Never think that your hand and eyes have the precision of a micro-stop countersink tool. They don't.

Don't listen to your favorite tunes when operating a foot-switch triggered c-frame dimpling machine. The beat doesn't always match the rivet hole pattern.

fresh tip right out of the oven
 

Here's my tip:

Don't leave your finished HS rear spar on the floor so that your sick dog can get diarrhea all over it. Ask me how I know.

Coloccia's Corrolary to Crawfords law:
Leaving aircraft parts laying around on the floor will cause otherwise healthy animals to spontaneously develop diarrhea.

Dogs and airplanes
 

Do not use a dog to find parts dropped on the floor while building. Although an aircraft part dropped on the floor will be located by a dog much sooner than a 50 year old builder whose sight is failing, said dog will usually fail to return the part in a reasonable timeframe. When the part is returned, it is usually covered by slober, chewed, or otherwise mangled.

Tracy.

Slight off topic but similar
 

Don't leave an open parachute unattended. Cats love to use them as litter trays and you'll never get the smell out!! Sometimes you'll be amazed when someone later buys said parachute despite the smell still being there 6 months, four washes and 75 jumps later!!:eek:

Any mistake can be fixed. Sometimes just by time, sometimes just by money - often both.

Kids will be kids
 

I had a bored 10 year old niece rearrange my toolbox FULL of all of my small tools: drill bits, sets, screws, rules, etc. ARGH! Luckily, all my parts bags are up on a 6 foot high shelf!

Jae

Advice
 

Start practicing your new radio callsign early to avoid the eventual embarrassment when you refer to your shiny new hotrod as "Cessna 63MS" when calling the tower.

Mike Schipper
"Experimental 63MS" from now on
www.my9a.com

Turn the compressor off before calling in sick.

love it
 

ROTFL. That's gotta be the best one yet!!! :D

never put 3000 AN3.5 & AN4 rivets in the same cheap plastic storage bin drawer with removable divider because you WILL eventually drop the drawer or pull the divider at the LEAST convenient moment.

corollary #1: if your eyes aren't good now, they sure as #&_$ won't be good after sorting 3000 rivets of nearly the same size.

corollary #2: a pharmacist's tablet dispenser is excellent for sorting rivets

corollary #3: you can never have too many cheap plastic storage bins.

mr. murphy's universal "builders/restoration/motorsports hobby" law:
--when you have the time, you won't have the money.
--when you have the money, you won't have the time.

fail to plan, plan to fail

the actual number of years to complete your first aircraft will be equal to "10" divided by your most optimistic estimate.

too clever by half
 

if you plan on impressing your friends by rolling out the fuse on the gear with the tail PERMANENTLY mounted, make sure not to forget to add the width of the STINKIN' fiberglass tips when measuring for the width of the shop door BEFORE you build the friggin' workshop and AFTER you glassed the tips onto the HS

...ESPECIALLY if you build houses for a living....

Never....
 

...wear your VAF hat to the airport if there is any chance you are going to do maintenance...like an oil change...white hat, old oil...it's not pretty... :mad:

Paul

What to wear.
 

If you have any clothes that you would prefer not to get any blood on, then do not wear them out in the "airplane factory."

If you have a shirt that your wife gave you that you absolutely hate to wear, then wear it when you Pro-Seal your tanks. This works with pants, girly handkerchiefs, or stupid hats, also.

You might want to remove all items of clothing before starting to Pro-Seal your tanks. You might want to close the "factory" entrance when you do this.

Tracy (wearing rags in the "factory").

riveting technique
 

don't try to shoot rivets with the bucking bar in the vise and the work in your hand -- especially if you haven't edge finished the work well -- results are similar to drilling your finger, except the fissure created is less regular and takes longer to heal.

Always stick your finger in a small airplane propellor instead of a big one!

hard to find small parts
 

Here's a tip for builder's lacking those cool parts holders for nuts, washers and various small widgets.

Scatter a small handful of whatever small part you're installing on the ground, about where they would be if you dropped them. You'll spend less time looking for the one you dropped, if a replacement can easily be picked up.

