3/18/2007
I took a BUNCH of pictures today! I started this morning by getting the aft section of the 704 bulkhead from the storage room, and then cleco'd the seat ribs in place.
Then I got the 705 bulkhead out, and cleco'd the baggage ribs to it, and the seat ribs.
Next I drilled all the ribs to the bulkheads. There are a couple of places where snap bushings go that I'd already made provisions for in the bulkheads, but now the ribs are in the way, so I drilled out the half circle of AL in the rib flanges.
That is the 705 bulkhead above, and here are the holes in the 704 bulkhead all smoothed out with the drum sander.
After that, I flipped the center section over, and put the bottom center skin in place.
A view from the bottom...
My handy dandy little table mod works great for this! After a quick break for some lunch, I drilled the skin to the ribs and bulkheads. Then I flipped the center section over again to start working on the F-623 corner ribs. I've been doing all kinds of research and reading on these little stinkers for some time now, so I pretty much knew what to expect with these. They are not pre-punched, and they are a carry over from the RV-6. So, fit they do not without making some adjustments. Fairly easy to do, just do some reading ahead of time.
The first two pictures show how the rib lays on the skin out of the box. The forward flanges, seen in the first picture, do not rest inside the 705 bulkhead as they look here-
And the aft part does not go back as far as that hole, as shown here-
The front AND aft ends of this rib need to be trimmed in order to keep it lined up with the bottom skin. So, I marked and trimmed the right side to fit as it is supposed to...butted up against the bulkhead...
...and enough to clear the rivet hole aft of the rib.
Just watch for edge distance, and it will turn out fine. I then used the right side to mark the left side by clecoing them together like a mirror through the tooling holes.
I used straight snips to trim these, then cleaned them up with the wheel. With both of them fit correctly (and, no, they do not both match up like a mirror. Each will require a little different adjustment from the other to fit each respective side), I clamped them good and tight, and drilled them to the skin using the skin as a guide from below.
There are two little "straps" that need to be made for each side. These form a load transferring bridge from the bulkheads to the ribs.
I used a small C-clamp to position them, and then drill from the bottom.
Here they are cleco'd in place.
There is some overhang aft of the rib for the tailcone skin or something to slide in there (above). Haven't looked that far ahead yet to see.
Oh, the forward straps need to be trimmed even further from the plans. The plans say 3/4" wide, but that's too wide, and it will cover the hole on the right closest to the strap in the above pic. Don't worry about the tooling hole being covered.
All in all, a great Sunday in the garage! I still need to make the wood spacer that goes between the front and aft sections of the 704 bulkheads. Since that is part of the next step, I guess I'll be doing that tomorrow to start off.
5.5 hours