Brief Description: Bend upper longerons, fit & begin match drilling
Before continuing with the fuselage I had to go back and bend the upper longerons. I skipped the longerons until now because the unbent angle aluminum was easier to store in the shop. Anyway, I reviewed the shop manual and then made the necessary bends to create the left and right upper longerons. Once bent, I installed them on the fuselage and used quite a few spring clamps to keep them lined up and in position. The bulkhead caps and cockpit rails were clecoed in place and the forward bend lines on the upper longerons were checked against the slot in the cockpit rail. This ensures the longerons are in the correct position.
All the longeron gussets were clecoed into position (upper, lower, and auxiliary). Clamps were used to be sure the large upper gussets are seated firmly against their longerons. Clamps were also used liberally down both sides of the fuselage to ensure the upper longerons mate smoothly with the skins.
The left and right lower longerons were matched drilled to #30. The auxiliary longerons were match drilled to the skins and the weldments using #30 and #40 as appropriate. The work session ended with the match drilling of the #30 holes at the forward end of the upper longerons where they mate to the side skins and engine mount weldments. This area was doubled clamped to ensure a good tight fit to the weldments. The next shop session will be a marathon match drilling exercise.
