RV-9A Wing Construction Log

Tuesday, December 02, 2003

Riveted aileron stiffeners

I riveted on the aileron stiffeners tonight. Also deburred the edges of the aileron skins with a file, taking all the tool marks out.

There are several places during the construction that are very difficult to dimple due to tight spaces. I ran into this tonight with the aileron ribs. They are very narrow and cannot be dimpled with traditional methods. I got a little creative tonight in order to dimple the most aft hole.

First, I pulled out a piece of iron and drilled a #40 hole near the edge and then countersunk it. Next I put the rib over the hole and used the male dimple die and hit it with a hammer a couple times to get the dimple started. THEN, I used the male pop rivet dimple die and hit it with the flush set on the rivet gun. Followed that up with a few turns with the deburring tool to make the holes just a tad deeper.

Tight spot
Dimple setup

On a side note, I picked up a VSI and DG at the EAA chapter meeting. Bargain on the year so far. :-)

Start of my panel

(Time: 2.5 hours)

- posted by Matthew @ 10:23 PM