Time-Lapse Test

I got to try out my Christmas present yesterday; my wife got me a Brinno TLC200 Time Lapse Camera.

 

It's a pretty cool package, and automatically converts the images into a video. I'm hoping to supplement photos with this as it keeps my hands free to work & includes me in more of the shots (essential to proving to the FAA that I did at least 51% of the work).

The settings aren't quite right, so I have to play with the time between shots & playback rate. I'm also a bit worried about the file sizes slowing down the blog...let me know what you think.

Motivation

I have a couple things hanging in my shop that I'd like to highlight.

 

The first is a note that my eldest daughter gave me this autumn; I foresee a fair bit of lonely time ahead during construction, but these words from my then-4 year old daughter will help drive me: "i like you to[o] and can we build a airplane today?"

The second is a gift from my wife this Christmas; I'm not sure it shows a lot of confidence on her part in the airplane build!

(The medallion is St. Therese of Lisieux, a patron saint of aviators; perhaps not coincidentally, she is also known for advocating doing "little things with great love." I couldn't ask for better oversight or intervention.)

All kidding aside, I'm blessed to have the family I do. I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish together.

Horizontal Stab Skins

Had some extra vacation days so I got to spend some extra time with the girls. Also got the shop cleaned up from finishing the table & set back to airplane mode.

I had some help fluting the horizontal stabilizer ribs.

Got the skeleton clecoed together! Starting to look like real airplane parts. 

Match-drilled the end ribs, deburred & reattached.

Girls got taken to cleco school, got to help clamp & drill some aluminum. I think they liked it!

Back to work - got to install the first skin. I was really tempted to throw on the second, but wanted to limit my mistakes to a few components this early in the build.

Still, it's a real motivator to see widgets take shape into actual assemblies!

Drawing the centerline on the HS-405 & HS-404 ribs was a bit tricky with the curve, but that's what an eraser is for (in this case, mineral spirits).

After a lot of agonizing over whether I was going to wreck the project, I finally bit the bullet and match-drilled the first hole in the skin!

I was particularly concerned about the overlapped HS-405 rib/HS-702/skin joint; I must have measured it 15 times to verify 2D edge distances on each - it's close, but within tolerance.

The first hole was the hardest; after that, I jumped in & finished match-drilling the skin on top & bottom. My friend Josh stopped by to help; hopefully he'll become a regular victim - his fault, really, for letting me move in next to him.

 

It was a long, slow day, but very productive. I'm hopeful that speed will pick up as I get more confident about my skills. The SportAir Workshop in 3 weeks ought to help, too.

 

Empennage: 6 hrs

Rear Spar 1st Assembly, First Rivets, First Priming, Front Spar Work

This morning was broken up by running yard waste to the county site and casting about for local primer options. The NAPA 7220 was the only option readily available for self-etching primer, so I promptly bought the last can, and after match-drilling and deburring HS-411 and VA-146, put it to work priming the contact surfaces of VA-146.

After allowing it to dry (had to take it inside since temps outside were in the 40s), we proceeded with clecoing the assembly together and squeezing our first rivets!

 

It was a good feeling to see pieces fixed in their final position. It brings to mind the old saw, "How do you eat an elephant?" We'd taken our first bite.

Natalie helped ensure our alignment was correct.

The rear spar was re-clecoed, and the HS-411 assembly drilled out to #12. We set it aside to begin work on the front spar.

We shaped the ends of HS-711 and HS-714 and bent them to 6 degrees (see on foreground bench, left corner).

My father & I trimmed flanges, drilled relief holes and bent HS-702 to 6 degrees, followed by dimpling the inboard 4 holes. I don't have my countersink set yet so will need to come back and countersink HS-711 and HS-714.

Next was deburring & fluting ribs, and trimming HS-404 to fit around HS-711 and HS-714. Here I encountered my first mistake: I trimmed too far, leaving up to 3/32" where 1/32" was called for.

 We moved on to marking, drilling & deburring HS-405 ribs on the forward flange.

Here I discovered my second mistake - I drilled the second hole from the bottom on one rib 1/4" too low.

 

Fortunately, after calling Van's support, all three mistakes were within tolerance. While not aesthetically symmetrical, all are structurally sound and I've learned to trim even more incrementally and triple-check drilling locations.

 

That was it for this session. Thanks to my parents for all of their help, can't wait to have you back!

 

Empennage: 8hrs

Rear Spar Stiffeners

Satisfied by our completion of the Van's toolbox that we were indeed equal to the task of building an airworthy airplane, we dove into the empennage kit assembly.

First challenge: finding the rear spar stiffeners. Some trickster at Van's had placed them under a layer of cardboard beneath the skins...and I'd forgotten they were there in the time since inventorying the box.

