I am still a dreamer, and I can just see this happening and when I read this post, i laughed for ten minutes! Can't wait to be in these predictaments!

I just took hours off my building time!!
Ok, I came up with this doing wing skin.
1st u cleco every other hole or two. Then you drill to size. Then you put the drill down and I mark every hole with a black sharpie. Before I switch clecos. Then drill the rest and mark them. This did lead to 1 or 2 missed holes that I marked as drilled. You find out when you dimple that **** I missed this one. U drill it and the corresponding hole. No biggie, just plays on your mind, like what else did I forget. So on the wings I got 2" long sharpies and taped one to the drill bit about 3/8" from the tip of the bit. Now when I drill a hole it has a beautiful black circle around it. When you r all done and look at the skin you know u got everyone of the holes!!!!
And the skin full of circles kind of looks neat! No more missed holes!
Saving hours on building and correcting mistakes and best of all peace of mind.
Fred

magnets
 

For installing bearings and for tight areas that require multipe washers (in different locations along the bolt). I've tried a little of everything. I have a telescopic inspection mirror, you know the ones with the swivel head? On the other end is a threaded knob and once removed reveals a magnet (which can be slipped on the tip to pick up out-of-reach nuts and washers. I took this magnet and placed it on the end of the bolt that was being installed. The washers tend to "stick" quite nicely, at least to the point that you can manipulate them into place over the theads of the bolt.

Catching Rolling Tools
 

Never be tempted to catch that rolling xacto knife as it falls off the bench. On top of that... move your foot too!

when done with the paint gun, you clean it, then you assemble it for the next shoot. Make sure you put the adjustment for paint to zero, or the next spray WILL be at max paint flow.

Experience - the rude teacher
 

#1 - listen to your bride....when she throws a little hint that she is being neglected - listen up and don't man up. A little dinner out is much cheaper than roses and a shopping trip. It's also easier to get a second set of hands when you need her to hold something.

#2 - Close the top of the rivet box when you aren't using. You know the thing that looks like a brief case with a bunch of divider boxes inside. Better yet, take out the inside box of the sizes you need and close the big box. I can promise you that sorting blind rivets is MUCH easier and faster than the little hammered guys.

#3 - Flush rivets are worse than rocks on a hard floor when barefoot. Make sure your pockets are empty before you go from the airplane factory into the house. Flush rivets hurt when going for the 4AM pee.

#4 - Learn to estimate time. If it's gonna take and hour, tell your bride 2 hours. You'll look like a hero coming in a 1/2 hour early.

Not having a good day!!!
 

I just started my RV-12 wing kit about 3 days ago and I destroyed my first piece of aluminum! I was suppose to csk about 80 #30 holes to the size of a 1/4 " drilled hole (guide) which will be riveted to the leading edge of the wing and the wing skin is to be dimpled to fit the countersink. I have about 4-5 holes csk way to much ...5/16 and some 5/16+ as a guide hole. The second piece I did came out pretty good. Guess I'll have to replace the first piece I ruined!

I now have to rivet 16-AN470AD4-4 rivets ... my first squeezed rivet ever. I have no extra rivet to practice on. I set the piece to be riveted in a vice and put two pieces in the rivet squeezer. One piece is curved like the machined end of the rivet and the other is with a flat piece. I just squeeze slowly ... Correct ... ??? don't make it to flat right? the new crushed piece on the bottom I squeeze will be as thick as 1/2 the dia of the rivet shank. Right ...

Comfortable working under the plane
 

I had the good fortune (right) of having to pull my fuel tank due to a leak (done by vans in my quick build kit!). With the support of this group, it wasn't so bad. But I learned that to lay on your back was awakward. Discovered the Comfort of a big Bean Bag Chair. Now I have one handy whenever I have to do something on the floor. Better than a floor creeper, you can prop yourself up and work! Not sure if someone else posted this, sorry if this is a repeat!

Don't take your freshly completed mid fuselage section and set it upright on your worktable with four inches of clearance below your overhead shop door, when the freaking J-bar that connects the door to the opener traveler has an excess section that protrudes six inches below the door level.

Good tip: Get a date stamp from an office supply store and stamp date each step in the plans.

