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A short half hour tonight. First thing was to grab the primed end ribs and get them clecoed to the left elevator spar. No problems there.

Looks good. Ready to rivet (but not tonight).

Next, I need to get the counterbalance skin taken care of (must be riveted to the skin before the skin can be riveted to the skeleton).

You can see I clecoed it in place and drew a line where the two overlap; I'll use this as my primer line.

Then, I realized I’m going to have a hard time deburring, dimpling, and scuffing with the blue vinyl on. [sigh] Off with the vinyl, re-cleco, redraw my line, then back off to deburr, dimple, and scuff.

After dimpling with tank dies where the skin sits under another dimple, and regular #40 dies where it doesn't.

While I had the #6 dimple die out (I’m attaching all fairings with screws for now), I moved over to the elevator skin and dimpled there, too.

Make sure you drill all holes that need to be dimpled with the #6 dies to #28 drill. This is slightly larger than the #30 you are used to.

Again (for the search engines), the correct drill bit size for a #6 screw and #6 dimple die is #28. Ask me what happens when you dimple a hole that isn’t drilled to the right size. (Hint: the same thing that happens when you overdimple using something other than a dimple die because you are too cheap to buy a #10 die…see below…)

Okay, back to the counterbalance skin.

These are dimpled to #8 (I don't have a #10 dimple die). last time, I used a punch set (with a little rounded lip on it) to enlarge the dimples to the equivalent of #10 dimple die.

Let’s countersink the counterweight as a female dimple die.

Looks good.

Uh oh. I went a little far with my makeshift die. I stared at this for approximately 0.0000001 seconds before realizing I had to scrap the part.

See the ginormous cracks? Yeah. Not good.

A closeup of the other one. Oops.

So, the reordered part count is up to 2.

I’m not worried, I have some other stuff I can be doing while I wait for a replacement counterbalance skin (E-713, $8.85) from Van’s. Also, I immediately put in my order with Avery for a #10 dimple die (along with some clecos, an edge roller tool, and some more drill bits).

USE THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB, ANDREW!

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Leave a Comment » | Empennage | Tagged: #28, #6 dimple die, blue vinyl, clecoed, counterbalance skin, Deburring, Dimpling, end ribs, left elevator spar, primed, scuffing, skeleton | Permalink
Posted by Andrew

Primed Right Elevator Skin

May 19, 2010

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Well, it was a short night in the shop tonight, but after almost a week without building, it was a productive hour.

All that’s remaining before riveting the right elevator together is to finish up deburring, dimpling, and priming the right elevator skin, and doing the same (as well as getting a big enough dimple for the counterbalance attach screws) in the counterbalance skin.

First thing, I grabbed an oversize drill bit and started deburring.

I still can't bring myself to buy a deburring tool. Maybe I'm being stupid. (Who got sawdust all over my right elevator skin?!)

Then, I realized that the holes on the very front edge of the skin (for the pop rivets after you bend the leading edges together) will be very difficult to deburr if I wait until after bending to matchdrill them. I decided, like on the rudder, to drill and deburr them now.

Just making sure the #30 bit is the right bit.

After drilling, this looks like it will fit the bill when I am ready to start riveting the leading edges together.

After getting all of the holes deburred, I grabbed my scotchbrite pad and got to work scuffing. I grabbed an intermediate shot so you can see what I am doing.

Scuffity-scuff scuff.

After scuffing, I cleaned everything up with MEK (because it’s harder to clean well with the dimples) and started dimpling. Here is the inboard edge of the right elevator (which is upside-down on the table) after dimpling with #40 dimple dies.

I love dimpling. Don't know why... (Whose palm prints are all over my elevator skin!?)

A before and after shot of dimpling.

Please no comments on the lack of edge finishing here. I did all the edge finishing after this step.

Like I said, after edge finishing and another wipe-down with MEK (and the requisite drying time), I put the skin up on my garbage bins and shot some primer on the interior surfaces. If you look closely, you can see where I have left the blue vinyl on the inside of the skins. That is where I don’t want any primer (weight savings) after I am done. When the skin is dry and ready for riveting, I’ll pull the vinyl out and be left with nice shiny, untouched aluminum.

I cant wait to rivet this stuff together. I am proud of this elevator.

One little hour, but good prep work for riveting soon!

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Leave a Comment » | Empennage | Tagged: counterbalance, Deburring, Dimpling, Elevator, matchdrill, MEK, Priming, rivet elevator, scotchbrite pad, scuffing, skin | Permalink
Posted by Andrew

I Love Tungsten (Started Riveting Right Elevator)

May 8, 2010

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Well, this morning, the girlfriend ran some errands, and I got my house chores done early, so I headed out to the garage to make some loud noises. Recently, I’ve been taking one component at a time from drilled through primed. It make my work sessions less boring (not a full day of deburring lots of parts, but rather one day of drilling, deburring, scuffing, dimpling, cleaning, and priming one part).

Anyway, today, it was the right elevator spar’s turn.

First, deburring. There's my oversize drill bit spun in my fingers.

Then I put a nice scuff on all sides and edges.

Scuffed and edge finished.

Then, I broke out the tank dies to do some dimpling.

I love these dies. Such high quality.

I know you guys have seen tons of dimples from me, but I still take pictures.

The male side.

And the female side. Apparently I have not edge-finished yet.

After finished dimpling, I grabbed this shot down the length of the spar.

Right elevator spar, dimpled.

I forgot to take a picture of the countersinking I had to do on the front (flanged) side of the spar. The spar needs to be countersunk to hold the flush rivets attaching the E-709 Root Rib Right. The elevator control horn fits over them.

