2/17/2007
Holy cow!!! 9 hours today! I have to think hard to remember where I started today! Since I was priming off and on today, I worked back and forth in the instructions. Lots of pics, so let's get going!
Waaaaaaay back this morning at 8:30am, I started with the 728A rib and 728B angle. Deblued and deburred, I drilled the angle to the rib.
Then I deburred the holes and set aside for now. Next I cleco'd the lower section of the 706 bulkhead together and drilled those holes.
Then I drilled the 728 rib to 706 bulkhead.
The holes on the left side of the rib were drilled using the tooling hole at the top to locate the rib on 706.
After that, I took everything apart to deburr and countersink/dimple where needed. Then I prepped it all for priming and primed 'em.
While drying, I took the opportunity to shovel the driveway for the forth time in as many days. When that was done, I came back in to drill, deburr, prep, and prime the 707 and 708 bulkheads. The shop was quite chilly at this point because I had the garage door open for a good half hour while shoveling the white stuff...hence the heavy jacket over my coveralls.
These are easy. Just two halves and a few rivet holes to drill. With the primer dry, it was time to get out the squeezer and rivet some stuff together. I started with the 729A rib and 729B angle.
Then I carefully riveted the lower section of 706. The 728 rib channel is NOT riveted at this point, but left cleco'd for removal later to access the aft section for other construction steps.
Next was riveting the rest of the 706 bulkhead together. This is the part that made realize how big this aft section is going to be...
I set that aside, and riveted 707 and 708. Six rivets in the left one, and eight in the right. The two at the top are left open for a rib that will be installed later. There's also several other holes that get drilled in these bulkheads that you may be able to see. Rudder cable holes, manual trim cable hole, conduit hole, and static line holes are all drilled in these.
Next I started on the 710 bulkhead by deburring edges. Then I made 710B, which has angles cut in each end. You can sort of see them in this pic.
Took that apart to deburr, then prepped and primed it and 709. While those were drying, I started on 711. I made the trim cuts in each half (A & B), and filed those smooth.
Then I made the 711C bars. These are cut from thick bar stock, but easily done with the miter saw.
Then I drilled those to the two 711 halves, and deburred the holes.
I set those parts aside because by now the 709 and 710 bulkheads were dry, and I riveted the 710B angle to 710A.
Whew!! What a long day! There were several breaks in there for lunch, dinner, shoveling, and such, but that is the longest day I've had to this point. If you're wondering how I got nine hours in today...Brit is away at a hunt thing with puppy Yeager this weekend. Me and Wiley are at home, and he hangs with me in the garage as long as I'm not being too noisy. I plan to get some more good time in tomorrow, but I have to get a start on our taxes soon, so I may do that at some point too.
9.0 hours