|
|
|
|
Daves Web Site
|
Date: 11-4-2008
|
Number of Hours: 4.00
|
Manual Reference:
|
Brief Description: Prepping the Verticle Stabilizer Parts
|
|
Today I finished deburring the holes in the VS ribs, spars and skin. That involves taking an oversize drill bit and making one pass over the inside and outside of each drilled hole. This removes the burrs and shavings left by drilling and will allow the rivets to fully seat and prevent any cracking of the aluminum by stress caused by these shavings.
Next I dimpled each hole in the skin with the C-Frame dimpler and all of the holes in the ribs and spars with the pneumatic squeezer. I love the pneumatic squeezer and vote it one of my favorite tools. There's a picture of it below. The red housing attaches to a black "C" shaped yoke. You put different attachments in the yoke, in this case a male and female dimple die. You place the male dimple die in the hole you want to dimple, actuate the squeezer and a piston extends, squeezing the aluminum between the two dies and shaping the aluminum around the hole into a dimple. The dimples of the skin will fit into the dimples of the touching rib or spar and allow the head of the rivet to be flush with the surface of the skin. This forms a stronger bond and also reduces drag on the skin surface.
Then I countersunk about 30 holes in the rear spar doubler and dimpled the corresponding holes in the rear spar. The spar doubler is a thicker piece of aluminum than the skin, ribs or spar, and there's too much material to be able to dimple. This requires taking a countersink bit (a drill bit with a pilot tip the size of the drilled hole) and shaving out the material around the hole to allow another dimpled piece of material to sit flush in that hole. The rivet head will be flush with the forward face of the spar and allow it to mount flush to the aft bulkhead of the fuselage when I eventually get to the stage of mounting the tail to the plane.
Finally, I took a Scotchbrite pad and scruffed up the surface of the ribs, spars, and the inner part of the skin to prepare them for priming. Tomorrow I hope to clean all items with AlumiPrep, dry and spray with primer.
|
|
Yoke of the pneumatic squeezer with dimple dies.
|
|
Inside skin dimple (top) and receiving spar dimple (bottom)
|
|
VS skin, ribs and spars, ready for cleaning and priming.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright © 2001-2024 Matronics. All Rights Reserved.
|
