Tail Cone Riveting

 Lots of riveting action this last Saturday.

Dan came over and we were able to get quite a few rivets set.

If you look hard through the elevator push rod hole, you can see me inside the tail cone tunnel.  I was on the bucking bar while Dan used the pneumatic.

The tunnel is very tight for this old man!

Here Dan is setting rivets in the seam for the two side skins.

I left the pieces of wood attached to the tail cone bulkheads in place while we set the rivets.  I will remove them when we are done riveting.  It made a nice handhold to pull myself along.

Dan shooting another rivet while I held the bucking bar inside.

Here I am climbing out after a couple of hundred rivets.  Hundreds to go!

I'm not looking forward to climbing back in.

Later,
BWW

I love back riveting.

Ever since I constructed the flap I have liked back riveting most of all.  It works great for flush rivets.

Put a row of rivets into their holes, tape them in place, flip your project over onto the back riveting plate and apply the rivet gun to make a nice shop head.

Like I said, it works great on flush rivets.  But, I had to ask myself, what about universal head rivets?  Is there a way to apply the principles of back riveting flush headed rivets to universal head rivets?

Well, after playing around with the idea I found there was a way.  I mounted a universal rivet set die from a squeezer in to a 1/2" thick chunk of steel.  I clamped it to the bench and squared it up. (Perpendicular to bench top.)

I used some lumber to "shim" up to the height of the rivet set to place the parts I was going to back rivet against.  The shims would help to hold the parts flush or in line with the rivet set.

Here I am getting ready to back rivet some parts for the front horizontal stabilizer spar.

The part is resting on the rivet set and the taped over shims.  When the rivet is lined up in the hole it is very square.

I was able to put all these rivets in place in a little less than 30 minutes.  All the shop heads are great and no smiley faces on the universal heads.

Now, I just have to figure out a way to put the remainder of the aircraft on the bench for back riveting.............

Later,
BWW

Not much to report.......

Not much to report this week.  Oh, I've been working.  Just not much to show for my efforts.  Lots of little parts.  The bulkhead in the above picture has 4 parts riveted to it.  It was what I worked on during the week.

This weekend I mostly cleaned the shop.  I started to spend more time looking for tools and parts than working with them.  So, a little housekeeping was in order.

The remainder of this week I expect to get some more little parts assembled.

Later,

BWW

Completing final preparations for major riveting event

I have been dimpling and prepping  aluminum for weeks now.  Getting boring.

Here are the right and left tail cone skins all prepped for final assembly.

Bottom Tail cone skins.  Starting to assemble the tail end bulkheads and skin doublers.

Bulkhead 114.75 prepped and waiting for bottom skins and side skins.











I can't remember the number of this bulkhead.  I will look for it later.

Ready for a lot of little parts to Cleco and rivet to it.









 This is a doubler that gets riveted to the unknown bulkhead.

Here are a few of the many shims that will go in between the bulkheads and skins.

I have a few others to wrap up.  It is moving along.  Soon I will be able to start a very long riveting campaign.  That should take me through most of the fall months.

Later,

BWW

Inspection Covers

 I finished up the right side inspection cover today.  It came out great.  Nice and large for my big hands.

The one on the left side is another story.

 There is a lot less room between the bulkheads and the lower skin.  So, I compromised and made it a true inspection cover.  I should be able to open it and see if there are any problems during annuals.  (1" by 3")

If there are any problems I should be able to make minor repairs.

A 1" hole saw to remove a big chunk.  I cut the pointy pieces off with a cutoff wheel and filed to my contour lines.

Very tight fit, but should be strong.

I made the backing plate from .040 as I did on the right side.

During the week I will debur and corrosion protect the parts.  Should be able to rivet assembly together.

I might be able to get most of the left skin deburred, dimpled, and corrosion protected by the end of the week if the weather holds.

Moving along.............

BWW

Right side skin tail gear inspection hatch

Pretty chilly day in the Harbor.  Only got up to 60 degree F.  I need to get several parts primed for final assembly before the wind turns to cold.

During the week I completed making my inspection hatch in the right side tail cone skin.  When I finished making the access hole in the skin I needed to make a cover from some .032 aluminum.  I laid a piece behind the hole and traced it out with a fine sharpie pen.

I trimmed the access hole cover with a sheet metal  shear.  Cutting close to the marker line without removing it.  I used a bench top belt sander to size the cover to the hole, careful not to remove to much material.  Looking from the outside of the skin, a nice tight fit.

Next, I needed a way to hold the cover in place so, I cut a frame of some .040 aluminum that I will rivet the hatch cover to, use some nut plates and 6-32 machine screws to secure the cover to the side skin.

