Author Archives: Michael

Time: 6 Hours

Today I finished up my errands early and got back and into the Hangar. My goal for today was to get one leading edge finished and riveted. The plans were to start with riveting all the ribs to skin hole except the inboard edge where the splice plate is.

It took me just at 1 hour to rivet the top and bottom sides with just 1 rivet needing drilling out. I then put the leading edge on the spar and clecko’d it to the spar.

With the leading edge on the spar I placed the fuel tank on to check the fit between the two skins. Most builders find that the tank skin sits a little proud of the leading edge due to a layer of ProSeal that is between the tank skin and ribs. I found the same issue with mine. The fix is to create a spacer to place between the leading edge ribs and the splice plates. I made these from some .020 strips.

The process of getting all four pieces (rib, spacer, splice plate and skin) aligned was a fun task. Once all the pieces were aligned and clecko’d I put the leading edge back on the spar with the tank to check the fit. I was real happy with how the skins lined up with a couple areas that I will have to work a little to get a good fit. While removing one of the tank attach screws I stripped the head with my Phillips driver bit. So that began a 2.5 hour job to remove it with out damaging the tank skin. I had to run to my Harbor Freight store to get a couple of drill bits that are made to remove stripped screws. Basically they are drill bits that have reverse spirals to bite into the metal as you unscrew. First you drill a hole into the screw center and then use the remover bit to unscrew it. Sounds pretty simple but it took a while to get this done.

So the leading edge was now ready to be permanently attached to the spar. First up was to rivet the ribs aft flanges to the spar web. As I discussed in an earlier post I decided to use some solid rivets and some blind rivets for this process. I used solid rivets on the first inboard rib and the last two outboard ribs with blind rivets on the 3 remaining ones. Where I used solid rivets I had to use my offset rivet bit since the holes are so tight to the aft rib webs. I also ground down the bit to give me extra clearance.

Both sets of rivets went well and I’m happy with my choice to go this way.

The next step is to rivet all the holes of the aft edge of the skin to the flange of the spar. This went real fast once I got the pneumatic squeezer set up.

I put the tank back on and screwed all the splice plate screws and every other screw along the spar to look at the alignment again. There are a couple areas that will need tweaking but over all I’m pretty happy with this wing. It sure looks cool without all the clecko’s in it!

I cleaned up the Hangar and decided to call it a day. Tomorrow it will work on the left side, hopeful minus the stripped screw!

Time: 3 Hours

Well I passed my check ride and I get to continue to fly the Lear for at least another 6 months :-). My stay in Scottsdale with the girlfriend was just what the doctor ordered to recharge my mental batteries. When I got home today from my day trip I grabbed the leading edge rib that I ordered from Van’s and got to work deburring all the edges and lightening holes. That didn’t take too long as I watched the reply of this weekends F1 race. Off to the primer table it went after dimpling all the new holes.

While the primer was drying I assembled the right wing leading edge in preparation for its final riveting.

I will let the new ribs primer cure until tomorrow night before putting it in the leading edge.

Time: 4 Hours

This morning started with a fun breakfast visiting with my good friend Glen and talking RV’s. He was hosting a project review at his home at noon today, this is a chance for our EAA chapter members to come visit as a group and learn about his project and it’s progress. I wasn’t going to see anything new as I visit him on a regular basis for his knowledge and help but I would never miss a chance to hear him talk shop! When I got home this afternoon I was pumped up as I always am after visiting with him. I finished up the priming of the right leading edge ribs last night when I got home from our meeting. Today I started by cleaning and priming the left side ribs, minus the inboard rib that I’m waiting to be delivered from Van’s (you can see there is only 5 out of 6 here).

I decided that I wanted to get the leading edge skins done today so that when I get home from training next weekend I can get right to riveting. So out came the die grinder and the 1″ 3M wheels to treat all the edges. I then set up the DRDT dimpling tool to get all the holes dimpled.

I marked all the outboard holes that don’t get dimpled now as they will be needed to align the fiberglass ends. I also marked the inboard holes on the left skin as I will need these holes undimpled so that I can match drill the rib that’s on it’s way.

I used the DRDT tool to get all the holes except the outboard and inboard lines as I could get them with the pneumatic squeezer and reduce the risk of bending the skins while working the DRDT tool by myself.

While I had the squeezer out I grabbed two flush dies and riveted the stall warning access plate support to the left skin and attached the plate with some #6 screws.

So the leading edge skins are now ready to be riveted once I get the replacement rib from Van’s next week.

Time: 4 Hours

After running around all morning finishing up errands that I needed to take care of before my training I got out to the Hangar for some work. First up was to finish the stall warning access plate nutplates since the primer had overnight to set up.

That went pretty fast with the pneumatic squeezer. You may notice that I chose to dimple the nutplate attachment holes which required me to dimple the wings of the nutplates. I have read many different opinions regarding dimpling the nutplate vs countersinking the skin so that the nutplate wouldn’t require a dimple. Personally I have great success with the method I chose and it makes the job pretty easy so I stuck with it. Next I grabbed the soldering iron so that I could remove the blue protective tape from the skins so I can debur, dimple and prime them. Such an easy task but it takes patience and time as you need to let the heat melt the tape. Go to fast and you are wasting your time and go to slow and you are wasting your time!

Next up was the ribs which needed to be deburred and dimpled. I cleaned all the surfaces of the ribs one more time in perpetration for priming.

I had to cut off the night early as it is our local EAA Chapter 95 monthly meeting tonight.