When removing the hinge pin from the flap on your workbench, make certain there in sufficient clearance to the shop fan behind you - will make you jump out of your skin when the pin hits the fan.

HOLES hard to fit cuttings back in!
 

CHECK and RE-CHECK the DOUBLE Check on the drill bit to be used!

Lots of things you don't want to "catch". I once dropped a running Dremel into the trash can I was working over. Reach for the plug, not the tool!
Another thing to NOT catch is a hot soldering iron.

Probably doesn't apply
 

to the pre-punched kits folk. Found out the hard way to pay more attention and read the CORRECT dimensions on the plans. Carefully layed out, drilled and deburred all the rivet holes in the top inner skins of my slow-build RV6. Turns out the distance between the main and rear spars is slightly different between top and bottom skins (Ya think??)

Didn't see the error of my ways until getting ready to transfer the holes to the ribs, spars etc:mad:

Then realised I had compounded the sin by trying to be clever and drilling both wings skins together:mad::mad: Two new skins and many hours later.....

Clive Whittfield
Auckland
New Zealand

Missing Stiffiners
 

I thought that I was the only bozo to put down two rows of rivets without the stiffiner in place. Oh well, I needed the practice drilling out -3 rivets anyway.

#12 Always use a Caliper to measure Drill bit size and bolt size going into that hole you are going to make. The I I Is' sometimes LIE!

Ron in Oregon

Checking to make sure there isn't a wire bundle immediately behind the spot where you're drilling the hole always takes less time than repairing the several wires that got severed when drilling into the wire bundle.

Did this twice, learned my lesson, finally.

Mark Olson N407V RV-7A

NEVER change the drill bit in you air-drill with the chuck-key in place while the air is still connected!

I've done that:mad:but what hurts even more is hitting your thumb with the dimpling hammer while dimpling, dont ask me how I did that:o. My 8 year old son was standing next to me which made it a lot harder to really let it out.

Steve Stella
#40654 Wings
N521RV reserved

If you *do* need to store kit parts for an extended period of time...
 

...remove all the paper packaging!

I have a very early RV8 empennage kit, which I started 11 years ago. 10 and a half years ago, my wife became pregnant with our first daughter, and my project unfortunately had to be put into long term storage, with much regret.

Unfortunately I left the shipping paper in it, which in the end analysis was a Very Bad Idea.

A wandering family of mice subsequently found the kit to be a wonderful home ("look honey, aluminum siding!"), and while I was raising my family, they were raising theirs. And again. And again. And again.

Apparently this was a mouse family genetically disposed towards large bladders and little self control. Lacking any form of decorum or respect for the wondrous flying machine in my imagination that the kit represented, they freely and often did as mice will do, again and again, all over my
kit.

I now know more about aluminum corrosion than I ever needed to know!

:(:(:(

Yep...me too!
 

Yesterday, after an 8-month hiatus from the project I love, I removed a box of small empennage parts and hardware from underneath my workbench only to discover the very same thing. After attempting to remove shredded paper and "other stuff" with the shop vac, I realized those weren't droppings flying through the hose, but rivets and various other tiny pieces of hardware that I would later have to painstakingly retrieve from the bowels of the big red sucking machine. Lesson learned...plastic bins (with lid) will be used for long-term storage of paper, plastic bags, small parts, etc. Or, don't let eight months go by without working on my project. :(

Or 11 years..... ;)

A variant on this is:

When you start to feel tired it's time to take a break.

Shop Rules
 

Unless I missed it, no tips yet on this thread about Miller Time. Here's what is strictly enforced here at the Southern Engineering Corporation Annex-in-the- Hills.

Drill Press, Scotchbrite Wheel: 8 hours bottle to "on" switch
All power tools, firearms: 0 beers
Hand tools: 1 beer
Broom & dustpan: 2 beers
Light switch "off", shop locked: 3+beers

Rules apply to builder, helpers, spectators.

Jim in South Texas
RV6A 223JH
RV12 N233TX

#79 If your local Jehovah's witness is a pilot DO NOT show him your plane. He will fill your shop with "Watchtowers" . Of course you can use them for masking paper later.

