Time: 3 Hours
Today I was able to get all the substructure of the HS dimpled. That’s the process of creating a dent around the hole so that a flat rivet will sit flush. The skins will have a dimple as well. The dimple creates a pimple of sorts on the underside of the metal. That pimple needs a place to sit in so that the two pieces sit flush with each other. So the substructure, like the flanges on the ribs, need a dimple to accept the pimple of the skin that will be mated to it. To do this process you use a set of dies, one female and one male, that shape the metal into the dimple.
For all the ribs and spars I used my pneumatic squeezer with the correct set of dies. This tool makes quick work of this job.
For really tights spots, like the nose of some ribs, I used a set of dies that uses a nail and the pull rivet tool.
Next up was the job of removing the blue protective plastic from the areas of the skins that have the holes so that I can dimple and eventually rivet them.
Next up will be deburring every hole, top, bottom, inside and out, on both skins. Once that is accomplished I will dimple the skins with my DRDT-2 machine. I set up the DRDT-2 and the table I made for it and clamped it to my workbench. It will be all ready for me tomorrow after all the deburring is done.