1 hr. completing the threading of the air lines and putting wire ties on them.  My tech counselor is coming tomorrow afternoon so then I'll be able to move ahead more aggressively.

Happy New Year everyone!  May you and yours have a happy, healthy and prosperous 2016!!

With a bit of plastic tubing you can make nice standoffs between two lines.

NEXT SESSIONS:

1. Inspection of both wings by EAA Tech Counselor. 
2. Cleco leading edge back on. I'll also test fit the fuel tank.
3. Build boxes or stands to lift up the wing higher to enable installation of the pitot.  I'll use these with the fuselage too.
4. Finish installing pitot air and electrical lines.
5. Fitting and final sealing of left wing fuel tank.  Tank off and test for seal.
6. Fuel tank on.  Just bolted at this point.
7. Top skins riveted on (STRINGERS!).  Top skins of left wing need priming.  Fill rivets with Bondo.
8. Leading edge riveted on (STRINGER!).  Fill rivets with Bondo.
9. Rivet fuel tank on.  Fill rivets with Bondo.
10. Wing tip assembly and light installation.
11. Finish sanding of left wing bottom rivet heads.
12. Finish right wing (6,7,8,9,10).
    
13. Finally finish one of the composite tips of the elevator.
14. Fill rivets of elevator with Bondo.
15. START ON FUSELAGE!

1 hrs. switching the air lines and tying down the wire harness.

At this point I'm pretty much in a holding pattern until my tech counselor comes to give his blessing to the work.  He said he might be able to make it tonight, but I haven't heard back yet.  Hope he does so I can continue to make good progress.

When I thought about the how the tubes from the pitot are arranged I realized it made sense to switch the green and blue lines.

Since all the lines checked out it was time to tie the lines down.

NEXT SESSIONS:

1. Cleco leading edge back on. I'll also test fit the fuel tank.
2. Air lines in (started).
3. Fitting and final sealing of left wing fuel tank.  Tank off and test for seal.
4. Inspection of both wings by EAA Tech Counselor.
5. Fuel tank on.  Just bolted at this point.
6. Top skins riveted on (STRINGERS!).  Top skins of left wing need priming.  Fill rivets with Bondo.
7. Leading edge riveted on (STRINGER!).  Fill rivets with Bondo.
8. Rivet fuel tank on.  Fill rivets with Bondo.
9. Wing tip assembly and light installation.
10. Finish sanding of left wing bottom rivet heads.
11. Finish right wing (5,6,7,8,9).
    
12. Finally finish one of the composite tips of the elevator.
13. Fill rivets of elevator with Bondo.
14. START ON FUSELAGE!

2 hrs. finishing up the wiring for the lights, testing the lights, putting in the bolts for the 2nd rib in from the root and starting to thread the air lines for the pitot.

My EAA Tech Counselor might be coming tomorrow sometime, so that's good for my continued progress.

Red position light works!  Strobe also works.

The landing lights also work.  So all wiring is good!   Realized I never got the necessary landing light mounting plates from Gordon, so that will have to wait until I can get those (and nibble them out to size).

Waiting for more grommets, but I started to thread the air lines for the pitot.  Green is the pitot line and blue is the AOA line.

And this is how they will connect to the pitot.

NEXT SESSIONS:

1. Tie down the wiring.
2. Cleco leading edge back on. 
3. Air lines in (started).
4. Fitting and final sealing of left wing fuel tank.  Tank off and test for seal.
5. Inspection of both wings by EAA Tech Counselor.
6. Fuel tank on.  Just bolted at this point.
7. Top skins riveted on (STRINGERS!).  Top skins of left wing need priming.  Fill rivets with Bondo.
8. Leading edge riveted on (STRINGER!).  Fill rivets with Bondo.
9. Rivet fuel tank on.  Fill rivets with Bondo.
10. Wing tip assembly and light installation.
11. Finish sanding of left wing bottom rivet heads.
12. Finish right wing (6,7,8,9,10).
    
