Lindy
4/1/2007
I spent all day in the garage working on airplane stuff, but didn't "build" the whole time. I started early this morning by getting all the last little prep details done to get the center section turned upside down. The side seat ribs needed the top flange fluted a bit to match the curve and the platenuts were installed. I cleco'd the 715 side seat ribs in place, and then installed the AN3 bolt at the bottom of the aft flange.
I decided to go ahead and do this since getting to it later could be a challenge. The rivet below will now be a little more difficult to set, but I have a bar that should do the trick.
Next I cleco'd the 623 side baggage ribs in place. These are not riveted yet, nor are the side seat ribs. The middle baggage ribs get platenuts to hold the center cover in place, so I dimpled those, and the corresponding holes in the baggage skins. Then I took a break to go over to Carl Peters (RV-9A builder) house to borrow his 90 degree Avery attachment to drill some holes that I did not drill before the seat ribs went in place. These will be for bolts to hold the battery cable clamps for the aft battery placement I'll be doing. Then I cleco'd all the skins back in place to keep the thing as rigid as possible for mating the two sections. They'll come back off shortly.
After all that, my dad came over to help me turn the center section over, and build a stand for it to sit on to bring it to the proper height. I already see that this isn't going to work in the current position. I built it to hang over the edge in order to keep it from slipping (like it would anyway...), and this puts the center section too close to my desk and workbench to get the longerons and skins in place. So, I'll have to modify this a bit to make it work. No big deal, I just need to move it over a bit.
Also, the seat is there temporarily until I put a couple of bottle jacks (or some such device) to support the 705 bulkhead. You can see the seat is about two inches too tall to work perfectly to match the two pieces.
Next, I went ahead and made the notches for the longerons a bit bigger since they are undersized for some reason. Had to use the Dremel and cutoff wheel. A little nerve-wracking, but whatever, they're done.
I deburred and sanded/filed those smooth, and test fit a piece of angle that was cut off of the longerons a while back.
Here's your builder...happy that this is looking so good!
Since I had my picture taken, the doggie boys wanted their pictures taken too...Wiley is Mr. Serious here.
Yes, Yeager is a wet doggie boy...He just got done swimming in the creek. He stinks now.
3.25 hours