Today, I began the "drill, debur, dimple, repeat" process. There will be a LOT of this throughout the project. I have actually already started the drilling process. I've merely added the lovely and exciting steps of deburring and dimpling and repeating these processes. Basically, I already match-drilled all the spars and ribs to the HS skins. Today I used deburring tools to clean some of the more rough edges of the parts, which I'll put on the ScotchBrite wheel later to give them an even cleaner edge. A ScotchBright wheel is not a grinding stone on the grinder but a softer abrasive wheel. It's like a compacted scrubby shaped like a 6"x1" wheel and attached to a grinder. It does a heckuva job cleaning, polishing and getting rid of rough edges of the manufactured pieces. It's called a Cut & Polish wheel but some builders have given it a more appropriate name, Cut & Bleed wheel. It'll do a number on ya if you're not paying attention. So far (* * * knock on wood), I'm fortunate. I deburred and dimpled the spars and ribs this morning for about an hour.
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| This is One of the Spars Which has Been Dimpled |
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| Left and Right HS Parts: Ribs, Spars and Reinforcement Angles |
The next task, which has nothing to do with the plane, was to make a jig to install around the DRDT-2 Dimpler. Ok, it DOES have something to do with the plane but not so literally. The mfr gives you plans to build a platform around the dimpler to help support the larger pieces of aluminum, making it easier to dimple the larger sheets. I spent a few hours on fabricating the platform (jig) then had to run to the DIY store for some carpet to put on the bugger. I think it turned out pretty well.
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| This is One of the Sides of the Jig for the DRDT-2 Dimpler |
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| Bottom of the One Side Showing the Support Leg |
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| Completed & Installed with Carpet |
Then I went in to watch a movie (We Bought A Zoo) with my wifey for a couple hours then back out to the mistress. I've not given her a name yet, so far, just the mistress. Speaking of names, I've been thinking of my tail number for quite some time and have basically narrowed it down to one. It's available right now in the FAA database. I'm just not completely sold on it and want to give it a little more thought. Right now, I'm thinking N763PW (seven six three pappa whiskey). It has a ring to it and the pappa whiskey seems to flow well. It's my birth month and year and my initials. Like I said, I'm not completely sold. My Van's builder number (which is also the serial number for my mistress) is 74092 and doesn't really have anything catchy that I like. I've thought of other things in combination with my wife such as our names, our anniversary, etc., but haven't really come up with but a few ideas that just aren't on the top of the list. So, I'll keep giving it thought. It's much like a vanity plate on your car. It only costs $10 to reserve it through the FAA and about $10 a year to keep it reserved until it's officially yours. The cool thing is once it is given to you, you don't have to pay for it every year like your car tag. Here in California, you pay for the vanity plate every year. It's a recurring cost added to your registration fee.
After the movie, I went out to the ACME garage (Aircraft Construction & Manufacturing Enterprise) for a couple more hours to work on putting the carpet on the jig then I went back to the stabilizer skins. I removed the inside blue plastic on the skins and used a soldering iron to make strips around the skin holes to remove the platic just around the holes. You don't want to remove all the platic because you want to leave as much on as possible to procect the alclad surface from scratches. However, you want to remove the plastic around the holes before dimpling so the plastic doesn't affect the dimpling itself. So, I removed the necessary blue plastic from both HS skins and started dimpling one of the skins. I completed about 1/3 of the dimpling on the first skin. I'll pick up there tomorrow.
After the movie, I went out to the ACME garage (Aircraft Construction & Manufacturing Enterprise) for a couple more hours to work on putting the carpet on the jig then I went back to the stabilizer skins. I removed the inside blue plastic on the skins and used a soldering iron to make strips around the skin holes to remove the platic just around the holes. You don't want to remove all the platic because you want to leave as much on as possible to procect the alclad surface from scratches. However, you want to remove the plastic around the holes before dimpling so the plastic doesn't affect the dimpling itself. So, I removed the necessary blue plastic from both HS skins and started dimpling one of the skins. I completed about 1/3 of the dimpling on the first skin. I'll pick up there tomorrow.
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| Blue Plastic Strips Removed From Around Skin Drill Holes |
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| The Soldering Iron & Yardstick Used to Remove the Blue Plastic Around the Skin Holes |
That's it for this evening my peeps. Take Care and Thanks for Reading!
HOBBS Meter - 29.3
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