rodcritt

Member
When match drilling the skin to the HS is it OK it put a cleco into every other hole or is it necessary to place one in every hole? I would like to drill my skins tonight but I only have 100 clecos and it takes 113 per side on the -7. I know I need several hundred more clecos before starting the wings. I just want to move on before I have to order more. Is this a bad Idea?

Thanks for any advice,
 
I did not cleco any of mine together until rivet time.
And even then it was sparse.
I didnt match drill.
I dimpled right out of the box and assembled to rivet.
 
I did not cleco any of mine together until rivet time.
And even then it was sparse.
I didnt match drill.
I dimpled right out of the box and assembled to rivet.

OMG! You're going to fall out of the sky any minute now! Did you at least prime everything in sight? :p
 
Rodney,

Every other hole will work just fine.



Kahuna has one nice plane and it will be interesting to see it when he has 2000 hours on it. It might turn out that he was smarter than all of us but until then, I suggest you stick with drilling and deburring per the plans.
 
Thanks

Thanks for all your help. I didn't think it would do any harm. It's just the reassurance I needed.
 
Kahuna has one nice plane and it will be interesting to see it when he has 2000 hours on it.

If prior history is any indication, we probably won't have to wait very long....... :D

I suspect it will look as good as it does now.
 
What is the chance of a crack developing if you dont drill and deburr ?
I kinda feel the drill and debur is there to fill the 51% rule. Sure it makes good scientific sense to drill and deburr before dimpling , but will it really make a difference in the first couple of thousand hours if you dont ? Any experts??
 
Lots of finished builders

Time to be dealing on used clecos from those that are finished.

You will also end up throwing some away during the build process such as tanks and fiberglass work. Not many but some.
 
I guess it's time for me to get bashed. My hands up for not match drilling. But I did resize the holes. I only debured the rough side, opposite side of the the drilling. I only resized the holes because it was so tough to get the cleko through. I didn't prime either. I want a light white and quiet airplane. Oh and cleko's from the tank, never cleaned those, just kept using them. I used 200 of the silver cleko's and about 50 of the orange cleko's. I went a minimum of every 3 holes with some about every 6. Oh and my airplane is nice and straight, everything matched up real nice. Another thing, I rarely took anything apart, if it fit, it got revited. When I did my brake lines, once only, once they fit into place that was it, fuel lines as well. Oh, those nasty brackets for the mains, once on and then bolted into place. I want to fly this airplane real soon, I figure the less work the better.
 
Time for a survey?

So how about a survey on how many builders did not match drill? I will match drill. I need to stretch this project out to accommodate my wallet :eek:. It is already too easy to walk into the shop "just for a minute" and then 2-3 hours have gone by.
 
yes

I match drill and deburr.... It's my baby... and prime.... However.... Uncle Sam taught me to work on aircraft. In helicopters, you don't often get a second chance.
:)
Best
Brian
 
I can see both sides of the argument for priming - corrosion is something that is not a problem for all planes in all locations, and it can be checked for. Stress cracking is another story - you can't always see it coming, and we all have the same exposure. I am very careful about matchdrilling and deburring before riveting - on ALL rivets.

To each their own - it's my butt in the seat. I'll drill, deburr, and prime.
 
there are some other big name people that don't match drill, I know wally said something about not having to but don't quote me. there is someone at vans that didn't match drill i think as well.
 
I tried dimpling a few holes without drilling and then checked the results under a 10X magnifier. I found micro cracks, not visible to the naked eye, radiating from most of the dimples--dropped that idea.
 
The holes are undersized when punched, so dimpling without drilling may cause small cracks and stress risers.

It's a booger to be dimpling along on a skin and hit the ONE hole that you forgot to match drill...you know it hasn't been drilled because the damned dimple die won't go easily into the hole.
 
So how about a survey on how many builders did not match drill? I will match drill. I need to stretch this project out to accommodate my wallet :eek:. It is already too easy to walk into the shop "just for a minute" and then 2-3 hours have gone by.

Ditto - trying not to outrun my wallet.
 
IIRC, the Standard Aircraft Handbook states that holes to be form-countersunk (dimpled) are not to be deburred. I deburr my skin holes, but that's just me.
 
Standard Aircraft Handbook

IIRC, the Standard Aircraft Handbook states that holes to be form-countersunk (dimpled) are not to be deburred. I deburr my skin holes, but that's just me.

John's memory is correct. On page 87 - "Deburing shall not be performed on predrilled holes that are to be subsequently form countersunk." Form countersinking is later defined as dimpling.
Thoughts from those who have more experience than me (which isn't much)?
 
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John's memory is correct. On page 87 - "Deburing shall not be performed on predrilled holes that are to be subsequently form countersunk." Form countersinking is later defined as dimpling.
Thoughts from those who have more experience than me (which isn't much)?

But that's the catch, we don't have pre-drilled holes of the proper size, they are smaller, so they should be drilled and/or reamed first.