Dave’s RV-7A Building Log

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.

Page 1, step 1: shape HS-609PP. Since the Scotchbrite wheel is backordered, I started in on it with a Scotchbrite pad. I’m definitely going need something more aggressive to get out the milling marks. I used the Vixen file to round off the end. That went ok, but was a bit time-consuming. Maybe the bench grinder or a bench-mount belt sander would make that go a little quicker. I’ll look around on other sites and see what others have done.

On the way home I picked up a few items including this handy tote for storing the clecos. I drilled a hole in the top to store the cleco pliers. I got this idea from somewhere, but I can’t remember where right now.

I didn’t put too much time into it, as I had a flying lesson (10 touch-and-goes at Boeing Field, whew!) and spent some time clearing a space on the bench.