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Jims RV-8
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Date:  9-23-2014
Number of Hours:  2.50
Manual Reference:  8-29
Brief Description:  Drilling Fuse Skins – WD-409 Tail Spring

Ok, so there is no reason that this should have taken me 2 ½ hours to complete the drilling of these two holes, but it did - and I am really happy with the results. I guess that just how long it takes me to get it right – like I said, I am a slow builder. I have to be able to visualize what the process is, and until I am satisfied that I, “get it” – I keep looking at the issue to figure it out. I was probably at a heightened state because this section is another “gotcha” section for some builders. Therefore, I spent a bunch of time putting the parts on and taking them off in preparation for drilling the holes.

The plans say to uncleco the aft most bulkhead assembly (F-812) and the small aft skin (F-828) then cleco the Tail spring mount (WD-409) to the F-812 Bulkhead assembly thru the two holes that were drilled/countersunk before. Then I made the 3/8” mark above the match holes on the F-811 bulkhead assembly – which shows the proper elevation on the tail spring on the F-811 bulkhead. Then there was quite a few iterations of putting the bulkheads back on the fuselage and clamping the tail spring into position on the 3/8” marks. There’s also a tooling hole in the F-811 bulkhead assembly (the plans calls it the F-810 tooling hole, by mistake) that you need to center in the tail spring tube. If the distance to the bulkheads is off (which it usually is) you are to make shims to go between the bulkhead and the tail spring mount for solid contact. So with those three points in alignment, the tail spring mount is located in its’ proper orientation. Then you are to clamp the tail spring mount to the F-811 and drill the two holes from the back of the F-811 thru WD-409.
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clamped and ready

clamped and ready

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line up with tooling hole - ready to drill

line up with tooling hole - ready to drill

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