13. Finally finish one of the composite tips of the elevator.
14. Fill rivets of elevator with Bondo.
15. START ON FUSELAGE!

3 hrs. building the wiring harness for the left wing lights, threading the harness and putting in the wire holder for the landing lights.

Assembling the wires for the harness.  Printed out the Garmin GAP-26 Pitot installation instructions and read them over.  The red and black wire on the left are for the pitot heat.

Separated out and de-tangled the wires to pull them into the protective sleeve.

Threaded the harness into the step ribs (difficult because they're tightly spaced).

Put in the landing light wire harness holder by drilling out the rivets and putting in my custom-made holder.

NEXT SESSIONS:

1. Finish putting wiring in.
2. Landing lights in and tested.  Test wing tip lights. 
3. Cleco leading edge back on. 
4. Air lines in.
5. Fitting and final sealing of left wing fuel tank.  Tank off and test for seal.
6. Inspection of both wings by EAA Tech Counselor.
7. Fuel tank on.  Just bolted at this point.
8. Top skins riveted on (STRINGERS!).  Top skins of left wing need priming.  Fill rivets with Bondo.
9. Leading edge riveted on (STRINGER!).  Fill rivets with Bondo.
10. Rivet fuel tank on.  Fill rivets with Bondo.
11. Wing tip assembly and light installation.
12. Finish sanding of left wing bottom rivet heads.
13. Finish right wing (7,8,9,10,11).  Also Bondo for bottom skin of right wing.
14. Finally finish one of the composite tips of the elevator.
15. Fill rivets of elevator with Bondo.
16. START ON FUSELAGE!

 

1 hr. trying to sand off the filled rivet heads only to find that I didn't put quite enough hardener in the Bondo so it was still too soft to sand.  There was some, so it will harden, but, I didn't want to wait because I had someone over to help me flip the wing.  I'll get back to finishing the bottom later.

This was a good batch.  The previous batch I think had too little hardener for it to harden in a reasonable time.

This is what it looks like when spread on the taped rivet heads.

And the wing is flipped to do the wiring and pitot tubing.

NEXT SESSIONS:

1. Wiring in.
2. Cleco leading edge back on.
3. Landing lights in and tested.  Test wing tip lights.
4. Air lines in.
5. Fitting and final sealing of left wing fuel tank.  Tank off and test for seal.
6. Inspection of both wings by EAA Tech Counselor.
7. Fuel tank on.  Just bolted at this point.
8. Top skins riveted on (STRINGERS!).  Top skins of left wing need priming.  Fill rivets with Bondo.
9. Leading edge riveted on (STRINGER!).  Fill rivets with Bondo.
10. Rivet fuel tank on.  Fill rivets with Bondo.
11. Wing tip assembly and light installation.
12. Finish sanding of left wing bottom rivet heads.
13. Finish right wing (7,8,9,10,11).  Also Bondo for bottom skin of right wing.
14. Finally finish one of the composite tips of the elevator.
15. Fill rivets of elevator with Bondo.
16. START ON FUSELAGE!

2 hrs. over the last two days starting to fill the rivets on the bottom skin of the left wing.

Taped over all the rivets, sanded off the tops....

...Only to discover the reason that even after sanding the tops off and it leaving tape in the holes (which I had to tediously pick out) I was not using the best tape for the task.  What you really need to be using is....

...Low-tack painter's tape.  Oh well, I have plenty more rivets that will need filling, so I ordered two rolls of the right stuff.  This is the right stuff.

