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build question

B

bobnoffs

Well Known Member
hi all,
i received my first kit last friday and in the next 2 days i am sure i will have it all in order so that i can start building. this is my first metal build, so much about sheet metal and building procedure i know very little. i have been reading as much as i can but there is no substitute for first hand experience. on the plus side i have built a fisher dakota hawk [wood and cloth] with a jabiru 3300 and have 100 hrs. on it.
so many questions will come up and i am hoping i can come here for an answer from someone who has done it.
question......when final drilling should i always use a drill press,even is the piece is quite large but can be done with the drill press or will i get satisfactory results drilling to final size with a hand held drill?
thanks
bob noffs
 
You will almost never use a drill press to final drill. Final drilling is done with two or more pieces in assembly, often very big pieces. An air drill is the way to go. The drill press will come in handy more for larger holes you must locate and drill yourself on parts that you fabricate. Welcome,

Chris
 
I've used either a battery operated (1800 rpm) or a corded drill (3000 rpm) for nearly all my final drilling. From what I've read, I think many if not most other builders do the same, even though an air drill is probably preferable due to its higher speed. The drill press is very useful for a lot of jobs, but less so for final drilling.
 
Battery operated drill works fine. I have a good air drill but haven't even dusted it off yet. Started on the wings this weekend.

The biggie for me was working with the thinner metal, even the VS spar. I am using a pneumatic squeezer for setting my non-pull rivets. It required me to use a scrap piece of heavier metal as a backing plate between the rivet squeezer and the piece I was squeezing. I learned that, ordered a new VS and moved on.

Have fun! This kit is a blast to do.

Bob
 
I had a couple of every kind of drill laying around including some cheapie air drills, but the tool kit I purchased had a Sioux air drill with hand chuck, so I used it. During the build I found it indispensable and would highly recommend buying one for the build.
 
Battery-operated drill is plenty good - but go ahead and invest in one of the lithium battery packs if you don't already have one, the weight difference is significant. You'll get tired of messing with the air hose pretty quickly if you use an air drill exclusively.
 
I had just the opposite experience. Those battery drills are heavy and these old hands get tired pretty quick. The air drill is very light.

airguy said:
Battery-operated drill is plenty good - but go ahead and invest in one of the lithium battery packs if you don't already have one, the weight difference is significant. You'll get tired of messing with the air hose pretty quickly if you use an air drill exclusively.
Click to expand...
 
airguy said:
Battery-operated drill is plenty good - but go ahead and invest in one of the lithium battery packs if you don't already have one, the weight difference is significant. You'll get tired of messing with the air hose pretty quickly if you use an air drill exclusively.
Click to expand...
DonFromTX said:
I had just the opposite experience. Those battery drills are heavy and these old hands get tired pretty quick. The air drill is very light.
Click to expand...

Amen Don! I've been using an air drill for 15 years, and I'm still waiting for it to get heavier than any battery or plug-in drill. If you're getting tired of an air hose you aren't doing it right. Mine hangs from the ceiling. I only use my 3/8" corded drill on the rare occasions when I need to use a bit with a shank larger than 1/4". I'm not even sure I could lay hands on my battery drill...
 
+1 for air

I've had an air setup from the beginning, yet I still have gone through 3 different battery-powered drills, which are used for other tasks like screws, mixing proseal, etc. You will need both. The air setup, IMHO, is the best setup because you can use it to drive other "really nice to have" tools, like a pneumatic squeezer, pneumatic rivet puller, cleco runner, cutoff wheel, die grinder, air saw, etc, etc. The tools I've mentionned are not required, but sure make building much more enjoyable. Congrats on taking the plunge!
 
Bob, be sure that the pieces are clamped together well when match drilling. If not one piece can move & you will end up with an oval hole. Ask me how I know this! Cheers, DEAN.....
 
For final drilling on those occasions when you need a really ROUND hole, a 4-flute ream is hard to beat. Also useful after match drilling 2 pieces together or when a rivet won't quite go thru (microscopic mis-alignment) a 4-flute will give you a nice round hole with very minimal burr to remove. By contrast, a 2-flute drill will nearly always give you a 3-lobe hole, sometimes more noticeable than others. I bought 4-flute reams in #30 and #40 and keep them each in a cheap battery drill.
2-cnets (3 if I have to correct spelling),
Dave
 
thanks guys for all the choices. i know now not to mess with the drillpress. i have a light electric drill, a portable, and an airdrill. guess its up to me to find out what works best for me.
bob noffs
 
Bob?I was a sheet metal newbie as well, and I'm only 1 kit ahead of you (waiting on wings). I had no trouble using Li drills. I do have a drill press and found it to be useful (but not required) at page 10-03 Step 1 plus a couple of other places that don't stand out in my memory. A good clamp arrangement and one of your other drills will probably work just as well.


