|
 |
||||
Well today I wanted to get all the back riveting done on the left elevator as this is apparently pretty outrageous to the guy who lives in the apartment below me. I started by trimming the new elevator stiffeners that I got from Van's the other day. No pictures because it's just like the last set of stiffeners. Then the edge prep on them which takes forever... Finally I clecoed the new stiffeners to the skin and drilled them. Again, no pictures. After that it's debur, dimple and prime the stiffeners. I only deburred the skin and did not dimple it. Now everything is ready to take a field trip to the airport so I can do all the noisy stuff there. Doesn't everyone have a mobile airplane factory in the trunk of their car?  Here is the main occupant of the hangar: a Stinson that had the crankshaft explode and was put down in a field. They figured since the engine was off that they would go ahead and do an annual on it, which then turned into changing some things on the panel and fixing the interior and changing the control cables and...   Once at the hangar, I dimpled the skin with the C-frame. Then it was time for the fun! First step in back riveting is to put a rivet into every single hole. There is no slick way to do this so it takes a while for 150ish rivets. Then tape the rivets in so they don't fall out.  Now set the stiffeners in place and go to town! Well in theory, yes. I plugged in my compressor, flipped the switch and the motor was turning the pump over about once per second... Great. Apparently the hangar has enough power to dimly light a 60 watt bulb so I look around the airport for another plug. Surprisingly, it's pretty hard to find plugs at airports but I find one on a hangar about two rows over so I load the compressor up in the trunk, drive over there, fill'er up, drive back to the hangar, wash, lather, rinse, repeat every time I need more air (which was fortunately only two more times). Setting the rivets.  Finished product.  Loaded up to go home. 
|
|||||
| Thanks for visiting! | Last Update: 25 May 2012 |