Lightweight riveter!

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No, I’m not talking about me.  I’m good at riveting, but rather a pretty cool tool I discovered at Harbor Freight.

On the Van’s Airforce and other Van’s aircraft lists, there is considerable discussion about which rivet gun should I buy? 2X? 3X? These things are pretty expensive, and you want to be sure you get the right one first!

Well, not so! Enter the 1X gun from autoparts stores, hardware chains or (best of all) Harbor Freight!

HB and others sell a small, lightweight Air Hammer for under $10 (yes, I said ten dollars) that is GREAT for AN426AD3-x rivets, especially the TONS of rivets that you do on the wings.

You have to get the right one, and with just a little careful selection, you can have GREAT looking skin!  I’ve just finished my wings, and they look GREAT!

What is the difference between an Air Hammer and a Rivet gun?  About $150.00

What to look for?

1. Small and light.  Better control and you won’t tire after 500 rivets or so.

2. A trigger you can feather, like this one.

Triggter on 1X air hammer.

Trigger you can feather

This was not so good a choice:

not a good coice for an air hammer

Trigger with poor feather control

3. Built-in regulator.  This worked VERY nice:

Pressure regulator on Air Hammer

Pressure regulator on Air Hammer

4. Throw out any accessories you get with the gun, and buy a nice rivet set. I prefer the flat set with a rubber ring around the edge to prevent the gun from running away. Also, go ahead and get a nice swivel whip tail.

5. You may still need a nice 2x or 3x gun, but for skins, this is the BEST.

You will see you get a really nice rivet gun for the small skin rivets with good control, easy to adjust and not driving them clear through to the other side of the wing with too strong of a gun. And the cost? under $10.

Rivet gun/Air hammer for skins

Rivet gun/Air hammer for skins

My rivet gun

My rivet gun

Dkb

Getting rid of the blues… (A little at a time)

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When I started the empennage, I saw some folks removing strips of the blue protective film by using a soldering iron and decided that the risk of scratching the skin was too great, so I peeled off all the protective film.  What a mistake!  Even with protective inserts in the emp jigs, the tail got pretty scuffed.  OK, so now I’m on the wings, but the  soldering iron route takes too darn long to mark and stripe, and I’m STILL afraid I’ll scratch the skin.  So here is my hint of the day…

To remove strips of blue protective coating from the skins:

1. Be sure the soldering iron has only a smooth rounded tip on it.  I took mine to the buffing wheel and made it real smooth.

Clean and deburred soldering iron

2. Buy an aluminum yard stick. With a number 40 drill, drill three or four hold in the middle of the yard stick.  One at the very end, one near the other end, and one about 1/3 of the way up the yard stick.

Yard Stick

Aluminum Yardstick

Be sure to de-burr the holes.

3. Now you can anchor the yard stick in the skin, and use the soldering iron to melt away one or BOTH sides to leave a nice clean center line and remove the blue stuff.

Cleco the yard stick down

Wow! nice clean straight lines. Fast and easy, with less of a possibility of burning yourself, easy to do with one person with better control so you do not scratch the metal.

Cool.

-Dkb

Blue film removed

Blue film removed

Riveting Teamwork!

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Riveting with two people requires a good communications channel.  If you have an agreed upon procedure, you will have a better final product (with fewer replacement parts).

Here is how Tom and I do it.  Query, response, check.

Tools Required…

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There are LOTS of sites that will tell you about the tools required to build a plane. Besides a set of regular mechanics tools, you will need drills, deburring tools, dimplers, bucking bars, sheet metal tools, and a host of electrical stuff.   Oddly enough, folks often forget to tell you about the other tools required: Wood Working Tools.  When building an aluminum plane, you really need a small set of wood working tools. A good handsaw, or better, a circular saw, or better still, a table saw is required to build all the extra stuff you are going to need.  I also suggest a Sabre saw for both the aluminum and for the jigs you will build.  Be sure to keep your wood drill bits away from your metal drill bits. For my belt sander and disc sander, I avoid using the same abrasive discs for wood and metal.

Wood Plan Stand

Homebuilt Plan Stand

To prime or not to prime…

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Many wars have been fought over the choice to prime aluminum or not. Many thoughts, considerations, pros and cons exsist over the use of primer on aluminum aircraft.  I made my decision, and I’ll live with it: Minimum primer.

Here are my guiding rules about decisions in building my aircraft.

  • First, did Van’s tell me to do it? That is an overriding decision point.  If Van’s said do it, I do it. Remember, I’m not an aeronautical engineer, I’m an aircraft assembler.
  • If Van’s has no preference, I ask: “Would Cessna do it?  Cessna aircraft, and the Cessna 172 in particular, are the safest aircraft in the sky. My motto is ” Cessna Safe”.
  • Finally, for more modern options (that are not related to safety of flight issues) I look at what other guys on the forums have done. BUT only AFTER they have some time with it.  Beware of advice from folks who have “heard from a friend…” or “read this on the web…”

Avionics is a BIG gray area here. Cessna does not use Dynon Avionics, but how cool is THAT in an experimental aircraft.

Murphy’s Law of Selective Gravitation:
“If while working on a large object with tools (car, airplane, boat, etc.) the dropping of any tool will cause the said tool to roll to the exact center of the object.”

Be sure to build a nice paint stand.

Resist Temptation!

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There is a common riveting mistake we will all make. Sometime, the bucking bar holder (usually me) will push the rivet slightly out of the hole, and when the hammer hits, is squeezes funny, and the rivet head stands out slightly.  You might be tempted to say “Well, maybe if I hit it again, it will look ok…”

STOP!!!!

Anytime you use the word “maybe” in a sentence like that, you are probably about to make a mistake.  Don’t even try. Just drill out the old rivet (these are usually pretty easy) and start again. Don’t give into the temptation of a quick fix that you will regret later.

Murphy’s Law of Thermodynamics:
“Things get worse under pressure”

Rudder

Sharp tools..

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When I was first setting up my empennage, I went over to my shop partners band saw and cut a stiffner down a little.  It was aluminum, and not very thick, but still too a great deal of time to cut.  Since I had never used a band saw before on aluminum, I did not think much about it.  Later I was talking to my hanger partner and told him I had used the band saw, he said “That blade needs replacing.  It is a scroll blade and not very sharp.”  So, I went out and got a new blade (the right size, and type) and MAN! what a difference it made! Clean, smooth and FAST cuts are now the standard.

So, just a reminder:

  • Start your project with new, sharp blades in all cutting equipment.
  • Buy NEW drill bits (stay away from eBay). They are not expensive and it will make a BIG difference as you start your new project.
  • Get GOOD tin snips. Pay the extra few bucks.
  • NEVER try to cut hardened steel with your band saw.  You’ll kiss the blade good-bye.
  • Never be holding your cat when you turn on your shop vacuum.

Vertical Stabilizer