Hi All,
Im new to the forums and have been lurking about reading posts till recently. I just wanted to say hello and of course pose a couple of questions.
First off I have purchased my lovely Empenage kit for the 9A and found that clecos... are quite fun!
It's quite satisfying to see a couple pieces cleco'd together. Cant wait to see it riveted together! I expect to order the wing kit within the next 2 months, perhaps a little sooner. My wife and I have agreed that this needs to happen to make our goals of completing the plane in 2 years a reality. I'm really excited as she isnt very mechanically inclined, but is eager to learn to work with me on it! I cant have asked for more... I grew up in planes. My dad had a 1956 C172 my entire life up till about 5 years back. He used to fly the plane to work! He was a camera operator on Baa Baa Black Sheep and used to fly it over from Camarillo, CA to the airstrip they had for the show. My mom also had a 1961 150 that unfortunately her husband at the time turned into a soda can. He landed it off field on a highway in Northern California and after getting it on the ground caught the wingtip on a small tree and spun the plane off the a small cliff to the gully below. He walked away without a scratch but he learned the valuable lesson about how much fuel to carry in reserves... he ran out 5 miles from the airport at night. With all this exposure to flight it was inevitable that I would be hooked. The dream to build a plane came about 10 years back but I didnt have the space, time or money to take it beyond that till now. OK... enough... dont want to bore anyone to death.
Back to the project at hand...
I've picked up a bunch of tools and figure I will find the items I missed as I go.. Im still picking up a dimpler and today decided that I need to pick up a bench grinder sooner than later. I have begun the work on the spars for the HS & VS. I started on the HS but after more reading on here decided that I wanted to do the VS first. That said, I have match drilled the spars and doublers of both. The doublers are bowed a bit, but Im sure this is normal from the manufacturing process. Im going through learning to clean up the edges and deburr everything. I knew this was coming but didnt really grasp the amount of preperation till now. Im ready for it though. I just need a few more tools.
Are there any suggestions on how people got into this part?
I'm heading out today to pick up some primer in anticpation of getting the parts prepped well. I will as mentioned grab a bench grinder while out, along with a scothbrite wheel. The wheel is more than a grinder!
One question I do have is with match drilling. When a hole has been done how snug should the rivet fit into the hole? I have a nice new dewalt electric Im running slow with the right drill bit so it all fits nice but I have a couple that seem sloppier. I realize that without a drill press doing this it wont be consistently the same across the board but what kind of variance is acceptable when dropping a rivet in the hole?
For a first post I guess I'm a bit long winded but I wanted to get that out. As Im working into it I know I will have many more questions and I look forward to being a part of this great community!
Cheers,
Josh
Im new to the forums and have been lurking about reading posts till recently. I just wanted to say hello and of course pose a couple of questions.
First off I have purchased my lovely Empenage kit for the 9A and found that clecos... are quite fun!
Back to the project at hand...
I've picked up a bunch of tools and figure I will find the items I missed as I go.. Im still picking up a dimpler and today decided that I need to pick up a bench grinder sooner than later. I have begun the work on the spars for the HS & VS. I started on the HS but after more reading on here decided that I wanted to do the VS first. That said, I have match drilled the spars and doublers of both. The doublers are bowed a bit, but Im sure this is normal from the manufacturing process. Im going through learning to clean up the edges and deburr everything. I knew this was coming but didnt really grasp the amount of preperation till now. Im ready for it though. I just need a few more tools.
I'm heading out today to pick up some primer in anticpation of getting the parts prepped well. I will as mentioned grab a bench grinder while out, along with a scothbrite wheel. The wheel is more than a grinder!
One question I do have is with match drilling. When a hole has been done how snug should the rivet fit into the hole? I have a nice new dewalt electric Im running slow with the right drill bit so it all fits nice but I have a couple that seem sloppier. I realize that without a drill press doing this it wont be consistently the same across the board but what kind of variance is acceptable when dropping a rivet in the hole?
For a first post I guess I'm a bit long winded but I wanted to get that out. As Im working into it I know I will have many more questions and I look forward to being a part of this great community!
Cheers,
Josh