NEXT SESSIONS:

1. Fill rivets with Bondo.
2. Flip to top.
3. Wiring in.
4. Landing lights in and tested.  Test wing tip lights.
5. Air lines in.
6. Fitting and final sealing of left wing fuel tank.  Tank off and test for seal.
7. Inspection of both wings by EAA Tech Counselor.
8. Fuel tank on.  Just bolted at this point.
9. Top skins riveted on (STRINGERS!).  Top skins of left wing need priming.  Fill rivets with Bondo.
10. Leading edge riveted on (STRINGER!).  Fill rivets with Bondo.
11. Rivet fuel tank on.  Fill rivets with Bondo.
12. Wing tip assembly and light installation.
13. Finish right wing (8,9,10,11,12).  Also Bondo for bottom skin of right wing.
14. Finally finish one of the composite tips of the elevator.
15. Fill rivets of elevator with Bondo.
16. START ON FUSELAGE!

5 hrs. riveting the bottom skin of the left wing.

Bottom skin on.  Had to pull the plastic off and was very glad it was of the "easy to get off" variety.

Looking underneath to make sure that the clecos were going into the ribs, etc. and not missing them because a part is misaligned.

A sea of cleco's...  Notice the red dots which I placed to know where not to rivet (leading edge and fuel tank attachment points).

And the sea of rivets added...

A couple of the rivets needed shortening because of something underneath.

All done!!

NEXT SESSIONS:

1. Fill rivets with Bondo.
2. Flip to top.
3. Wiring in.
4. Landing lights in and tested.  Test wing tip lights.
5. Air lines in.
6. Fitting and final sealing of left wing fuel tank.  Tank off and test for seal.
7. Inspection of both wings by EAA Tech Counselor.
8. Fuel tank on.  Just bolted at this point.
9. Top skins riveted on (STRINGERS!).  Top skins of left wing need priming.  Fill rivets with Bondo.
10. Leading edge riveted on (STRINGER!).  Fill rivets with Bondo.
11. Rivet fuel tank on.  Fill rivets with Bondo.
12. Wing tip assembly and light installation.
13. Finish right wing (8,9,10,11,12).  Also Bondo for bottom skin of right wing.
14. Finally finish one of the composite tips of the elevator.
15. Fill rivets of elevator with Bondo.
16. START ON FUSELAGE!

5 hrs. Removed the leading edge and riveted those ribs, drilled out the rear spar holes for the step ribs to 4.8mm and riveted all of those ribs.  Also riveted the rear support channel and then flipped the wing to the bottom.

Just like the right wing one of the ribs didn't line up very well with the main spar.  Had to angle in the cleco's to shoehorn in it.  Still required some reaming though.

Drilling out the step rib holes in the rear spar to 4.8mm.

With a few layers of thick aluminum to go through you can see how much debris that reaming out produces.  Have to clean all that out and deburr all the holes from both sides.  Took awhile...

All cleaned and deburred.

Some of the main spar rivets for the step ribs require manual riveting because you can't get the rivet gun in there.  Here's a video of what that's like.

All done!

Rear support channel riveted on!

NEXT SESSIONS:

1. Rivet bottom skins (STRINGER!).  Fill rivets with Bondo.
2. Flip to top
3. Wiring in.
4. Landing lights in and tested.  Test wing tip lights.
5. Air lines in.
6. Fitting and final sealing of left wing fuel tank.  Tank off and test for seal.
7. Inspection of both wings by EAA Tech Counselor.
8. Fuel tank on.  Just bolted at this point.
9. Top skins riveted on (STRINGERS!).  Top skins of left wing need priming.  Fill rivets with Bondo.
10. Leading edge riveted on (STRINGER!).  Fill rivets with Bondo.
11. Rivet fuel tank on.  Fill rivets with Bondo.
12. Wing tip assembly and light installation.
13. Finish right wing (8,9,10,11,12).  Also Bondo for bottom skin of right wing.
14. Finally finish one of the composite tips of the elevator.
15. Fill rivets of elevator with Bondo.
16. START ON FUSELAGE!

4 hrs. drilling out the misaligned holes in the bottom skin to the main spar, flipped the wing, started riveting the ribs.  Pitot assembly riveted in.

