Jan 2, 2015 With everything ready to go, I started the final assembly of the tailcone riveting all of the bulkhead assemblies together. Riveting the nut plates to the rear access cover took several less than perfect attempts before I found the right combination of bucking bar and rivet set due to the small recess.
With the holidays over, I have the weekend before going back to work. Things will slow to a few hours a night (if other obligations don't interfere) I have been getting 6-8 hours or airplane work on most days for the past week.
Jan 3 2015 All of the pre-assemblies were finished today with an additional 5 hrs work. I also assembled the left right and front bottom skin to the stringers and riveted the right 3 stringers to the side skin today. All of the riveting so far has been back riveted except the rear bay of the tailcone. The 3X gun is too tall to fit inside , so back to the flush set and tungsten bucking bar.
Jan 4, 2015 Add another 5 hours of riveting today. I completed the left 3 stringers and worked on the back bottom skin and formers. I have a 2 x 3 x 4 inch block of polished steel. It is small enough to hold and heavy enough to act as a back rivet plate to the back rivet set. It really works slick for the smaller areas where constantly moving and lining up the large tailcone gets tiresome. This is especially true of the formers. Only at the rear of the tailcone where the inside is too narrow do I switch to the flush set and a smaller bucking bar.
Jan 6-7, 2015 Add another 4 hours to the total on this section over the past two nights. I need to get a pic taken. I am riveting the sides and bottom working from the top down. Probably 80% done. I machined a new bucking bar last night. It is a 2" steel bar about 6" long polished on both ends. One end is dead flat with chamfered edges and the other ever so slightly domed with rounded edges. I works great with the back rivet set. It sits flat on the skin with no need to worry about tipping. So instead of having to worry about the angl
