DATE: 10/03/2024 TIME: 5:00
I had to wait for the additional clecos to arrive before continuing with the final size drilling of all the 3/32nd rivet holes prior to dimpling the skins and then machine countersinking the front and rear spars and all the ribs. As I had purchased 200 additional silver clecos we had plenty to go around at this point.
Also, I had moved one of the cameras to a better location so that it provides actual activity snapshots instead of just the back side of where the task is being performed.
We finished the final sized drilling, removed vinyl strips from the side of the skins that I had not done previously, removed the skeleton from the skins and then machine countersunk the forward and rear spars and stringers. My compressor tank, despite being a large upright tank, did not have enough air to go at the speed we were going so we also used a battery powered drill but gave that up quickly as the finish on the countersink wasn’t as good.
One note: Be careful at the ends of the spars, and any other similar location, when countersinking because if the drill is not upright and you aren’t paying close attention, you can countersink too far. We had this on one end of the rear spar. Fortunately, we can drill it out to the next larger sizes rivet and it will be fine.
Also, you cannot test your countersink depth enough as it will vary if you are not paying attention. I made a small piece of aluminum skin with 3 dimples in it that I use to check countersink depth – the skin must lie flat against the spar for it to be the correct depth. I also use the actual rivet to make sure I am not countersinking too deep.
Once we had finished the countersinking we moved over to the C-Frame bench to dimple the skins, which we completed. Unfortunately the camera on the bench was not recording but I do have some overhead from another camera which I posted.
As mentioned previously, I have all of the build on video but will not be posting video any longer as it is very time and storage consuming. If someone wants to see the video they can use the comment form to ask.