You can see the misalignment here.  First I used a small drill bit to open the hole a bit toward the center of the hole underneath (I did this by putting the bit in the hole and applying pressure toward the center).  That way when I used my chucking reamer bit it would center itself to the hole beneath.  If you don't do that it will drill into the metal layer below and you don't want that, you only want the skin above to be re-drilled.

Here the reamer bit is in opening the skin to line up with the hole below (I just put the bit in skin deep and pressure it toward the lower hole).  The two closer holes are already done.

Starting to rivet the ribs to the spars.  I put orange stickers on the holes that shouldn't be riveted yet (those holes are for the rear skin support channel).

Rear spar rib riveting done (except for the step ribs which have to be drilled out to 4.8mm).  Except for where the leading edge is and the step ribs, the main spar rib attachments are riveted too.

NEXT SESSIONS:

1. Remove leading edge skin and rivet those front rib connections.
2. Drill out step rib holes where they connect to main spar.
3. Rivet step ribs.
4. Flip to bottom.
5. Rivet bottom skins (STRINGER!).  Fill rivets with Bondo.
6. Flip to top
7. Wiring in.
8. Landing lights in and tested.  Test wing tip lights.
9. Air lines in.
10. Fitting and final sealing of left wing fuel tank.  Tank off and test for seal.
11. Inspection of both wings by EAA Tech Counselor.
12. Fuel tank on.  Just bolted at this point.
13. Top skins riveted on (STRINGERS!).  Top skins of left wing need priming.  Fill rivets with Bondo.
14. Leading edge riveted on (STRINGER!).  Fill rivets with Bondo.
15. Rivet fuel tank on.  Fill rivets with Bondo.
16. Wing tip assembly and light installation.
17. Finish right wing (12, 13, 14, 15, 16).  Also Bondo for bottom skin of right wing.
18. Finally finish one of the composite tips of the elevator.
19. Fill rivets of elevator with Bondo.
20. START ON FUSELAGE!

Survey results so far (haven't taken it?  Go a few posts down to check it out):

Date                             Are you building a plane?    If so, what?                             Pilot?

12/10/2015 12:21:01	No, but I'm considering it		Yes
12/10/2015 13:31:47	Yes	Sling 4	Yes
12/10/2015 14:00:12	No, but I'm considering it	Van's RV-xx	Yes
12/10/2015 14:40:08	Yes	Sling 2	No
12/10/2015 14:40:59	Yes	Sling 2	Yes
12/10/2015 16:57:28	No, but I'm considering it		Yes
12/10/2015 18:28:14	No, but I'm considering it	Sling 4	Yes
12/10/2015 18:36:41	Yes	Sling 2	Yes
12/10/2015 19:58:43	No, not planning to		Yes
12/11/2015 2:58:18	No, but I'm considering it		Yes
12/11/2015 8:14:46	Yes	Sling 2	No
12/11/2015 16:56:10	No, not planning to		Yes
12/11/2015 16:58:24	No, not planning to		Yes
12/11/2015 21:52:24	No, but I'm considering it		Yes
12/12/2015 1:49:18	No, but I'm considering it		Yes
12/12/2015 14:46:15	No, but I'm considering it		No
12/13/2015 5:51:38	Yes	Sling 4	Yes
12/13/2015 16:07:43	Yes	Sling 2	Yes
12/15/2015 15:54:33	No, but I'm considering it		Yes
12/15/2015 16:52:47	No, but I'm considering it		Yes
12/22/2015 13:33:29	No, but I'm considering it		Yes

 

3 hrs. flipping the wing, test fitting the bottom skins and the leading edge skin.

Pitot assembly cleco'ed in.

Turns out I don't need to cut the hole for the pitot, it's already in the skin.  Ahh...
Bottom skins fit nice.

Time-lapse video of working the leading edge skin around the ribs.

And the leading edge skin fits too.