Make a backup of your build log and photos onto another pc or burn to disk before you pc's hard disk crashes :mad:

2 or 3 microstop countersinks
 

Buy 2 microstop countersinks and leave one permanently set for -3 and one permanently set for -4. You'll save a BUNCH OF TIME. Buy a third and use that for all the odd jobs like -5 rivets, #6 and #8 screws, #12 or 19 drills.

Not only will you save lots of time but, you will have consistently perfect sinks on your -3 and -4 rivets which are the majority of uses.

Check out a pro wood workers shop: they have a router for each bit they use. The time to change bits and set up the depth is a killer and not worth the extra expense.

Jekyll

Painting rules
1. No matter what you say, what you do, or how closely you guard your work, your kids will find a way to touch your freshly painted part "just to see if it's wet."
2. Just as soon as you get everything prepped, mix up a batch of paint, and make the first pass with the spraygun, either one of your children or your wife will need your help "right now".
3. Your paint job will never look quite as good as it does when you first pull the tape and masking paper off after spraying the last color, enjoy it.

Paul,
That isn't ALWAYS true. All the 1/16" and thicker angle on our RV kits is made from 6061-T6. This is a weldable alloy (unlike 2024-T3) I wanted to kill myself when I countersunk the WRONG side of a line of holes on one of my sub longerons a few years ago. Then I remembered that 6061 could be welded. I work in a warehouse bay (no room in the condo). My landlord is a top notch machinist and welder. He fixed my screw up in 2 minutes. A few minutes more with the belt sander and ScotchBrite disc, and all was well again. Talk about dodging a bullet! :o
Charlie Kuss

Pick up your air hose
 

1. Always pick up your air hose when not being used. Otherwise, you might get sick of tripping over it and grab it and flick it out of the way. Only you might forget that it had a dirty great big brass air connector on the end of it, and it flicked a lot farther than you could ever believe... and smack your missus (who was kindly helping you de-burr) right across her eye brow.
2. Never, never, never yell at your missus to stop bleeding all over your shiny new airplane.
3. Pay much closer attention to the quality of the dog food you feed your mut. You might have to share it with him.

Phil North
RV-7 Wings
ZK-REB reserved
Te Awamutu, New Zealand

Whew - close one!
I thought you were going to say it hit and dented one of your wing or fuselage skins!! :D

Thomas

1. Never assume you know the next step in the construction sequence.

2. If you disregard step 1, pay close attention to the difficulty of what you are attempting. If it doesn't seem right, or it's way more difficult than it should be, stop. And if you can stop before you drill or cut anything, do so. Then check the plans, the instructions, correlate the instructions to the plans, then check the work.

3. Keep in mind at all times that cutting tools and drills have no 'undo' button.

Blood
 

No, yelling is not needed... this is one of the advantages of metal planes... the blood cleans off easily with solvents.

Now if you were building a wooden plane.... then the rule is "don't bleed on the work".... :D

Gil in Tucson - who built a 42 ft span wooden sailplane... :)

Quiet
 

Phil, you kept that quiet! I wondered why I hadn't seen her around the last couple of times I came over :-) I've yelled at Jackie a couple of times; I'm trying not to do it 'cos I hate having to beg to get her to come back and finish whatever we were doing at the time! Few more days will see this right wing closed up I reckon...

Cheers,

back riveting
 

When back riveting, don't get so wrapped up in all the process of loading rivets, taping them in place, getting out the back rivet set, setting up the gun, etc that you forget to place the SECOND piece to be riveted onto the taped-in-place-rivets before setting the rivets. I've done this more than once.

(BJ 1B)Duster by any chance??

Mike

An RV is not made of metal as is popularly thought, it is actually made of blood, sweat, and curses.

Follow-up to Brian's Single Piece Riveting Tip
 

When you do forget to place the second piece - your rivets will be the best ever.

dimpling ribs
 

You can very efficiently dimple ribs by placing your pneumatic squeezer in a vise fixed to your bench. Set up the dimple dies, and, using a foot operated air valve, quickly and efficiently dimple an entire set of leading edge, tank or empennage ribs. Be very sure that in your efficiency, you remember to move your left index finger far enough away that the dimpler does not quickly and efficiently remove a small but suprizingly painful circle of skin.

