Brief Description: Started riveting HS 404 and 405 to front spar.
I took the day off today and helped Colten with his project and got a couple hours on mine. It started off well when I bolted the center bearing for the elevators on to the rear HS spar. I torqued the nylok nuts to 25 in-lbs and called it good.
I then started riveting the HS710 and 714 angles to the front spar using the main squeeze hand squeezer. It worked well but the yoke barely fit around the bottom angle. I will need to see if one of the neighbors has a longeron yoke or else I will need to buy one at about $130 each.
The day went downhill when I got to the HS404 and 405 rib to spar rivets. My hand squeezer wouldn't fit in to reach the rivets so I used the air rivet gun and proceeded to screw up three of the four holes. I riveted and drilled each out a couple times and ended up with holes too big for the 1/8" rivets. Don had some 5/32" rivets so I drilled a couple holes out to #21 size and proceeded to screw them up also.
I am frustrated with the situation today which is why I am updating the log instead of getting some work done. I want to step away from this for a day and regroup. The construction book from Van's says this will be the most frustrating and enjoyable project that a person will undertake. I am definately in the frustrating mode right now. I need to buy a couple longer reach yokes to get to these tough spots or else I will go nuts using the air rivet gun.
