Time: 6 Hours
I took Saturday off this weekend to let the mind rest. After a good visit with friends this morning I was able to get back into the Hangar. I needed to finish scuffing the rib flanges so that the ProSeal will adhere to them. I then loaded up the dimple dies into the pneumatic squeezer and dimpled all the rib holes.
the ribs are now all ready for assembly so I moved to the skins. First up was to debur all the inside holes. The punch process that is used to make the skins leaves a pretty big burr so before I used my debur bit I grabbed the die grinder with a 1″ 3M wheel and knocked down the edges.
Before I dimpled all the skin holes a scuffed the rivet hole lines first since it’s easier without the dimples.
I took care of both skins inside and outside deburring and scuffing. I then grabbed the DRDT machine to dimple all the skin holes. All the holes get dimpled except the row for the baffle as the are countersunk and the fuel drain holes. The perimeter holes get a #8 dimple for the screws that hold the tank to the spar. These holes are pretty big so I just took my time dimpling them so they didn’t crack the skin. They all came out perfect!
Here you can see a couple of the AN509-8R8 screws and how they sit flush with skin in their dimples.
Next up will be the baffles as I’m going to do some modifications to them, more on that later.