KitLog pro

Powered By Kitlog Pro v2.0

Jims RV-8
' style=
Date:  9-17-2014
Number of Hours:  3.30
Manual Reference:  8-26
Brief Description:  Drilling Fuse Skins – Fwd skin & longerons

Only about 90 holes drilled tonight but they were some important ones. I started with the lower longerons (F-843) and drilled the Forward skin (F-820) attach holes. The 5 holes in the front also tie in the lower engine mounts. Those were fairly easy as they were all 1/8” holes and the longeron was already drilled/clecoed in from the bottom (see pic #1).

The next longeron drilled was the F-844 Auxillary longerons and those were a little more “touchy” as they were floating and temporarily held in place by the skins and stiffening plates. A line is drawn down the middle of the longerons and you center that line thru the holes in the skin to verify it is in the right place before drilling – The holes came out well - that one wasn’t too bad either (See pic #2).

Then came the upper longeron (F-887) drilling… those upper longerons tie in the upper engine mounts on the top and on the sides. The whole thing is clamped together initially so that the longeron sits flush against both webs of the engine mount for a strong connection. The upper longeron runs the entire length of the fuselage, from the firewall to the tail. If it’s not clamped together properly, mis-aligned holes could be the result. Scary stuff - as a mistake here would be a major parts re-order and re-work. I took my time and triple checked the initial holes with the mirror to make sure things were going in the right direction. Working slowly and thinking thru each step (a few times) with the measure twice, drill once mentality worked out nicely and the holes turned out really well (see pic #3).
' style=

lower longeron drilled

lower longeron drilled

' style=

auxillary longeron drilled

auxillary longeron drilled

' style=

upper longeron drilled

upper longeron drilled

' style=










Copyright © 2001-2024 Matronics. All Rights Reserved.