Brief Description: Finished riveting top skins & leak test tank
This morning Connie and I finished setting all the rivets in the top skins except the trailing edge (skin to rear spar). The spanwise rivets at the trailing edge were set with the pneumatic squeezer. The last five rivets at the root end of the wing were not set. These will be set once the wing is removed from the jig and placed on the bench. These final rivets are very close to the spar reinforcement fork and will require a special bucking bar and the gun. I was not able to set these with the squeezer on the port wing.
I removed the fuel tank and did some final filing and scotchbriting to be sure the butt joint at the splice plate looked good. This tank fits ok but not quite as good as the port tank. I think this is due to just a little extra sealant between the Z brackets and the baffle which keeps the tank skin from tightly butting up against the inboard top skin. Again, the fit is ok but not quite as perfect as the first tank.
Last task for the day was to put a little pressure in the tank (about 1 psi) and go over all the seams and rivets with soapy water looking for the tell-tale bubbles. Having found none, I moved the tank inside the house (stable temp) to observe over a period of hours. I placed the outline of a quarter on the balloon with a Sharpie and will check it periodically to see if the dimensions change indicating a leak. Hears hoping the tank is air tight!
