Pre-made tool kits

[jcoloccia]

Pirkka,

Hyvaa Paivaa! Please excuse any misspellings

Do you happen to know who Jorma Vennola is (very slightly famous in Finland, but even if you don't know him he's a heck of a nice guy)? If you're anywhere near Turku, he might be interested in having a look at your project when you've gotten it started. E-mail me at:

john@ballofshame.com


re: tools to buy

I have tools from both Avery and Cleveland. Everything I've bought so far is high quality, and I've been very satisfied. Cleveland's die's are a little bit nicer than Avery's. Avery folk seem to have a bit more time to chat and give advice. I order from both more or less at random. Whatever....anything you get from either will be high quality and work. I would suggest adding to whatever kit you get LOTS more clecos (you'll need them) and a rod-end tool, though. You can build one out of PVC, or an old socket but I've tried both and finally bought the "real deal" . If not, you'll be bumming when you finish your rudder and have no way of hanging it on the VS without the right tool (ask me how I know this....)

[dan]

Give Fred Kunkel a call at Clear Air Tools. He's putting together a nice tool kit for RV builders. He sells yoke set kits and pneumatic squeezers and the prices are extremely competitive. Nobody knows pneumatic tools like Fred does.

[RScott]

Just my opinions:

From Cleaveland: Get their edge roller. Better than Avery, by far. Also their "Main Squeeze" is great & if money is an issue, you can easily get by with it instead of a pneumatic squeezer. Much better than any other hand squeezer because of the leveraging method they use. Also lighter.

From Fred Kunkel (ClearAir Tools) (http://clearairtools.com/Merchant2/m...&Store_Code=CA) : Get his rivet gage. The best, by far. Best prices on squeezer yokes, but not a great discount. Also has reamers, which, as someone else mentioned, are the way to go for match drilling, as every hole comes out round which is not the case with drill bits. Very knowledgeable and informative if you have any questions.

From Brown (http://www.browntool.com): Best prices on Sioux drills (the 1412 is on sale right now for $185 vs. $235 at Avery) and clecoes ($.35 vs .42 at Avery & .41 at Cleaveland, according to my latest catalogs). In the US, they ship for free if you spend over $85. Ask if you can get a break on shipping to Europe. Also, watch their sales online. I bought clecoes from them for about $.25 each a couple years back.

From The Yard: Get their pneumatic cleco tool for about $28. Much easier on the hands when you have to place or pull a hundred of clecoes at one session.

Rivet gun: 3X for sure, and best brands are Chicago Pneumatic (#1) or Ingersoll Rand (#2).

Deburring cutter: I prefer the single flute model sold by Avery, cat #15300. The 3 flute cutters are prone to chatter, especially on the softer alloys. And one revolution usually does the job. I disagree about using a power screwdriver for deburring as I can't see how you can only turn one revolution with it. More & you start to countersink the hole.

Avery: Almost all their stuff is good, but you pay the price. Good service.

Also, no way did I spend more by picking & choosing from several suppliers. The kits just get you started. And no one vendor has the perfect kit.

Richard Scott
RV-9A Wings

[Skyhawk]

Hi.

I have a parcel heading to me in sweden right now with some tools from Avery.

My way may be wrong, but i compared the existing toolkits and made my own by picking out the tools that i really needed to be imported and leaved those i can buy here out.
As you recieve a quantity discount anyway it doesnt matter if you choose their kit or make your own.

[frazitl]

You will be happy with the Avery Tools. I took the piece by piece approach, but probably would go with a Cleavland or Avery kit to get started would I do it over again. I LOVE my pneumatic squeezer. Plan on getting one even for a QB kit. The Longerone and 4" no hole yokes are really handy. If your experience is like mine, you will want to squeeze everything you can. The Avery manual squeezer is a good companion to the pneumatic.

Plan on using the fine 3M 6" wheel the most. I use the medium wheel some, but after trueing up the edges with a file, and touching up with a debur tool, the fine 3M wheel is all that's needed to put a perfect edge on the parts. I use a dremel with donnuts of 3M sheet on an arbor to get into the corners. Maybe too anal, but that's why I'm an engineer.

Have fun!

Terry Frazier
7A QB - Rudder

[mcattell]

I bought the Cleveland kit but substituted the Mac drill instead of the Souix drill. That saved $100. The Mac drill is a very nice drill and it's variable speed trigger is easy to control. An RV friend came by who had the Souix drill and said he liked the my Mac one better.

I have a pneumatic squeezer that I bought off E-bay, but wouldn't be without the Cleveland Main Squeeze. If you clamp it into your vice it makes dimpling ribs really fast. Much better than a Tatco I tried in the past because of its design to give you a mechanical advantage. I also wouldn't be without the DRDT-2 Dimpler. I would suggest ordering the kit without the C-frame and buying one of those.