Michael Wynn
RV 8 (starting the fuselage)
San Ramon, CA 94583

make sure c/s cage clears drill chuck
 

Here is a tip for when you use a microstop countersink cage. If you shove the drive shaft all the way into your drill chuck, then the sliding housing will slide back until it hits the chuck. This will throw off your cage adjustments. If you later reinsert the cage into the chuck, it will now be cutting too deep. LESSON: when you are adjusting your countersink cage, make sure, when your sliding outer cage housing is all the way back, that it clears your drill chuck. If your chuck is stopping the sliding part, rather than it being done by the adjustment ring on the cage, you will get false settings. This has bitten me a couple times.

brian

So THAT'S what was happening ...
 

Thanks for the tip. I've had some aggravating and mysterious consistency "issues" when countersinking. I bet that was my problem. Never thought about that possibility before.

Terry Ruprecht
Mahomet, IL
RV-9A fuse 75% complete

NUTPLATES
 

Use a shortened screw (AN818?) to hold the nutplate to the workpiece instead of a cleco. Rotate the nutplate into position. Then drill a #40 hole through a leg. Install a cleco. Then drill the other #40 hole. Deburr and dimple. The shortened screw centers the nutplate over the hole and holds it securely to the workpiece.

Steve

YOGA
 

I wanted to say "What does Doug's wife and my toolbox have in common?" and the answer is that they both have yoga mats... but that would be a little rude I think for a thread so here is the explanation. I have a 3 bay 1600lb toolbox from snap-on.. I LOOOVE it... I have a LOT of tools.. and like the man said 200 hrs was looking for tools.. well I dont. I Ghosted all my tools on the mat and cut out the holes so now I have a toolbox with 3D tool cutouts. It make my life sooooooo easy. The reason I did not make it a thread was I did'nt want anybody comparing Doug's wife to my toolbox or vice versa in any way shape or form. I bought a Yoga mat at Wal-mart and I love it because it's blue foam and the surface is easily cleanable of dirt and grease. So Doug if you read this... no offense. I'm not comparing your wife in anyway shape or form to my toolbox... ok leagalease over... anyways... I know instantly if anything is missing... because the mats in the drawer are black and the yoga mat is blue it stands out.. and it's 3d. You'd be surprised how many tools you find when you empty your box of everything and inventory and clean it. All my customers get a guided tour of the box and they are impressed... also they know no tools are rolling around in the airplane because an inventory is conducted before and after the job.
You would be surprised what a yoga mat and an afternoon can do for your life.. take that however you wish... :D

Never let your tool air hose hang in front of your shop heater while in operation....
The heater WILL win........sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss :D
If the heater is not on...they WILL co-exist

Jim
2nd air hose and learning fast
7A elevators and wings on the way

Unforseen hazards
 

A fellow builder told me to place my rivets in medicine bottles and drill a hole in the cap so you can dispense them like salt from a salt shaker. If you knock them over accidently you'll only have to pick up a few instead of a whole bin full. Works great!

Of course we didn't forsee our "attention starved Bassett hound" checking out the project in the garage. She playfully grabbed a bottle sideways in her mouth and ran out in the backyard through the open door shaking rivets out with every bound. She loves to be chased. Guess what? If you drive by this summer and hear little "tinks" while we're mowing the lawn you'll know why!

Similiar idea ..
 

I did something similar - I used glass pepper/spice shakers (found at Bed, Bath, and Beyond for $2 each; I think I got 10) that have screw on caps. Under the cap they have the plastic cover with holes in it - works great to shake out 1/8" rivets, and an enlargement of the holes with your unibit makes it work for the larger rivets.

The cap is great because you won't ever spill any if you aren't actually using the jar - preventing cats, dogs, and other animals from spilling them all over the place!
:D

Proper rivets
 

The quality of rivet installation is directly proportional to the number of beers you drink while working on your RV, especially in hard to reach places. ;)

I think you mean inversely proportional. :D