Vertical Stabilizer Finished!

Over the last week I was able to make some great progress.  I bought a couple of cans of NAPA 7220 Primer at the store in Reynoldsburg (the folks there gave excellent service).  I had decided that I would simply prime the areas where the aluminum pieces would touch each other, simply adding another minimal layer of corrosion protection.  It doesn’t take hardly any time at all and it certainly cannot hurt.

Last night, Mike Cencula came over and we went to town on the riveting of the components of the VS.  Mike helped me to get a hang of how to better use the rivet gun and rivet squeezer.  We worked late and ended up finishing the VS (less the rivets on the edges) around 11:30.  Thanks for all your help, Mike!

VS Ready for Primer & Riveting

We’ve made some good progress in the last couple of weeks.  I got a C-frame dimpler and table kit from Cleaveland Tools.  The table is extremely helpful because it keeps the piece of aluminum perpendicular to the dimple dies when I’m dimpling.  This makes sure the dimples are nice and crisp.  With two not-so-hard whacks of the hammer, it makes a great dimple.

Cousin Tim stopped by this week on his way back to Taylor, and it was great to see him.  We only had a couple of hours to work on the plane, and it was really hot and muggy, but we got a lot done.  We deburred the edges of the new VS-1007 rib (I put an extra dimple where there was not supposed to be one with my pneumatic squeezer) and fitted the skeleton back together so we could final-drill the holes where the flanges meet the skin.  Also, we countersank the doubler that goes on the bottom of the forward VS spar.

Which brings up a good point.  Countersinking is difficult enough, but it’s even harder when you are attempting to countersink a piece to accept a dimpled skin.  It’s not that it’s hard, it’s just that it is difficult to know when you’ve gone deep enough.  It’s better to start shallow and increase the depth of the cut as you go.  I’ve got a sense now for how tight the fit needs to be.  The surrounding skins aren’t going to be completely flush until you rivet, but they need to have a pretty close fit when you put that dimpled skin up against the countersink.

Today, Ashley held the skin in place while I used the C-frame to dimple the remaining holes on the VS skin.  The dimples look great to me.

Next step is to run to NAPA to grab some 7220 “Martin Senior” self-etching primer.  In my next post, I’ll discuss my ideas on priming.  Those seem to change from day-to-day, but lately I’m feeling like “less is more”…

Building confidence

This week I had the opportunity to go help fellow EAA chapter 9 member Mike Cencula work on his RV-7a. He needed some help so I decided what better way to gain some experience? Another RV builder John Bowen met us and the three of us had a lot of fun. I drove my first rivet after watching and learning from John’s technique. It was great to see Mike’s shop. He has quite an impressive setup.

I learned some things and got some ideas to take home with me:
1. Put the compressor in the basement and run a line to the garage. I did this today and the noise has become a non-factor. It makes all the difference in the world.
2. Using the traditional C-frame dimpler rather than the DRDT-2 is a possibility. The C-frame is harder to use but (according to Mike) makes crisper dimples. He seems like he knows what he’s talking about.
3. This is a HUGE project. I seem to forget that from time to time.
4. Working with other builders is a lot of fun. Plus, you can learn a lot

I picked up a drill press from Home Depot with some gift cards I had. Also got some clamps, files and miscellaneous things for the project. Next step: c-frame…