Tools (and a little airplane building too)

The last few weeks have been busy at work and home.  I’ve been staining the deck and trying to get the grass in the back yard to grow when I’m at home.  Even when I do have some time to work on the plane, I can’t really get much done because I don’t have all the tools I need yet.

But with some birthday money and a little money I set aside for airplane-related needs, I found some good deals and ordered some more tools.  I found a place called ToolsEZ.com which carries surplus aviation tools from places like Boeing, Rockwell, etc.  Bought an alligator-style pneumatic rivet squeezer, rivet sets, drill bits, hex clecoes and a pneumatic runner, cleco clamps, a Chicago Pneumatic (CP) air drill, a countersink cage and some bucking bars for $400.  Not a bad deal when you consider the cost of the rivet squeezer alone is $729 new.  Also I picked up a 3m Scotchbrite wheel from Van’s (goes on the bench grinder and is used for deburring aluminum edges) and a deburring tool and a countersink set from Aircraft Tool Supply (ATS).  The only major piece I still need is a C-Frame dimpler.

I managed to get a little done with the airplane.  I started working on the horizontal stabilizer (HS) spar by trimming the spar reinforcements per the plans, and match-drilling them in place by the flange.  I’m waiting for my numbered drill bits to drill into the flange…