Lessons Learned so far...

[xavierm]

This past weekend, I closed the VS. Although I'm "just" at the VS stage, I thought I would share my observations up to this point.

1. Don't bother noticing how many rivet holes there really are. They all have to be filled anyway.

2. Spring loaded center punches not only work on rivets; they also are quite effective on skin.

3. Cleco's pinch, and it hurts

4. The pain clecos cause don't diminish when you pinch yourself the second, or third time.

5. Drills with stuck triggers do an interesting dance on the floor.

6. The deburring wheel is effective on aluminum and fingernails. Only the "cut" works. The "polish" part is totally ineffective.

7. The belt sander sands... anything...

8. Double check to make sure you tightened the clamps clamping your material in the drill press or prepare to get smacked with the material.

9. If you get a part of your finger between the bucking bar and material while riveting, it will hurt. This also hurts just as much the second time.

10. Tungsten bars are great for bucking, however they are not that great when they fall off your table and land on your foot. However, it doesn't hurt as much as compared to number 3, 4, and 9.

11. Five year olds are great for picking up rivets that fall, or spill.

[Jeff R]

I was once riviting an AN470-4 rivet along the edge of something and the gun jump and I rivited my finger a couple of times. That hurts more than 3, 4, 5 and 9 combines. It leaves a nifty looking ring or red once the internal bleeding clears up. Lesson learned was to keep fingers away from the gun when riviting along the edge.

[Danny King]

Xavier,

When I was where you are now, my hands were covered with small cuts. I wondered if you could really die form a thousand small cuts! I drilled a finger. I pinched a few blood blisters with the Cleco pliers, and I learned that the dimpling machine can also be a hole punch.

Press on. I finally learned to do a better job of taking the sharp cutting edge off the parts. I learned to not drill my fingers. I learned to slow down, and keep my skin out of the Cleco pliers.

After I purchased a pneumatic squeezer, I decided that I did not want to learn to keep body parts out of the jaws of that thing..............so far so good.

Have fun. The goal is worth the sweat and blood.

[danielhv]

1. dont keep your container of rivets on the workbench... they WILL end up in the floor, and you WILL hate yourself for it.

2. If you start working on it one night, and you mess up a few steps, stop and pickup the next night... if you keep going that night, it only gets worse.

3. Dont get mad when drilling out rivets...

4. When dimpling, if you release the ram and the dimple stays in the skin or rib... you missed the hole...

5. Make all your mistakes on the insides, and make the outside perfect. <=== Kidding!!

6. Dont forget to deburr the edges of skins... they bite. So do the corners.

7. If you have a cut on your hand, go ahead and pour MEK on it... Cause if you dont, you'll just poke a hole in your gloves while using it later and will feel the same sting with the addition of sweat.

Thats all I got... im fixing to start the elevators... finished the rudder last night. Tedious work, but fun and rewarding.

[David_Nelson]

A corollary to the "if you mess something up in the evening, stop, and pickup the following evening" is also applicable to riveting. I've personally witnessed a good run followed by a run of blunders. Take a break, drill 'em out (it's important to take that break before you drill ), then do 'em right.

Take care and welcome,

[flion]

As anyone who has done any mechanical work knows, sooner or later you will cut yourself or skin a knuckle or something. An old motorcycle mechanic I know used to smear the resulting blood somewhere unobtrusive on the bike (important, not on a mating surface). His thesis was that blood offered to the bike now would prevent it from demanding blood later in an accident; a form of sympathetic magic. Well, I'm not superstitious much but I still give my bikes blood and, after 30 years of riding, have had nothing worse than scrapes and bruises. So, you have probably guessed that I have already given blood to my RV-6A. Better she takes it now...

[danielhv]

Originally Posted by flion

As anyone who has done any mechanical work knows, sooner or later you will cut yourself or skin a knuckle or something. An old motorcycle mechanic I know used to smear the resulting blood somewhere unobtrusive on the bike (important, not on a mating surface). His thesis was that blood offered to the bike now would prevent it from demanding blood later in an accident; a form of sympathetic magic. Well, I'm not superstitious much but I still give my bikes blood and, after 30 years of riding, have had nothing worse than scrapes and bruises. So, you have probably guessed that I have already given blood to my RV-6A. Better she takes it now...

so you gotta be blood brothers with the plane!! (voluntarily or involuntarily...)

[N941WR]

Originally Posted by flion

An old motorcycle mechanic I know used to smear the resulting blood somewhere unobtrusive on the bike (important, not on a mating surface).

It's a good thing motorcycles are not made of aluminum as blood contains salt. If you sweat or bleed on aluminum, clean it off ASAP.

[flion]

LOL. 1) Aluminum is not the only metal to react to salt. 2) Where have you been? There's a ton of aluminum on motorcycles. Even my S&S Shovelhead has a lot of billet everywhere. OMIGAWD! What primer should I use? 3) I'd find it difficult to build an aircraft without sweating on it a bit. But it gets cleaned up before primer. Which leads to 4) leave the bloodstain on a primered surface. You'll never actually see my "offerings" because they're on internal structure like baggage floor ribs or similar. Also, be sparing. If you want to donate pints, go to the Red Cross.

But you raise an interesting question ... for those who built without priming everything, did you do anything special to eradicate finger marks and the like on the Alclad bits?

[BlackRV7]

Originally Posted by Danny King

Xavier,

After I purchased a pneumatic squeezer, I decided that I did not want to learn to keep body parts out of the jaws of that thing..............so far so good.

Have fun. The goal is worth the sweat and blood.

I wasn't so lucky..........

When changing dimple dies on the pneumatic squeezer........be sure and undo the air line....it is amazing what will activate that trigger and keep it activated while it dimples your finger. Yelling does not deactivate the pneumatics. Kinda like the old wives tale, if bit by a turtle, it won't let go until the next full moon. Seemed that long.............