2004-09-21


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Today I got a whole lot more done. First thing I did when I got home is called the Technical Counselor for EAA Chapter 46, Tom Zelie. I told him that I'd started working on the kit and asked if he would like to come over and see it. He said that he could be there tomorrow! What Service!

It'll be nice having another pair of eyes looking at the work I'm doing, Not that I think I'm doing anything wrong, But you never know, Tom just finished a  Sonex and had his first flight back in November. He told me that he has 12 more hours to fly off of his phase 1. He had a 40 hour due to the non-standard engine. 

That means I have a lot to do to get ready, I'd like to at least start on the right HS before he gets here. That way I would have completed the Left HS (at least the construction part of it) so if I was going to run into any issues, I'd be sure to discover them. 

On another note, today I checked the status of the paint gun I ordered back on the 7th, IT FINALLY SHIPPED! Do you believe it? UPS says I'll have it tomorrow.

Started out by drawing a centerline on the flanges of HS-404 and HS-405. I did this with a hacksaw blade as the straightedge because it's flexible. 

Once I had the hacksaw blade clamped into position, I drew a line on the back of the blade so that I could line it up without measuring on the next flange.
When I get to the next flange, I just line up the mark I made with the top of the flange and clamp it. (kind of hard to see in this dark picture)
Centerline, no measuring
Now you have to clamp HS-404 and HS-405 into place, lining up the centerline with the center of the holes in HS-601PP.
Drill the aft flange of HS-405 using the holes in HS-603PP
Remove the clamps and then Cleco it. This draws HS-405 up tight to HS-603PP
Put the clamps back on.
Now you basically have to drill and cleco the HS-601 to HS-405 holes (#40), Clamp HS-702 to the top of HS-405 making sure that HS-702 is as tight as it can be up against HS-405, and then drill the HS-601 to HS-702 holes. 
Now the instruction say to Cleco HS-710 and HS-714 to HS-702. (Removing HS-404 helps!)
When you put HS-404 back, push it down and clamp the flanges to HS-601PP. You are getting ready to drill the HS-405 to HS-702 to HS-710/HS-714 to HS-404 holes. 

The plans say to use an angle drill for this. Or, If you don't have an angle drill, a long drill bit will work. Since I don't have either one, another solution was indicated.

I remembered that I had this Dremel motor with a long flexible shaft that just fits a #30 drill.
Say "Ahhhh"
It was a little hard to get any pressure exerted on the drill because I could only hold it with my fingertips. Plus, the Dremel motor itself was underpowered. It took a little persistence, but it worked fairly well.
After I drilled thru HS-405 to HS-702 to HS-404 I noticed that the one hole on HS-404 was pretty close to the edge of the flange. I'm a little concerned about this. From what I've read on the net, there are quite a few rivets in this area holding everything together, but I think a call to Van's tech support tomorrow is warranted. I'll also ask Tom Zelie tomorrow when he comes over.
Now, remove the skin and do the right hand side. No need for as many pictures, that is, unless something goes terribly wrong!

Here are all the Right Side parts.

This is how far I got.
This shop is really coming together
I know I'm jumping the gun a bit here, but I had to see what it looked like with the left side on
Here's a picture of the nice clock that Liz got for my shop, Yes, that's what time in the AM it is.