Monday, July 16, 2007

Sunday was spent preparing for the fuel tanks. A few rivets on the bottom wing skin still had to be pulled by hand as well.

The manual is slightly confusing in it's instructions for bending the fuel floats, and I couldn't find the schematics anywhere in the plans. In the end it was best just to look at the photos for clarification. I'm not sure if my skills with pliers need work, or if I'm weak, but it really took strength to make the required bends.

I practiced with the circle cutter and found two major problems: 1) None of my drills can take the shaft 2) Hand rotating it only causes the metal to rip.

Therefore I need to figure out a better way to cut the circle OR I need to buy a drill press.

Project Status:
Wings: ~117h ( 1h, 1h, 0.5h, 2.5h, 4h, 1h, 1.5h, 1h, 1.5, 4.5, 1h, 1h, 2h, 4h, 1h, 3h, 1h, 2h, .5h, 1.5h, 2h, 2h, 2h, .5h, 1h, .5h, .5h, 2h,3h, 1h, 3h, 3h, 4h, 2h, 3h, 7h, 3h, 1h, 4h, 1h, 1h, 1h, 4h, 2h, 2h, 2h, 2h, 1h, 2h, 3h, 2h, 1h, 3h, 2h, 2h, 1h, 2h, 3h )
Flaperons: ( DONE! ) 23.5 hours spent ( 3h, 1h, 1h, 1h, 1.5h, 3h, 6h, 3h, 4h, 1h )
Paint Design: 2 hours spent ( 1h, 1h )
Elevator DONE!: ~31.5 hours spent ( 3h, 1.5h, 3h, .5h, 3.5h, 2h, 4h, 1.5h, 2h, 4.5h, 1h, 6h )
Horizontal Stabilizer DONE!: ~28 hours spent, 3 pieces replaced ( 3h, 2h, 2h, 2h, .5h, 1.5h, 3.5h, 1.5h, 5, 4.5, 2h, .5h )
Rudder DONE!, minus horn : ~16 hours spent, ( ~8h, ~8h )
-----------------------
Total Done: ~218.5

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

4jpJohn, you may want to just get the drill press. Harbor Freight has the cheap Chinese bench-mount (or floor-mount) presses that are fairly inexpensive. I've had mine since around '91 and it's does a good job for what we need it for. Not a real high-percision tool, but good for our needs.

Jim
(RV-7)