Today I started the day driving down to McMaster-Carr and picking up some new brass tubing. I totally forgot McMaster sells raw materials. I decided not to use the brass tube I made yesterday because I was unsure of the alloy. It would have probably been fine, but I was able to get the same alloy Van’s sent from McMaster for $13 and 1 hour round trip of driving. So I decided to pull the trigger and get some new tube.
Today I installed the new end rib into the flap. I forgot to take a picture. Not much to see really. Everything went smooth. No cranks in any holes =).
Today was one of those days when you say “I hope tomorrow is a better day”. Today was a day of pure Fuckery! Let’s break it down. I started the day mounting the ailerons…then I discovered there is an interference issue with the aileron and the inboard aileron bracket. Basically, Van’s released a service bulletin several months ago which was a redesign of the inboard aileron bracket. It’s makes the bracket significantly thicker.
Today I put in a long day and knocked out the ailerons. I got the riveting complete on both of them. Tomorrow I’ll start on Section 23 which is mounting the ailerons and doing the fabrication and installation of the push pull tubes to actuate them.
Both ailerons after completing riveting
This morning I started the day off priming the aileron parts. During the cleaning process I noticed I countersunk the wrong side of one of the brackets. So I had to fabricate a new one from scratch. Luckily I had a some material on hand. I used the original as a template and it came out great. In afternoon I started riveting some of the parts and countersunk the trailing edge.
Today I started the day off match drilling the nose skin to the stainless steal counterbalance. Then I worked on the aileron aileron stiffeners. First there holes had to be drilled to size. Then they had to be separated, trimmed, deburred and dimpled. I wrapped up the day dimpling the remaining parts, including the skins. Tomorrow I’ll prime and start riveting.
Match drilling the counterbalance weight to the nose skin Drilling aileron stiffeners to size Getting ready to start separating the stiffeners from each other and trim to size Cut lines layed out The final result.
Today I began work on the ailerons. I spent some time cutting seperating and deburring the various brackets and ribs. Then I started the match drilling process of the stainless steel counterbalance.
Various hinge bracket parts got separated, deburred and countersunk Main ribs parts got separated and dimpled Match drilling the holes in the counterbalance weight to the nose ribs
Today I finished riveting the right flap. Then I frabricated and install the brass bushings on the flap brackets. After inspecting the right flap I noticed a few of the rivet hole on the outboard ribs looked cracked. After further inspection I confirmed that the inboard rib did indeed have cracks in it. I think its because of how thing the ribs were and the rivets weren’t lined up straight when I squeezed them.
Today I finished riveting the left flap. Tomorrow I’m gonna try to finish the right one and get started on the ailerons.
Let flap all finished
Today, after taking a couple of days off to recharge, I got back at it. I started riveting the flaps together. I got the sub-structure of both the left and right flaps riveted together. I also got the top skin riveted on the left flap.
Left flap in cradle with top skin on Right sub-structure riveted together Top skin on the left flap riveted on