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Fuselage 102 Hours |
April: 7, 8, 15 & 16th
| Work has commenced on the
construction of the fuselage and work completed to date:
1. all the frames are riveted and fastened into position to the bench with cleco's 2. the tail section is drilled, held together with cleco's and ready for the solid rivets. TIP: When constructing each section, use a complete frame so the measurements will be correct, the angles 90 degrees, and nothing moves when drilling the holes, and riveting the sections together. |
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June: 23, 24 & 27
After my visit to the CLASS factory in Canada I have
finally got back to working on the fuselage, and now that I have
received instruction from Sean, Mario and Corrin on working with
metal and particularly using a solid riveting tool, I am ready to
go.
July: 8, 12, 15, 20, 21, 22 & 28
| Completed riveting the u shaped
stringers on the top and both sides of the fuselage
making sure everything remained square. In particular,
ensure the 1" X 1" X 1/8" notched angle
that runs the entire length of the fuselage is centre. As
the plans state, don't remove the clecos holding the
frames in position, these are required to keep the whole
section square. It is important to line up all the stringers so that the rivets will be in a perfect line when attaching the skins. |
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TIP:
Make a template for the position of the 5 rivet holes for
the corner sections. Trim
excess metal, deburr and prime before fastening each
section starting from the back section 06 and work toward
the front section 01. |
| Make sure the external corners
and the side two skins are not fixed into position until
the control cables have been installed. The top and
bottom skins have been riveted into position and thank
goodness for the air riveter as this makes the task
effortless and provides a better quality of finish as
well. Before marking
and cutting the bottom external corners at the rear of
the fuselage, check with a string line or a long level to
make sure the bottom is straight and flat. The overlap of
the rear external corners with the bottom skin really
does add strength and stiffness for the tail section. TIP: Cut a small piece of plastic tube and have it between the metal surface and the drill chuck as it will prevent the metal surface from being marked when drilling the holes for the rivets. |
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August: 10 & 12
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Time to unclamp the
fuselage from the workbench and complete the riveting of
the sides, external corners and bend into shape the
sections at the rear of the aircraft. Am I glad I have an
air riveting gun as doing this task be hand would take so
long even if it would build up the muscles in the right
hand.
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| Bending and
shaping the metal skins from frame 6 to 7 then onto the
flat edges of the vertical stabilizer is harder than I
thought, especially trying to stop the metal from going
out of shape and making sure the vertical stabilizer
remain vertical over the centre line of the workbench. TIP: Secure the fuselage to the bench by bolting a heavy piece of time over the metal bracket (PA-15) to the bench to prevent movement, also leave the string line and plumb bob from frame 1 over the vertical stabilizer pointing to the centre of the line on the workbench. |
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January: 25, 2002
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One task I had not done until now was to rivet into position the self-locating nuts for the two inspection plates where the horizontal stabiliser bolts onto the fuselage. A relatively easy task, but would have been easier if I had riveted the nuts into position before all the other parts had been riveted. The actual inspection plates I will cut from 0.025" plate after I have painted the elevators and connected the the control arm bracket. |
April: 7
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Fitting the inspection plates for the elevators so they can move as well as the plate that allows access to the fuselage section to undo the bolts and nuts that hold the horizontal stabilisers to the fuselage |
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