Status Brantel #72823

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 8:42 am

Outboard rib in and sealed. Working on inboard. Hope to install the baffle soon!

dons · Post by **dons** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 10:53 am

You're really motoring along, good stuff, keep us up to date. I expect to start on my wings in a few months and always try to check out pictures of the sections I'm working on that have been posted by other builders.

Womack2005 · Post by **Womack2005** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 11:21 am

Brantel,

Lookin good! Are you building both wings at the same time? If so, you are ahead of me.

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 8:07 am

Inboard end rib done! Ready to mount the capacitive sender plates and put on the baffle!

Cleaning cleco's......

MMMM, the sweet smell of MEK for dinner!

captain_john · Post by **captain_john** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 8:54 pm

Mmmmmmm - MEK!

When I run out of Captain Morgan's Rum, I use MEK instead!

It is a good alternative "activator" for the Pepsi!

CJ

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 8:19 pm

Got my leading edge riveted on today. Seems great to get something mounted on the spar permanent!

Also got the tank completely ready for the rear baffle. Capacitive system all in place. It was hard to get the terminals crimped and soldered on in the tight space. Also hard getting the screws tight and the terminals aligned due to the tight space and the short leads. I should have done something different but I don't know what that is at this time. Any ideas anyone?

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 7:16 am

Got the rear baffle on! This is a big job! Don't even think about starting this process unless you have at least four hours to work and another hour to clean tools. I think it turned out great but I will have a few rivets that will need shaving on the skin to baffle joint. I think I was affraid of countersinking the skin too much here but other than that I feel like it will seal well. I did not have any pop rivets break off early so that was a plus.

I snapped a couple pics from the inside to show the corners and how the bead of sealant creates a roll when the baffle is pushed on. I must confess that I put a very thin layer on the flanges of the baffle as well because I did not trust the technique in the instructions. Looks like it would have worked fine all on its own.

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 7:49 am

Right tank complete! Now for a leak check before mounting it on the wing!

Finished up some minor things on the wing spar and leading edge to get ready to mount the tank:

Used the Dan C. method of mounting these nutplates using MK319BS rivets instead of beating up my spar trying to buck these.

Finished the task of putting the nutplates on the splice strip. I dimpled the nutplates where the rivet holes are instead of countersinking the splice plate. Works great.

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 12:03 pm

Seems this is where I was 2 months ago... But not really

Leak tested the tank for 2 days using a manometer and I am happy to report NO LEAKS!!!!

Thursday my CFII (His RV7 almost ready) came by and helped me buck the leading edge rib to spar rivets. This went really well with his long arms. No smiles or clubed shop heads!

Got allot done Saturday!

Got the wing frame all debured, dimpled and ready for the skins.

Mounted the tank, cut a notch in the inboard skin at the forward overlap area, debured the skins, dimpled the skins with the new DRDT-2 (love this thing!) and primered the inside of the skin.

All mounted and ready for the rivets tonight!

dons · Post by **dons** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 2:15 pm

That's some good progress, especially the no leaks on the tank, congrats!

captain_john · Post by **captain_john** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 9:06 pm

WOW! Everyone is making strides!

This place is on FIRE today!

CJ

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 9:47 am

Almost done with riveting the top skin. I have been training me a new shooting partner. He is 13 and really seems to like helping me. I attempted to back rivet these using the long double offset back riveting set from Avery's and their large round back rivet bucking bar. My thought was that this would be easy for him and that I would be in control of the gun but.... That did not work at all! Either he was not pushing hard enough or something, but the rivets were not comming out flush so I abandoned that Idea in about three rivets.

So I was faced with the delima of whether to try and let him shoot or buck. I figured shooting was easier and thats what we did. It took him a few but he caught on really quick! A couple of sessions and we almost have this thing completed and it looks great! Tonight we will finish this off and get the next one on the stand.

Hopefully he stays interested so I can have a partner for the fuse riveting!

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 7:41 am

Got the right wing off the stand, built a cradle for storage, finished preping the left wing ribs and riveted the ribs to the front and rear spar.

RV7Factory · Post by **RV7Factory** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 1:31 pm

Holy cow, slow down, you are making me feel inadequate!

Looks great! One comment though, you may want to change your cradle a bit so that the bottoms of the wings face out. You will be working inside the wings and along the rear spar and having them face outward will make it a lot easier. Just my $.02. Have fun!

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 2:07 pm

Yea,

I know I screwed up and actually I kept telling myself when I made the board that I want to make them face outwards and low and behold if I didn't screw it up anyway. I realized this about halfway through the cut for the second wing. I had limited time this weekend and wanted to make the most of it so this was a major rush job. I just went with it for now because I wanted to get the next wing finished up to the cradle stage so I can start working on both at the same time again. I will fix it later.

I almost did not post the pic because I knew you guys would rib me over this. I guess I'll have to take my lumps

Thanks for the tip...

cjensen · Post by **cjensen** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 2:12 pm

Brantel wrote:I almost did not post the pic because I knew you guys would rib me over this. I guess I'll have to take my lumps

WELL YEAH!! Can't let that one go! HA!

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 8:18 am

Got the left wing in the jig, fabed and drilled the wing walk doubler. Skins on and ready to drill to the skeleton...

Seems like dezavu

TomC · Post by **TomC** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 10:39 am

Just a question. Why are you not riveting on the bottom skins while they are in the wing jig/stand?

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 11:25 am

I suppose one could but most people don't. There are some additional task that must be accomplished after the top skins are on but they don't need to be in the jig to do that.

The wing is very rigid after the top skins are on. The bottom ones can be put on while the wing is laying upside down on a table. Some people do the bottom while the wing is in the storage cradle. Some say the table is better, some say the cradle is better. Who is correct? Got me...

There are a million different ways to get to the finish line, most people just come up with their own version of the path to get there. There is no one correct way to do it. I just look at the different ways people have done it and pick the one that looks like my style and go that direction.

I am doing it this way because I don't have room for two jigs and don't have enough cleco's to do both at the same time. I did the right wing first, got it off the jig and started on the left. Once I get both to the top skin riveted on stage, I can go back to doing both at the same time. I can also remove the jig which is in the way and I have no more need for.

JohnR · Post by **JohnR** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 1:11 pm

Tom, did you rivet your bottom skins while it was in the jig? I did mine on the table and it worked well for me. I think I would have had more trouble reaching things if it had been in the jig still. I had a few rivets on the first one that I needed help with, maybe a dozen, and on the second one I had my wife help with two.

I vote for the table method.

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