D

diamond

Well Known Member
Reading over threads the past year since I joined, I'm struck by repeated mention of the tedium involved in deburring, dimpling, and riveting. Not to say that these tasks aren't part of the joy of building, but I'm curious if anyone who has built one of the pre-punched kits (except -12) would venture to estimate what percentage of the entire build is spent on deburring, what percent on dimpling, and percent on riveting. Maybe even a guess on other time consuming things like priming, etc.
 
Deburring, dimpling, and riveting don't tak near as long as setting up the parts, put in the clecos, and drilling them.

Just part of the process. I liken it to sanding fiberglass and would much rather drill, debur, dimple, and rivet than spend days upon days sanding a fiberglass fuselage.
 
Don't forget Countersinking.. I was amazed at how much actual countersinking there is, especially in the fuse. Regarding riveting; that is just the icing on the cake. Its probably about 5% of the whole build process and you don't even notice it because you are so excited to be putting it together for the last time and creating something permanent.
 
Varies for each of us...

Removing blue vinyl= 5%
Reading/understanding plans= 10%
Researching/goofing off on the net= 10%
Parts pull/deburring(most before starting work)= 5%
Clecoing/match drilling/countersinking/cutting/fluting/bending/finish deburring= 35%
Cleaning/priming(non-alclad parts only)= 5%
Re clecoing/final assembly= 25%
Admiring the build/making engine noises/staying current in rentals= 5%

This will change after I start on the fiberglass cabin top...looking forward to that!!

Now, back to installing gear mounts.
 
Low Estimate

I would say if you move VERY quickly, 2 seconds per side of each hole to debur = 4 seconds, 6 seconds per hole to dimple (much more to countersink), riveting is another matter depending upon squeezing or shooting with the gun. At least 10 seconds per hole avg. So there is 20 seconds/hole best case scenario and it will be more than that in the end just for hard to reach stuff and countersinking. BUT, that alone is 14000 rivets (est.) X 20 seconds = 280,000 sec. / 60 = 4666.7 min / 60 = 77.8 hrs = ~ ten 8 hour days (solid work, no breaks)! (very low estimate) :eek:

This assumes a slow build kit and does not include the much longer tasks of fabrication of and match drilling parts, clecoing, unclecoing, doing the above and then clecoing and unclecoing again!

And once you have the airframe done, you get to look forward to being 50% complete!
 
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Edge-smoothing

You can add edge-smoothing to the tedius category along with deburrying & dimplying. Every edge in your RV needs to be edge-smoothed. Sometimes you can use your scotch-brite wheel but you'll probably still end up doing a lot of filing and sanding with emery cloth.

But I agree with previous posters, the time spent deburring, edge-smoothing, dimpling & drilling holes & riveting is not the big time sinker. You'll spend a lot more time scratching your head trying to understand what to do, getting all the tools & materials together, it just all adds up.
 
I've found that dimpling and deburring go very quickly. Layout and fitting seems to be one of the things that takes the longest.
 
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