Joining the fuselage

[Karl.Kruger]

I am sure the information is somewhere but I am not finding it. When joining the forward/mid fuselage to the rear tail portion, there are two rows of rivets that need to be worked, the forward is pre-punched and the rear row needs to be drilled in the tail. I am assuming these are dimpled as well, or.... are they machine countersunk? If they are dimpled, how are folks accomplishing this with the rear baggage compartment former installed? A good picture of what I am working on is the second one down on Bruce Swayze's website, I am sure this is a faux paus or copyright issue here but I am in kind of a hurry, my computer is dying. Thanks Bruce...
http://www.europa.com/~swayze/RV-7A/Fuselage/20090329.html

 

[bruceh]

Slide the center and rear sections together with the bulkheads and baggage floor ribs all in place, cleco them together where the prepunched holes align, then finally match drill them. This will create the second row of rivets at this overlap. After you do this and also all of the side skin work where there is another double row of rivets, you will need to take these sections apart again so you can dimple them. I would not countersink these skins.
The bulkhead between the rear and center sections has to come out to do this so you can dimple the second row of holes aft of it. Once everything is dimpled, you can reinstall the bulkhead and rivet it to the parts that hold the elevator bellcrank. Getting everything back together is a little bit more difficult after the dimples are done, but it isn't too hard with some help to get the sections to align again.

 

[Karl.Kruger]

Thanks Bruce for the quick reply, I am glad you all are out there to help out.

 

[704CH]

Yep, the key here is that your F-706 bulkhead should not be riveted to the aft fuse until this point, only clecoed in place. If you read on in Bruce's site, he realized the mistake and drilled it out to correct it. Basically the bulkhead comes out and that second line of holes can be reached with the squeezer for dimpling.

Also, note: I didn't rivet the baggage ribs to the bottom skin all the way to the end. The directions tell you to leave the last hole open, so that you can fit it over the bottom tail skin, but I left the last "few" holes open, which will help with fitting once dimpled.

I am not to far beyond you in my build. You can see my progress at my blog below.

 

[instructor_bill]

before you join them...

make sure you didn't fill the J stiffener holes that are covered by the second row of rivets that you'll drill later... ask how I know.

 

[BSwayze]

A good picture of what I am working on is the second one down on Bruce Swayze's website, I am sure this is a faux paus or copyright issue here but I am in kind of a hurry, my computer is dying. Thanks Bruce...

No problem, Karl! It's an honor to be quoted, and it's nice to know that my site has been helpful to a few builders out there. I agree with the comments that have been made, about leaving the bulkhead clecoed for now, so you can pull it out to do those dimples later. If you already riveted it in, you can either drill them out or use a pop-rivet dimple die set to put the dimples in. It would be tedious but I think it could be done. I chose to drill them out.

Good luck with your progress!

 

[Karl.Kruger]

I'm trackin' now!

I see what you guys mean about the F-706 bulkhead and leaving that totally removable, fortunately the trouble is minimal, I can drill out twelve rivets and get back to where I need to be, like still being able to dimple that second row. I gotta tell ya, everyone that posted with some help makes this project even that much more fun. 'Scuse me while I go build some more.

 

[mcencula]

Baggage floor ribs

Oh, and don't forget to dimple the tabs on the aft ends of the baggage floor ribs, too.