BTW, if you haven't assembled the rest of your shop yet, a very good "one stop solution" is the RV-12 Kit at http://www.cleavelandtool.com. Their "Main Squeeze" rivet squeezer has gotten very good reviews elsewhere in this forum and I agree with them. I have looked at a pneumatic squeezer, but they're a bit pricy (even used on eBay) for me, so I think you'll do fine with the RV-12 Kit.

(It feels funny to be giving advice when I was nervous about setting my first rivet only 3 months ago.:rolleyes:.)
 
Its all about deburring

Dirty secret about building metal airplanes is that you'll spend many more hours deburing than anything else. Must have spent at least a third of my build time, sanding and deburing the pieces after a cut or hole being drilled. I'm probably a little excessive, but all the different deburring tools have their roles and its worth having a good selection. You'll get your money's worth.

Highly recommend buying an inexpensive grinder from home depot or lowes and adding a quality deburring wheel (Scotchbrite). They appear a little pricy, but you'll need just one if you look after it.

Got a lot of use of my (also cheap) drill press, by adding a smaller deburring wheel. Really makes deburing the edges on long pieces of metal very easy and fast.

And get a good compressor for your pneumatic rivet puller (must have). If you do that, then it makes perfect sense get a quality Sioux air drill. Won't regret that.
 
Dave,

Excellent Idea using a reamer for the final fit.

Most of my riveting is finished, but I'll use it on the few I have left.

joe
 
PilotBrent said:
Highly recommend buying an inexpensive grinder from home depot or lowes and adding a quality deburring wheel (Scotchbrite). They appear a little pricy, but you'll need just one if you look after it.
Click to expand...

An even better choice is to buy the bench mount buffer from harbor freight.
It has a much longer arbor for better part clearance, and the price is reasonable.

I only have experience with the $69 one. The cheaper one might be worth a try though.
 
I had a bench mount HF buffer laying around, and put my scotchbrite wheel on it. Smart move, the extra length of the arbor makes many of the operations far easier and safer. I bought a half dozen scotchbrite wheels, thinking I would use several at least. I gave most of them away, am still on the very first one!
Amazon and EBay are the places to buy them, I suppose people "accidentally" get them mixed up with their personal stuff at work, then sell them.
 
I admit it!

From watching others who bought motor powered tools from HF, I my policy towards their tools was "if it has moving parts, don't buy it". But, on the recommendation of Scott, I purchased the above mentioned buffer and an happy to say that so far, I am satisfied with it. Throw away the supplied cloth flapper wheels - junk, but we are not using those anyway. So far, it appears to be a viable tool. They give a 90 day return warrantee.Thanks, Scott.
 
E. D. Eliot said:
From watching others who bought motor powered tools from HF, I my policy towards their tools was "if it has moving parts, don't buy it". But, on the recommendation of Scott, I purchased the above mentioned buffer and an happy to say that so far, I am satisfied with it. Throw away the supplied cloth flapper wheels - junk, but we are not using those anyway. So far, it appears to be a viable tool. They give a 90 day return warrantee.Thanks, Scott.
Click to expand...

Glad to here it worked out.

For the most part, I agree with your attitude regarding moving parts (even some of the hammers they sell are disappointing), but there are a few power tools they sell that I have been happy with.
 
I'm usually one of the more persistent detractors of HF tools. But fair is fair, and they do have some products that are, well...fair. I bought and use their mini die grinders, one straight, one 90 degrees, which are OK, and even if they don't last 20 years, at around 20-ish bucks who cares? The straight one had a concentricity (wobble) problem and they didn't hesitate to replace it.

Any tool that must deliver a degree of precision to a finished part or assembly is where I opt for the known high quality tools. This includes screwdrivers, BTW.

I remember as a kid, there was always a sign hanging in the B-R ice cream shop with a quote by its founder. It went something along the lines of, "Any man can make a product cheaper and sell it for less, and those who shop price only are this man's lawful prey." Going from memory...hope I did it justice.
 
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