Time: 5 Hours
Today started out with me spending several hours trying to get my Sioux 4X rivet gun working. I would only hammer in a super “lite” mode is all I can describe it as. Nothing I did would get it to hammer with any force that would be needed to rivet. So I took it apart and cleaned all the parts. Everything looked ok and nothing looked broken. So I oiled the parts and reinstalled them. Unfortunately nothing worked and it still wouldn’t work. So I had to use my 3X gun for the 470 rivets. Once I had admitted defeat on the gun I got working on the left wing. I grabbed all the ribs from my office and laid them out in the order I wanted to install them. All the ribs have plenty of room to rivet between them except the three inboard ones. They are much closer to give support for the wing walk area. This reduced space would be tough to get the rivet gun in between if you started from the inboard. So based on other builders I started with the third most inboard rib first then the second followed by the first.
Once I finished riveting those three ribs to the main spar I just went down the line riveting the ribs to the main spar. I also read the the best plan was to rivet the ribs to the main spar first as this allows you to gently bend the ribs to allow for the rivet gun. This isn’t necessary on the rear spar since you could use the squeezer.
I only had to drill out two rivets in the main spar. Next up was to set up the rear spar, you have to read the plans carefully as there are several, actually 11, of the rivets on the ribs that don’t get riveted at this time. They will get done with several other parts associated with the flaps and ailerons. I put a piece if painters tape on 11 cleckos so that I would rivet them.
There are also several different size rivet call outs for the rear spar. I just set of my pneumatic squeezer and went to town. There are also 4 flush rivets on the end where the aileron brace sits on top.
The rear spar was pretty easy and went fairly fast.
In order for me to start the right wing I need to move the left wing to the wing stand. So I grabbed the left wing side and bolted them down to the floor where I had set them up this summer.
These stands are really strong and don’t move at all. Hopefully they make a straight and true wing! I them carried the wing skeleton over and installed it on the stands.
The outboard end has the angle bracket I made and I just aligned and drilled them to secure the skeleton to the stand.
The inboard end will get two “C” clamps and small wood pieces to secure that end. I have to make a run to Home Depot tomorrow for those as well as some threaded rod. That rod will be used to raise the sag in the middle of the wing and make it level from inboard to outboard. All in all a good day in the Hangar despite the gun problems.