Then, inside for cleaning and back outside to the paint booth.

One side primed.

While I was waiting for the back side of the spar to dry, I went ahead and pulled the vinyl off both sides of the E-713 counterbalance skin.

The vinyl comes off a lot more easily when it is warm out.

Then, I got the other side of the spar primed, and prepped for some riveting. I had already prepped and primed the two reinforcement plates that get riveted to the back of the spar.

There's my new tungsten bucking bar.

Here’s my setup for spar riveting.

You can't see the reinforcement plate, but those clecos are holding it on.

After 8 rivets, all I can say is…WOW. I love this tungsten bucking bar. 8 perfect rivets. With the older, and smaller, bar I was using before, things were always bouncing around, and my hand was vibrating, etc. With this bar, it is so easy to rivet. I should have bought this at the beginning of the project.

Wow, these are amazing shop heads.

Here's the other side.

I spent about 2 minutes just staring at the bar. Amazing.

I thought I would show you my grip.

8 more, also perfect.

Wuhoo, this bucking bar is great!

And, the other side of those.

I wanted to buck these, but I thought it would be better to squeeze them.

The spar to E-709 rivets.

These are the flush rivets I was talking about earlier. Of course, when the primer is only 30 minutes old, and you try to clean up some smudges with MEK, the primer will rub off. Duh.

I re-shot some primer over this right after this picture.

What a great day. I got to make loud noises, and I’m in love (sorry girlfriend) with my new tungsten bucking bar.

20 rivets in 1.5 hours. Good day.

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Leave a Comment » | Empennage | Tagged: cleaning, Clecos, counterbalance, Countersinking, Deburring, Dimpling, drill bit, Drilling, edge finished, Elevator, MEK, Priming, Riveting, scuffing, shop heads, spar, Squeeze, tank dies, tungsten bucking bar, Vinyl | Permalink
Posted by Andrew

Primed E-709 Root Rib Right

May 3, 2010

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Well, after a few days of no work, then a few more of yardwork, and a few more of more no work, I made it into the garage tonight for an hour of work. Now that summer is approaching, the garage is getting a little humid. I’m going to start thinking about buying a portable air conditioner.

Tonight’s main task was to get any piece of the right elevator ready for assembly. E-709 (Root rib right) seemed to be a good candidate.

On the right, my trusty scotchbrite pad. In the middle, E-709 (Root Rib right). On the left. Well. You may call that beer. I call it "delicious."

Anyway, after deburring and scuffing, I broke out the #40 tank dies (understructure, so I want the dimples slightly deeper) and did all but the aft two holes on top and bottom.

Dimpling.

For my hard to reach places, I use a steel bar with a countersunk hole in it, put the hole of interest on top, and put in a sacrificial rivet to use as a male dimple die. Then, I grab a flush set, and push the rivet into the hole in the steel.

Getting ready to ghetto-dimple.

Here’s a closeup of my steel bar for you to admire. The hole on the right is what I use for these tasks.

The hole on the left is useless, since I drilled it too far away from the edge of the bar. Dumb me.

Anyway, here’s a shot of one side of the E-709 after using this technique.

The bottom dimple is from the tank dies, the top two are with the rivet trick. Not perfect, but not bad for the hard-to-reach area. Based on my experiences on the rudder, the skin will sit just fine in these dimples.

Off to the paint-shop. And by paint-shop, I mean “a piece of cardboard on my trash and recycling bins.”

Up with the garage door for ventilation and on with the respirator before shooting the first coat.

While that dried, I snapped an action shot of me devinyling the inside of the skins. I also deburred all of the exterior sides of the recently drilled holes, but didn’t get to the insides, I’ll do that as soon as I get back into the shop.

Oh man, those stiffeners and rivets look nice.

Here are both interior sides done. (And by “done” I mean “done devinyling with just the parts I’m going to deburr, scuff, dimple, and prime.”) The rest of the vinyl will come off just before riveting, and will reveal nice untouched (and unprimed) alclad.

Pretty pretty.

Crap, I forgot to take a picture of me shooting primer on the other side of E-709, which is the entire basis for the title of today’s post. If you feel shortchanged, feel free to complain.

One hour.

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1 Comment | Empennage | Tagged: alclad, countersunk, devinyling deburr, dimple, dimples, Dimpling, Drilled, Elevator, flush set, prime, Respirator, rivets, Rudder, scotchbrite pad, scuff, skin, steel bar, Stiffeners, tank dies | Permalink
Posted by Andrew

Drill Press!!!

April 26, 2010

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After the other day’s sucesess with fixing my dimpling errors, I need to run to the aviation department of my local big box store and grab a 6′ long 2×8 to cut in half and some hinges to make my homemade bending brake.

Instead of making it there, I had to stop by Harbor Freight to grab this drill press. Normally $90, I got a coupon in my email for $49.99. I can’t pass that up.

The box is a little damaged, but everything inside was okay.

A blurry shot of me starting to assemble.

Another in-process shot. This is surprisingly nice quality.

I had to install the little yellow knob to help open the lid. After this shot, I moved the belt down to the lowest speed (650 RPM, which is still pretty high).

I also bought these cool long pliers. I didn’t need them for the airplane specifically, but rather my girlfriend needed them to help clean out a hair clog in her sink in the bathroom. Good excuse to buy tools, and they don’t get accounted for on the airplane budget. Wuhoo!

Pretty nice pliers. I have a feeling I'll be using these often.

In the same email for the drill press, they wanted to sell me a (normally $15?) drill press vice for $7.99. Who am I to say no. I was a little disappointed that this one was only 2.5″. There were 4 sizes above it that looked nicer, but they exceeded my value-for-the-money threshold.