TitleGarrison
“No bird ever flew nonstop from New York to Tokyo, or raced 15 miles high at triple the speed of sound.
But birds do something else.
They do not conquer the air; they romance it..”
Peter Garrison
HoursAndCounting
Jur's RV7 Aircraft Factory
2917 hours and counting
Some decisions in life are bare of any obvious logic
Training Project
Training project part 1 - 24-12-2010
Today was the first rivetting day. The training pieces require rivetting of some flush head rivets, solid rivets and pop rivets in 3 and 4 / 32 diameter.
The 3/32 have to be backrivetted. The others are done by using the rivet gun.
In the next picture, I'm having some fun with the mushroom flush rivet set and a bucking bar setting the 4-4 flush rivets. These are actually more difficult then I expected.
They turned out pretty well but I saw later on that the plate and angle do not fit really perfectly. I think it better to do this with an extra clamp on the outside and manually squeezing.
I have some rivet gauges but even with them, I'm still not sure if all are fine. Looking at the gauges, I think they are but feel free to comment using the close-ups below.
Next picture in foreground shows the AD3-4.
Here are 2 solid rivets AD4-4 on the outside and 2 pop rivets on the inside
And some more AD4-4 solid rivets (3 left) and 1 flush 4-4 on the right.
This it a picture of the gauge measuring of an 1/8 rivet, fits perfectly in the gauge. I assume this is perfect.
Although in some of the internet movies, the always overdrill a bit so the diameter is just too large to fit in the gauge.
Update 11/12/2011on the rivet sizes : In general, it is more important to maintain minimum gauge requirements for the set rivet then reaching the entire diamter of the gauge ring. If you set the gauge vertically next to the manufactured rivet head and slide it towards the head. You should have a bump up the rivet. It should not slide over. Measure this in all 4 directions of the head. If you are over the cut-out of the gauge everywhere. Your are going to be fine. EVEN IF the manufactured head did not read the 1.5x diameter and doesn't fill the ring. Again: for strength, remaining gauge is more important then the diameter. The whole rivet sets itself or 'expand' in the hol. If the drilled hole was slightly enlarged or rivet length a bit short, you may end up with a shop head that is not wide enough in diameter. Make sure you get the gauge right, the rivet is squeezed inthere anyway fixing the entire assembly together.
This is the result of the piece. I will also fill up the 4-4's in the overlap piece if after the real training project I have some rivets left.
Training project part 1 - 23-12-2010
Today I started dimpling and countersinking.
First of all I tested my bench grinder with the scotchbrite wheel to deburr the borders of the aluminum angle. this went really well. I was a bit scared of this aggressive wheel but with a little 'feeling, things go well.
By starting today's job, I realised I already made a stupid mistake yesterday. I drilled the AD3's also witr a #30 drill. Which means... the hole is too large. In a regular project you would use the larger size rivet in this case but it is and remains ... stupid.
So what I did is drill the #40 holes between the others on the overlap. As this is a training project, I wanted to do the AD3 rivets as well so the result will be that I will finally do some additional AD4's. It's a good practice in the end.
As I was a little unhappy of this, I made a second mistake, you can see it in the next picture. The #40 drill wondered off of its initial position and left a dented scratch.
The next picture I dimpled with 1/8 dimple dies the top skins and the top and bottom skin on the overlap. For the rest, the dimpling went really good. I practiced with the manual squeezer and with the C-Frame.
The dimples really fit nicely together when dimpled on both sides.
In the picture you see the 3/32 dimples and the larger 1/8 dimples.
On the top side, there is a aluminum angle with a thickness of about .06 which is too thick to dimple. In this case, I had to use the countersink cage bit 100° - 1/8.
Here is a closeup of the countersunk holes
The final picture of the day shows the assembly after dimpling and countersinking, ready to be rivetted.
Lessons learned:
- Read the f*cking plans !... not once, not twice, at least 5 times to make sure you saw all the little arrows, numbers, dimensions and size.
- Always center punch when drilling a new -non prepunched- hole to avoid the walking away of the drill.
Training project part 1 - 22/12/2010
Worked on my first pieces today. The training project contains 2 parts.
First part is the simple assembly of 2 aluminum skin plates together and attach an angle profile at the end using various types of rivets.
This isn't a real aircraft part but is intended to make you familiar with drilling, clamping, deburring, measuring in inches, dimpling and rivetting.
the second part of the project is a part of an control surface.
My first work session was really exciting. A lot of new tools to play with. I started on the first part and managed to do the drilling and clecoing of the parts together.
I lost a lost of time getting used to the inches and fractions. I don't have a rivet fan so I had to measure it manually.
A lot of time is also lost in remembering and looking up again the basic construction techniques. I guess you learn them by hart as you move on in the work process. How much distance is the minimal again from the side of the material to the first rivet ? oh yes, 2 times the rivet diameter + .3. What drill did you need again to drill a 4/32 diameter ? oh yes a #30. What's the first number in the rivet coding again ? ah, the diameter in 32nds.
That kind of things...
To make things faster I intend to make some large size copies of this to put it in the workshop.
The picture below shows the result of step 1, drilling, deburring.
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Use the kit buttons in the top ribbon bar to see a chronological overview per sub section per kit. For the full chronological article list, see chronological build link in prelude menu here below. The easiest way to lookup information is by typing in some part numbers or keywords using the search option in the ribbon bar
Caution !
Some advice on reading my log for fellow builders !
In some articles, I made corrections at later date on the original article to rectify my own stupidities or faults. Read through the entire article if you intend to use my findings/experiences on your own project !
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It’s possible (not likely) that I’m not as smart as I think I am. (Occasionally, I have moments when I know this to be true. Fortunately, the feeling passes quickly.) Although I have tried to make this information as accurate as I can, it is not only possible, but also quite likely, that erroneous and misguided information lurks within these pages. I cannot and do not warrant these pages to be error free and correct. Furthermore, I accept no liability for the use of this (mis)information. And, as many would say, your mileage may vary. If, after reading this, you are intent on proceeding, please be aware that the contents of this site are protected by copyright (copyright © 2011 and 2012). Nonetheless, you may copy this material subject to these two conditions: (1) any information used is for non-commercial purposes, and (2) the source of the material is properly credited. Of course, you may link to any page herein. At some articles, snippets of the plans from Vans are visible. These are for educational and illustrations purposes only and should never be used as plans for part construction or assembly as plans may have changed since the picture was taken and more important they are protected by Copyright by the Vans Aircraft Mothership company.