New Builder Hints

[ron sterba]

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

[Mel]

Originally Posted by PropellerHead

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

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.

[whittfic]

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

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

Clive Whittfield
Auckland
New Zealand

[RV9er]

Originally Posted by brian

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.

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.

[ron sterba]

#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

[molson309]

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

[ron sterba]

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

[sstellarv10]

I've done thatbut what hurts even more is hitting your thumb with the dimpling hammer while dimpling, dont ask me how I did that. 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

[chinch]

...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!

[Grass1400]

Originally Posted by chinch

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.

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.