3/9/2007
Tonight I started clecoing the tailcone back together, but I didn't take any pics of that. It looks the same as it did before. The bulkheads were cleco'd in, and the J channels were slid in place. After that, I started assembling the aft tail section together.
First I riveted the 712 bulkhead to the 779 skin. All of the rivets on the aft side were done with the squeezer, and the forward side was a combo of the squeezer and the gun. The tungsten bucking bar is FABULOUS!!! I've used it before of some practice stuff, but the mass of the thing makes bucking a no-brainer. I turned the gun way down, and there is hardly any kickback at all with the tungsten. ALL of these rivets set easily, even where access wasn't. I did drill one out because for some reason the manufactured head of the rivet cracked in half. First time I'd seen that, but it drilled out easily. Here's the 711 bulkhead-
The "keeper" rivets were next-
Riveting the 712 bulkhead came next, and all these rivets came out great as well. I'm really quite surprised (especially since I bucked all these solo), but I'll chalk it up to the tungsten bar...not my riveting skills. You can see the bar did rub the black paint a bit, but just down to the primer layer.
With all the riveting done in this section, I inserted the bolts, installed the washers and nuts, and torque'd those down for good.
All done!
Not only did the riveting go well, but the black paint looks sweet!!
1.75 hours