We proceeded to break the edges of the stiffeners with a vixen file, radius the ends & polish them on the scotch-brite wheel to a brushed finish.

 Trying to save some $ I had ordered a Scotch-Brite wheel on Amazon...that turned out to be 6x1/4x1/2. Oops.

 We clecoed the spar stiffeners to the rear spar, match-drilled and deburred the assembly.

I'll be ordering a 6x1x1/2 Scotch-Brite wheel from one of the usual suspects, as no local auto or hardware store carries them. Lesson learned!

Empennage: 5hrs

Toolbox

Due to the fact that I was unable to attend a couple of Sport Air workshops as I'd planned in order to mangle aluminum & rivets that won't be part of an airplane, I ordered the Van's toolbox kit.

 

 My parents were in town for the week, and my sister for the weekend, so everyone got to experiment with the DRDT2 and rivet gun. 

 Natalie demonstrated blind riveting.

 Since I've never done any sheet metal work, having a project to learn from shortened the learning curve.

Some things I learned: familiarity with new tools, how to remove vinyl coating without scratching the alclad surface, how to identify a bad rivet, how to drill out a bad rivet, how to feather the rivet gun trigger to prevent it dancing across the surface with a flat set, and how to  better organize the shop.

At $28, this is some of the best money I've spent so far.

Toolbox: 7hrs

Workbench, Organization, Lights

Josh came over again on Saturday to help build in a workbench and install a new light, all of which will make tool organization and evening work possible. I spent some time on Sunday finishing the shelves underneath, cleaning & stowing some tools. Also finally got rid of most of the cardboard boxes from the move...I have a feeling I'll regret not keeping a few.

Workshop: 8hrs

Tools

After reviewing a dizzying amount of tool options, prices & retailers, I opted to purchase tools individually rather than as a kit. I have several of the standard tools, and am hoping to find some good deals on inidividual tools as I need them.

A couple of the upgrades I chose to make include the DRDT2 and the Main Squeeze rivet squeezer through Cleaveland Aircraft Tool. The DRDT2 works extremely well, and I can see why it is so popular despite being priced at twice the cost of a comparable C-frame. The Main Squeeze is very accurate and comfortable to use, but still requires a fair bit of pressure - having never squeezed a rivet before, I have no reference for a classic style rivet squeezer.

My goal is to hand-squeeze as many of the rivets as I can reach, though I did purchase a 3x rivet gun set from Avery Tools (among others). Trolling the forums suggests this will get old quickly once I get to the wings, but I'm enjoying the novelty and any chance to not spent another chunk of cash (e.g. on a pneumatic squeezer) will surely help acceptance of the project with my better half.

A couple of other places I'm attempting to scrimp: I have several construction-grade cordless drills, so I am going to rely on these for now, one fitted with drill bits and the other with a deburring bit. See above for why I'm avoiding a pneumatic drill. My air compressor is woefully undersized at 2.5 gal, but after spending a large amount on tools thus far, I'm watching for prices on 26-60gal compressors to drop below $400, either for the holidays or on Craigslist. I won't be skinning many pieces before Jan-Feb anyhow.

The service has been exceptional from both Avery and Cleaveland, and while I haven't yet had the pleasure of ordering from the other tool suppliers, they seem to reinforce the terrific sense of community that seems so natural among the homebuilding set.

Empennage Kit Inventory

We chose to do a slow-build kit to save money & get more hands-on experience for ourselves and our family and friends.

The empennage kit arrived from Van's ahead of schedule on Sept 27th (didn't even have our work tables built yet!) and it languished for almost 2 weeks before Erin & I could get out to inventory it. Half a dozen pieces weren't labeled, but all pieces were present & in good condition.

Man, they love duct tape.

Empennage - 1hr

Workshop

So the workshop is evolving; in moving this summer for work, we downsized from a large 3-car garage to a much smaller 2-car, which I've successfully negotiated into a no-car garage. We'll see if it lasts...

The shop is insulated, but lighting and outlet access are terrible. Thanks to a helpful neighbor I've upgraded one of the light fixtures, hope to swap the other 2 out soon, and will try to get by with daylight & a small well-lit area for now.

Like many others, I chose to build 2 EAA Chapter 1000 tables, and added 2" non-marking casters to both raise them up & make them easier to shift around by myself.

Two of my helpers can be seen above; the third was hard to catch standing still!

Workshop - 3.5hrs


Builder's Log

Howdy! (I learned that in Texas). This kicks off the build log for my RV-7 project. With a little bit of luck, the empennage kit sitting in my garage (plus a few odds & ends) will look like an airplane to the FAA sometime in the next 10 years.

Wish us luck, and drop me a note - I can use all the help I can get!