Looking from the inside-out of the tail cone, I have the hatch cover Clecoed together ready for final preparation work.  It took me a week of evenings just to make this hatch cover!  YIKES!
(I have a smaller one to make in the left side.)

I completed final prep work on the right side tail cone skin today, along with the inspection hatch cover.  I will need to complete the left side skin.  I'll be starting on that tomorrow.  Should have all the skins ready by end of next weekend. (Maybe.)

Once the skins are ready, all I'll have to do is get bulkhead 114.75 deburred, dimpled, and corrosion protected and I'll be able to start riveting.  Just a couple more weeks of prep work.

BWW

One more thing.......

Thursday was exciting.  At about 01:30 pm the tornado sirens started going off in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  I could see it was dark to the northeast and headed for home.  On the way I spotted a large stovepipe funnel that appeared to be over Lake Michigan heading south.  When I pulled into town I decided to cruise on down to North Point Marina to get a view.

What a view!  It was spectacular!  It went through many very rapid changes.

This is a shot Chris made of the same shot I made in the proceeding picture.  (The one above.)  She had a more southerly viewing point looking northeast while I shot my pic looking due east.  (Northern Unit of Illinois Beach State Park.)

 The rope is almost gone and the main water spout is expanding rapidly.  (Chris' shot.)

Main water spout has developed into a wedge.  It is huge!  (Chris again.)

 Huge wedge water spout from my location.  Pulling out over the lake.  On the move to the southeast.
(Mine.)

Final viewable funnel for Chris.  It is east of the outer marker for UGN runway 23.  It was a cool Thursday indeed!

Later,
Brian

Last ditch effort to make progress before winter strikes!

OK, last weekend I started the process of deburing, edge cleaning, dimpling, and corrosion protection of the parts in the tail cone.

Located the tail wheel mounts and drilled holes.  Yes, I'm using the one provided by Mustang Aeronautics.  I like it.









Here, I have the bottom pan deburred, dimpled and corrosion protected.  It was at this point I started to have a problem.

On Wednesday I kind of had a wrestling match with the dog.  She wanted the squirrel and I didn't want her to have the squirrel.  A tussle issued and I took a tumble onto my right side.

Thursday and Friday went by and I didn't feel a thing.  Saturday morning I awoke feeling a pain on my right side ribs.  I worked on the plane all day and the pain just kept becoming worst.

So, for the first time in four decades I asked Chris to take me to the ER.

Low oxygen, some torn cartilage between ribs, and muscle strain.  Couldn't be from twisting and turning while working on the MII?  Had to be the dog, right?

Some good drugs and I feel great again.









Started yesterday (Saturday) with deburing and corrosion protecting all the smaller parts in the tail cone.

Here are my rear tail cone skin doublers.

A bulkhead doubler along with the rear attachment strips.













Next, I started to size up the access hole for the right side skin that goes way in the back between bulkheads 187.5 and 205.5.  The access is to be able to get to the rear gear AN8 bolt.

The red sharpie marks are well within the over lapping parts such as bulkheads and lower skin attachment areas.

I started by cutting out paper templates to figure out how big to make the access hatch and hole in the skin.  (Cut paper before hacking up aluminum.)












Once my template was cut and seemed to fit OK, I marked up the skin with a sharpie.  I found the center for my curves and drilled guide holes for my hole saw.









I hole sawed out the curves and that is as far as I have gotten this weekend.  During the week I will work on trimming the remaining aluminum away and clean up the edges of the opening.  Next I will use the hole as a template to mark up some .032 aluminum for a cover and some .040 for the flange.

I think I am going to rivet the flange to the cover and use some #6 screws to secure the cover and flange to the skin.

Later,
BWW

4 Months Shot

I did not do any airplane work from early April until Oshkosh.  4 months shot.  I have to say I came pretty close to giving up on the project.  Too many issues the last 4 months to deal with.  But, I have survived and am back on track.

Since Oshkosh I have made some headway with skinning the tail cone.  I ran out of Clecos and ordered 200 more.  When those ran out Dan brought over 150 more.  (Airplane ate all those too.)

All I have left to do prior to riveting is the usual deburing, edge cleaning, dimpling, and corrosion protection.  Should take a good chunk of September.  Then another month to rivet up the assembly.

Working on the tail cone.

Passenger side skin.

Wood frame to strengthen bulkheads when I put motorcycle straps around the skins.

Inside the tail cone.  Looks like a nice place to take a nap.

Securing the skins over the bulkheads.

Looking more "plane" like.

Maybe kind of like a porcupine.

Marking for adjustments.

I'm in deep thought.

Most of the Clecos are in place.

Now it is the end of August.

So I put 120 hours into the plane in the month of August.  She is still not on the gear.  Getting closer.

Brian