Dave’s RV-7A Building Log

Started working on the HS front spar. Shaped the ends of the HS-710 and HS-714 reinforcement angles. I did that on the bench sander, but it would have been much quicker to do some initial cuts with a band saw. Final drilled the reinforcement angles to the spar, then bent the 6 degree bend on the ends with a vise and hand seamer. Cut the extra flange off of HS-702. I followed the directions and drilled the #30 hole then used the Unibit to make a 1/4″ hole. That worked really well. From there I used the spins. I tried to straighten out the little bit of bend that was left over. I went back to the bench sander to smooth the sharp corners on the cuts. After that I put the 6 degree bends in the ends with the vise and some blocks of wood. Then I clecoed the pieces together and read further on in the instructions.

I didn’t think I would get much done last night, but it was a productive session. I can’t wait to work on this thing for more than an hour at a time–next weekend. During the week there are too many things going on, especially since I’m flying twice after work this week. I’ll probably go back to one lesson after work per week soon.

I final drilled the HS rear spar reinforcement bar to the rear spar. I couldn’t wait to try out the debur tool in the cordless screwdriver, so I deburred all of the holes. Of course then I final drilled the hinge brackets to the spar and enlarged the holes for the middle rib. I’ll have to go back and debur those again. It’s probably better to do all of the trial assembly and drilling at one time, then mark everything, disassemble, and finally debur.

Despite my prior complaints about the air cleco tool, it’s awesome. I was able to move and remove clecos with ease and much faster than without it. Definitely worth $25.

I stopped by Lowes on the way home and picked up a bench mounted belt/disc sander for about $90. I rounded the ends of the second HS-609PP in about 5 minutes with that sweet machine. The same thing took over half an hour last night with a Vixen file. Considering the overall cost of this project, $90 for a power tool that will save me dozens of hours is well worth the cost.

I also dug out my palm sander and put on some 120 sandpaper to sand out the milling marks on the faces of the HS-609PP. That worked pretty well. I definitely need some more durable sandpaper. The white aluminum oxide paper doesn’t last long. There was some resin coated paper at Lowes that I’ll pick up. After the 120, I switched to 220, and then the Scotchbrite pads. Getting the right combination of steps is going to take some time, but I’ll figure it out. Once the Scotchbrite wheel shows up Monday, that should help as well.

Both of the pieces are looking sweet now. They’re ready for drilling to the rear HS spar. And then deburring. And then priming. And then, finally, riveting.

Received the primer/sealer from Aircraft Finishing Systems. They shipped it out very fast. I also received the $25 pneumatic cleco actuator I ordered from The Yard Store. I’m figuring out that you get what you pay for. It’s not a pretty tool, especially compared to the Sioux drill. It does seem to work, but leaks a fair amount of air if you don’t hold the trigger just right while the cleco is actuated. I’m pretty sure it will do the job.