My shipments from AC Spruce, USATCO, pan-american tool co, and others are trickling in. I now have the scotchbrite wheel, 3/32 and 1/8 dimple dies, the c-frame dimpler, the right countersinks, and some cleco clamps. The Scotch-brite wheel is freakin’ magic, it makes sharp edges silky nice. Unfortunately, it’s not all that well balanced, so running it makes the grinder try to walk off the edge of the bench. I realize that you’re supposed to bolt the grinder down, but if I do that, it’s just going to shake the shit out of everything on the bench. I read somewhere, maybe it was Checkoway’s site, that you need to take an old coarse file and file off enough of the wheel to smooth the vibration, like balancing a tire. Waste of good scotchbrite, but whatever. I tried doing it with a planer ($9 from HD a long time ago) but all I ended up with is a useless planer. Gotta do what you gotta do.
I haven’t shot any pictures today, since it was all about cleaning up the space, but then something took hold of me and I drilled, deburred, and dimpled the two stiffeners I’d made last time. Then I drilled and countersunk one of the rib sides. ARe ya supposed to drill or countersink ribs and spars? Well, I don’t have a squeezer, and I couldn’t get a good angle on the rib flange with the c-frame, so I countersunk ’em. Maybe this is bad, I dunno. I’ll tell you one thing, though, deburring both sides of the holes down in the skinny end of the rib where the flanges run together is a beeyotch. I also found out that a dremel (black and decker rotary tool, to be specific) does a half decent deburr job with a pointy stone bit in there, but if it gets loose and chatters, look out.. I think i’ll stick with the countersink-bit-in-the-cordless-screwdriver gambit.
The other ‘doh!’ I had was when dimpling the stiffeners, I dimpled the first two holes the wrong way. I didn’t see this covered in the Handbook but I don’t remember anything about what to do when you seriously arse up something this fundamental. What I wound up doing was pounding it flat with a flush set/die and redimpling it in the proper direction. Probably a no-no right up there with dating your sister, but it seems to accept a flush 3/32 AN426 rivet just fine.
I’m going to go back out there and shoot some pix, then post them later.
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