If you're going to weld something, try to choose something that doesn't lose strength when welded, like 6061-T6 does. It loses roughly about half its strength when welded.

Breathe
 

1.)
If you run into a build problem (e.g. a hole in the control horn on the right elevator and the bearing bushing don't quite line up perfect) take a day or 2 to think about it.

The answer will often come to you while doing something else. (in this case an appendectomy) Adjusting the bearing rods on the right elevator 2 turns lined everything up perfectly...

2.)
Ask the forum - this commnity has pulled my bacon out of the fire before.

3.)
It's your plane do it the way you want to.

4.)
Other's may think you're crazy building a plane in your garage... ignore them

5.)
Make friends with your neighbor

Cave Politic
 

Mike?s first rule of unintended consequences: SO's shoe expenditures rise in direct proportion to the number of tools you admit to buying.

RV-8 in progress

Consider yourself lucky. Mine decided we needed a pool.

If all I have to deal with is shoes and clothes, I don't think she will exceed what I've spent so far :D:mad:

If you decide to skip a step because you think it might be a better idea to wait until later in the build process, make a note of it, otherwise you will spend a fair amount of time wondering "well now...why didn't I put those four rivets in?"

Sorry, it's a little big, but I love this advice!

Drilling Tips
 

I am sure that tips like this one have been mentioned before. I have found that when drilling holes, I really like the final size to be done with a reamer. I got this advice from Noel Simmons about the rivet holes but I think it is doubly important to have clean holes when it comes to bolting parts on like the tail feathers. There are several places where the holes will be drilled though some fairly thick material, as Noel explained the drill bit has a tendency to leave a spiral cut mark on the sides of the hole as it goes through.

Using a reamer does a couple of things: 1. It cleans up the hole and makes for a nice finish fit for the bolts and 2. If the hole is a pickup hole, in other words drilling into another hole that was scribed and then back drilled, it will help alignment of the assembly.

There is no need to buy a complete set of reamers, the most common ones that I have used so far are the #40, #30 (for rivet holes) and 3/16" for -3 AN bolts, 1/4" for -4 AN bolts and 5/16" for -5 AN bolts. I would also have a set of numbered and fractional drill bits handy, it has worked for me to drill the holes a couple of sizes under the final size and then final ream, this also helps if the hole was drilled slightly crooked, it leaves a little material for the reamer to center itself.

I also use Boelube for cutter lubrication, I have had really good luck with the 4 oz jar of this stuff, its a little spendy but it really does make the cutters last longer.

Another thing, Starrett.com has some really nice reference information about drilling and tapping and you can order the reference cards from them for free. I order some for my A&P students every year and it's really invaluable materials to have in your toolbox.

Rivet hole alignment tool.
 

When you break your 6 inch clearance drill bits, Use the un fluted shank, put a dowel handle on one end and a smooth taper on the other and they make the best rivet hole alignment tool because they are the right size for the hole.

Am finding this out the hard way...3 years away from working on the project during a move results in a lot of time spent going back and forth from the fuselage to the manual to the bench full of parts to the plans and back again.

AAAARRRGH! Hopefully it won't be much longer before I am once again oriented and cutting metal.

Changing bits
 

If you are going to change drill bits in your souix with your hand, where safety goggles or do it really slow. I slung the drill bits out a few times at lightning speed and would easily put your eye out;)

Tip #1001:

Polish wheels are abbrasive on the skin. Very abbrasive:(

There's no point getting good sound for your shop since you can't hear it over the air compressor anyway.

Dave

The sagest advice ever:

"Make haste slowly."

Pretty much every mistake I've made was because I was working too quickly, moving too quickly, or failing to think about what I was about to do/move/work on. (Applies to just about everything, including my regular job :) ).

Finger clamps
 

Don't use your fingers as clamps. Getting
bits of metal out of deep tissue takes a long time for
your body to eject. Oh and a sharper bit I think
may do less damage!

If your construction manual or builder's log does not have any of the following: blood, oil, grease, metal shavings, ink, beer, tears, sweat, or such marks and/or stains within its pages, you are most likely doing something wrong, and probably not building an airplane. Recheck/redo your work accordingly.