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Ordering tools....

Y

YME

Well Known Member
Getting ready for my RV-12Is build. Three companies, Cleveland Aircraft Tools, Plane Tools, and Aircraft Spruce (offer tool kits for the RV-12.) edited. Is there a great difference in the quality of the tools, ie dimple dies, fluting tools, etc. I am leaning towards Aircraft Spruce as I have a discount available.

One item I will buy from Cleveland is the Main Squeeze - Model 22.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks
 
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I was a airline mechanic, did about everything, ran through all the shops. I do have a high end air drill (as small as possible) a really nice rivet gun with a feathering trigger and a small angle drill, 45 and 90 but hand air grinders I buy cheap Harbor Freight ones.
The high end stuff you can always sell without much loss after you're done with them.
 
Cleaveland for dimple dies.

Pneumatic squeezer instead of the Main Squeeze. The students I'm mentoring at a local high school for their RV-12iS have a pneumatic squeezer and love it.

Dave
 
YME said:
Getting ready for my RV-12Is build. Three companies, Cleveland Aircraft Tools, Plane Tools, and Aircraft Spruce offer tool kits for the RV-12. Is there a great difference in the quality of the tools, ie dimple dies, fluting tools, etc. I am leaning towards Aircraft Spruce as I have a discount available.

One item I will buy from Cleveland is the Main Squeeze - Model 22.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Edited 4-20-23. Forgot to put in that they offered tool kit for the RV-12 and which company was the best
 
FWIW, my kit came from Plane Tools. Good value and no complaints, but I suspect you wouldn't go wrong with any of them. You will end up buying more stuff anyway.
 
I bought from Cleveland because I met them at Oshkosh and liked the folks. Small family business, always got GREAT service. Have not checked to see if they still include the C-frame in their kit. If so I would delete that from your order. I don’t recall using it at all on my -12 build. Buy extra 1/8 dimple dies. Murphys Law applies when you need to find small items despite best attempts at organizing.
 
Do yourself a favor and get a PRP-26A hand riveter. ATS and others sell them. Expensive, but there's almost no tight space it won't reach.
 
DaveWelch said:
I bought from Cleveland because I met them at Oshkosh and liked the folks. Small family business, always got GREAT service. Have not checked to see if they still include the C-frame in their kit. If so I would delete that from your order. I don’t recall using it at all on my -12 build. Buy extra 1/8 dimple dies. Murphys Law applies when you need to find small items despite best attempts at organizing.
Click to expand...

Cleveland did my upholstery too, came out great and reasonably priced unlike some.
 
David Paule said:
Cleaveland for dimple dies.

Pneumatic squeezer instead of the Main Squeeze. The students I'm mentoring at a local high school for their RV-12iS have a pneumatic squeezer and love it.
Click to expand...

Seconded. I passed on the pneumatic squeezer in favor of the main squeeze and halfway through my -10 build just purchased one from Cleaveland. It's excellent.
 
abaden said:
Seconded. I passed on the pneumatic squeezer in favor of the main squeeze and halfway through my -10 build just purchased one from Cleaveland. It's excellent.
Click to expand...

Abaden,

If the Rv-12 is majority pulled rivets, is it really necessary to get a pneumatic squeezer other than maybe for the nut plates. I do not know how much dimpling there is on the RV-12.

As far as drill bits is it necessary to get a lot of extras (30-40's) if everything is final drilled all ready. Thinking reamers of the 2 sizes.

Thanks
 
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It's not absolutely necessary to get a pneumatic squeezer. You can do it with a hand one. But you'll save yourself the value of the device over the build. We got it for the high school team because we felt that it would justify itself in time saved - and it has already.

There are a number of places where -4 diameter rivets are used and they are difficult to squeeze without a pneumatic squeezer. Look at Sections 7 page 3 & 4 and also in Section 10, pages 2 & 4, for early examples. The many dimples for nutplate rivets are easier to get correct with this tool.

But yes, you don't "need" it.

I'd recommend about a half-dozen of the #40 and #30 drill bits to start. You'll get more as you need them. No worries there.

The high school took a white plastic cutting board from Walmart and drilled holes in it for the various squeezer sets and dies, and more holes for some #40 and #30 drill bits. They used a labeler to label the holes. This works well - they haven't lost anything all semester.

Dave
 
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Regarding source(s) for your tools: As you might expect from a "natural born engineer" meaning one who over-analyzes and over-complicates whenever possible <grin>...I spent some time making a spreadsheet while waiting for my first -12 kit to arrive. I compared Kit contents and line item prices for kits and kit components from each of the vendors along with some mix-match for certain preferred tools like the Main Squeeze.
Bottom line: When all was said and done there wasn't $10 total difference between the vendors for what I wanted and eventually ordered.
So...rest easy...order what you want from whomever you like and build on!
Shipping my vary depending on you locale.
Other than that, all vendors have their "fans" and it's hard to go wrong with any one or combination of them.
3-cents,
Dave
 
YME said:
Abaden,

If the Rv-12 is majority pulled rivets, is it really necessary to get a pneumatic squeezer other than maybe for the nut plates. I do not know how much dimpling there is on the RV-12.

As far as drill bits is it necessary to get a lot of extras (30-40's) if everything is final drilled all ready. Thinking reamers of the 2 sizes.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Tom, your thinking is good however just to clarify, not ALL of the holes are final drilled. In fact there are more than a few places where you'll match-drill two or more parts together. So you don't need a LOT of extra bits, but you'll use them enough that they will dull eventually and you'll be glad to have a nice new sharp one on hand. And in ham-fisted fashion I managed to break one or two. I think I had 6-30's and a couple of 40's lasted for the whole build. They're not so expensive as to break the bank.
You're thinking of the reamers is right on. Best way to get nice round accurate holes with minimum (but still necessary) de-burring.
3-cents,
Dave
 
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David Paule said:
The high school took a white plastic cutting board from Walmart and drilled holes in it for the various squeezer sets and dies, and more holes for some #40 and #30 drill bits. They used a labeler to label the holes. This works well - they haven't lost anything all semester.

Dave
Click to expand...

Dave,

Thanks for the input all the extra drills and we especially like the cutting board tray for those items
 
DaveWelch said:
Tom, your thinking is good however just to clarify, not ALL of the holes are final drilled. In fact there are more than a few places where you'll match-drill two or more parts together. So you don't need a LOT of extra bits, but you'll use them enough that they will dull eventually and you'll be glad to have a nice new sharp one on hand. And in ham-fisted fashion I managed to break one or two. I think I had 6-30's and a couple of 40's lasted for the whole build. They're not so expensive as to break the bank.
You're thinking of the reamers is right on. Best way to get nice round accurate holes with minimum (but still necessary) de-burring.
3-cents,
Dave
Click to expand...

As I don't have the plans yet did not know all the holes are not final drilled. Thanks for info.
 
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