F-706, F-707, F-708 Bulkheads Continued (1/14/12)

1.8 Hours –

I’m back to work on the plane after taking about a week off from the project.  The main reason for the break is that I got married last weekend.  We had a small beach ceremony in South Padre Island, TX.  The weather was perfect and it was nice to see some family members that we had not seen in a while.  Now, I’ve got to get this plane built so that we can cut down the travel time to South Padre.  Six hour drives are no fun, but two-hour flights are!

Amber and Ethan - South Padre Island, TX - January 8, 2012

Back in the garage, it took me a little time to remember what was left to be done on the bulkheads.  I had received my #10 drill from Aircraft Spruce, so I decided to finish up the F-661EF flap bearing blocks first.  After enlarging the first hole in the blocks to #10, I mounted the blocks on the F-705 bulkhead assembly with one bolt and a clamp.

After drilling one hole in the flap bearing block, I used a bolt and a clamp to position it for drilling the second hole.

Since I had marked a center line on the blocks, it was easy to make sure the blocks were straight.  Once aligned, I used my air drill to start the hole for the second bolt.  However, I only drilled this hole about 1/4″.  Then, with the  hole “marked”, I moved the block to the drill press to finish the hole since I didn’t think I could make a straight hole by hand through the two-inch thick blocks.

I only drilled the second hole about 1/4" while the block was clamped to the bulkhead...it will get finished on the drill press.

The drill press makes straight holes quickly in the plastic.

Once the second hole was drilled in the blocks, I temporarily installed the blocks on the bulkhead using the appropriate bolts, washers, and nuts.  However, I only loosely installed the nuts for now since the blocks will be removed to rivet the skins.

The finished product. Only loosely installed for now since they will have to come off to rivet the skins.

With the flap blocks out-of-the-way, I moved on to the F-706, 707, and 708 bulkheads once again.  As I stated in a previous post, these parts are just plain ugly and they need a lot of finishing work.  For today, I finished deburring and fluting the F-707 and F-708 components.  However, I decided to wait on the F-706 bulkhead parts as they will require the most work.  Since these parts are all such a mess, I’m going to prime them.  In this case, the primer is mainly for appearance, not corrosion protection.  I managed to clean, scuff and prime the F-707 and 708 parts today, so at least I’ll be able to rivet those together and set them aside tomorrow.

The remaining bulkheads are made from such crappy stock that I'm going to prime them.

F-706, F-707, and F-708 Bulkheads Started (1/5/12)

3.0 Hours –

I couldn’t resist drilling the F-661EF flap actuator bearing blocks even though I don’t have the correct drill size yet.  The closest drill I had to a #10 was a #12, so I chucked it into the drill press, clamped the block into place and drilled.  The plastic was, of course, easy to drill, and I was actually surprised when I test fit a bolt and found that you really do have to go up in drill size when working with plastic.  So, I’ll have to enlarge the hole once I get the #10 bit, but that’s easy.  I’ll also wait until I have the other bit before drilling the second hole.

I started drilling the flap bearing blocks even though I don't have the right size bit. Clamped to the drill press with a piece of angle, the hole came out nice and straight.

Next, it was time to move on to some other bulkheads, so I had to spend some time rearranging the plans.  I have so many large plans sheets now that rearranging them can take some time.  It didn’t help that the drawings for the F-706, -707, and -708 bulkheads are split between two sheets.

After organizing the plans, I had figured out what parts I needed and set out on a search through the parts crate.  After a bit of searching, I found everything I needed and got to work.  The first thing I did was to locate and enlarge all the snap bushing holes for the rudder cables, wiring, and static system.  Once these were all drilled, I started doing the finishing work on the bulkhead parts.  These parts are in pretty rough shape out of the box.  They are made from thin aluminum and they are severely warped in areas due to the way they are formed at the factory.  Because of this, the bulkheads are going to take a lot of fluting to get them straight again.  For today, I only finished the F-708 bulkhead components.

The raw parts for the F-706, 707, and 708 bulkheads are pretty rough looking...definitely going to have to prime these.

The bulkhead components are fairly warped from the bending process...time to do some fluting.

After fluting, the bulkheads look much better. There are still not perfect, but better.

F-705 Bulkhead Riveted (1/4/12)

2.7 Hours –

This evening was another work session where I spent a significant amount of time in the garage, but left with a feeling that I didn’t have much to show for my work.

The first thing I did was to cut the slots in the F-705G angles for the tip-up canopy latches.  I used my drill press to make two holes, then I connected them using a small filing bit attached to my Dremel.  These turned out all right, but definitely not my best work.  However, I currently don’t know what will go through this hole, so I’m not going to worry about them too much now.  They won’t be riveted to the F-705 structure for quite some time, so I’ll worry about whether or not I need to re-make them at that point.

Drill press, Dremel, and emery cloth was needed to make the slot. Not perfect, but I think it will do.

Next, I finally got to start riveting the F-705 bulkhead together.  This was pretty easy since all of the rivets could be reached with my squeezer, but it still took a lot of time.  There’s also a lot of holes that are left empty for now since they will be needed for seat/floor ribs or for parts of the canopy structure.  The F-705G angles are also left out for now…they get riveted after the skin is riveted to this section.

The F-705 had a lot of areas that do not get riveted yet.

The F-705 bulkhead is riveted...at least as much as it can be at this stage.

The final thing I did for the day was to mark the F-661EF flap bearing blocks for drilling.  These are plastic blocks that bolt to the F-705 bulkhead and hold the electric flap weldment.  Two bolts will hold each block to the bulkhead, with one hole will getting drilled in each block while on the bench, and the other hole will be drilled using the bulkhead as a guide.  For now, I only marked them since the plans recommend using a #10 drill for plastic parts and I don’t have a drill that size.  Don’t ask me why, but a #12 drill, which is normally used for an AN3 bolt in metal, won’t work for an AN3 bolt in plastic.  Rather than using a fractional drill that is close to the size of a #10, I decided to place an order with aircraftspruce.com.  In addition to the #10 drill, I also needed some #40s, #30s, etc., so an order needed to go in any way.

The F-661EF blocks are marked for drilling, but I'm waiting for a #10 drill to arrive from Aircraft Spruce.