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Stevens Web Site
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Date: 6-10-2007
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Number of Hours: 5.50
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: Finished up cockpit floors
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I worked on the plane Saturday and Sunday, mostly trying to finish up the cockpit floors. The plans call for the rear floorboard sections to eventually be riveted in. However, some studs have used screws and nutplates to fasten them to the floor ribs because, "ya never know" when you might have to get back in there. Well, I counted 73 additional nutplacts that would have to be drilled, deburred and riveted to accomplish this little embelishment. I put out a post on the Vansairforce website to see what other builders had done. While some had used nutplates and screws, it seemed like most just riveted it. I decided to follow the plans and prepared the floorboards for riveting. For now, they are clecoed in, but will be rivteted later (with pull rivets). In the event that I may need to run wires through that space, I will place some conduits, just in case, before final riveting. So after match drilling the floorboards to the floor ribs, I had to drill nutplates for the forward cockpit floorboard (which, according to the plans, should be removable. After that, I had to debur the holes under the flange of the floor ribs. What a pain in the patootie! It is too cramped in there to get a deburring tool. I started out by twirling the deburring bit (removed from the tool) by hand, but that was extremely difficult and totally ineffective. Then, after some experimentation, I devised a new "deburring around the corner" tool. I took the deburring bit (which has a threaded stud on the end) and screwed it into an AN4 nylock nut. I then put the nut and bit assembly into a 1/4" socket and used the socket wrench to twirl the bit underneath the flanges. For a while, I used a pneumatic socket wrench, but it pooped out on me and I had to go to manual. It took me a while to deburr all of the holes, then I riveted the hinge for the rear seat back onto the floorboards and riveted the nutplates onto the floor ribs. Finally, I clecoed the floorboard in, as per the plans. They will be riveted in later.
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Deburring tool does not fit under the floor rib flanges
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Ersatz right angle deburring tool made up of the deburring bit, a nut and a socket wrench setup
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Cockpit floorboards clecoed in
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