I didn't accomplish much in the shop today. Instead, I tried to find a minor component (a latch) to fabricate an inspection access panel in the rear baggage compartment over the battery. It was another minor task that turned into an exercise in frustration. It began when I called my local maintenance shop to see if they might have a couple of the spring-loaded latches that Piper uses on their cowling oil doors or perhaps the Hartwell type latch used on Cessnas. Well, they had them available but the price was $50 ea for the Piper latch or $75 for the Cessna version. Needless to say, I declined the offer but after trying all the local hardware suppliers for an alternative latch I was forced to place an on-line order. The two small latches I ordered should arrive tomorrow and I can get back to the access panel.
In the interim, I installed a few nutplates that were skipped earlier (those on the auxiliary longerons for the cabin covers and the four on the floor ribs for the rear control mounting bracket). The rear most nutplate on the right auxiliary longeron was a problem. For some reason the matched hole on this angle was located as to create an edge distance issue with the nutplate's attach rivet. Anyway, I had to order a special nutplate with a single mounting lug. Actually, I ordered a few single lug platenuts and a few that were described as "corner" nutplates. Not sure what the difference is but they have different MS numbers.
By the way, I couldn't get a squeezer or rivet gun on the longeron nutplates so I modified a pair of larger Vise-Grips per Van's suggestion to set the number 3 rivets. I ground the jaws on the tool to create two flat surfaces for squeezing the flush rivets. It works but it takes considerable hand strength to set the rivets. Oh, if you try this be sure to wear gloves and don't get any meat on your thumb or fingers pinched as the Vise-Grips lock up. IT REALLY SMARTS!