NEXT SESSIONS:

1. Forgot this: Just like the right wing there are holes along the main spar that don't line up with the bottom skin, so those need to be drilled.
2. Flip to top
3. Remove top skins and leading edge skin and rivet ribs and pitot assembly.
4. Flip to bottom
5. Rivet bottom skins (STRINGER!).
6. Flip to top
7. Wiring in.
8. Landing lights in and tested.  Test wing tip lights.
9. Air lines in.
10. Fitting and final sealing of left wing fuel tank.  Tank off and test for seal.
11. Inspection of both wings by EAA Tech Counselor.
12. Fuel tank on.  Just bolted at this point.
13. Top skins riveted on (STRINGERS!).
14. Leading edge riveted on (STRINGER!).
15. Rivet fuel tank on.
16. Wing tip assembly and light installation.
17. Fill rivets with Bondo.
18. Finish right wing (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20).
19. Finally finish one of the composite tips of the elevator.
20. Fill rivets of elevator with Bondo.
21. START ON FUSELAGE!

1 hr. on the left wing landing light assembly and pitot

Cleco'ed together the landing light assembly and put in the rivnuts with the Loctite 277.  I'll rivet the assembly after I've test fitted the leading edge skin.

Test fitting of the pitot assembly.

I've extensively updated and added lots of detail to the next sessions list.  This is super helpful to me to know what I'm going to be doing so that I don't have to waste time thinking about it when I go to work on the plane.  And I just like looking at the list to know exactly what I'm going to be doing and in what order.  Otherwise it's easy to get overwhelmed when there's lot to do...

NEXT SESSIONS:

1. Flip to bottom
2. Test fit of bottom skins (STRINGER!) for fit and levelness.
3. Test fit of pitot assembly (need to cut hole for pitot?).
4. Test fit of leading edge skin.
5. Flip to top
6. Remove top skins and leading edge skin and rivet ribs and pitot assembly.
7. Flip to bottom
8. Rivet bottom skins (STRINGER!).
9. Flip to top
10. Wiring in.
11. Landing lights in and tested.  Test wing tip lights.
12. Air lines in.
13. Fitting and final sealing of left wing fuel tank.  Tank off and test for seal.
14. Inspection of both wings by EAA Tech Counselor.
15. Fuel tank on.  Just bolted at this point.
16. Top skins riveted on (STRINGERS!).
17. Leading edge riveted on (STRINGER!).
18. Rivet fuel tank on.
19. Wing tip assembly and light installation.
20. Fill rivets with Bondo.
21. Finish right wing (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20).
22. Finally finish one of the composite tips of the elevator.
23. Fill rivets of elevator with Bondo.
24. START ON FUSELAGE!

 

1 hr. drilling out rivets in the rear spar that shouldn't have been riveted and test fitting the top skins.

A video showing how you remove a pull rivet.  You'll note that I allowed the drill bit to go all the way through.  Some recommend you only drill to remove the head and then use a center punch to remove the rest as to not damage the hole.  I did do that on some, but often the rivet would not just pop out.  I didn't find that putting the drill all the way through did any damage (e.g. enlarging it).

And the top skin fits perfectly and it's nice and flat!

NEXT SESSIONS:

1. Rivet landing light pieces.
2. Bolt down jigs after checking level again.
3. Flip assembly.
4. Test fit of bottom skins (don't forget stringer!) for fit and levelness.
5. Test fit of pitot assembly.
6. Flip assembly.
7. Remove top skins and rivet ribs.
8. Flip assembly.
9. Rivet bottom skins.
10. Flip...
11. Wiring in.
12. Air lines in.
13. ...

4.5 hrs. putting the right wing on the shelf and cleco'ing together the left wing. :-)

And the right wing is up on the shelf.  Easy!

Time to put together the rear spar for the left wing.

And it's done!!

The jigs in place and the rear spar attached.

Got the main spar attached (with some help), leveled the jigs and cleco'ed all the ribs in place.  Nice!

NEXT SESSIONS:

1. In riveting the rear spar I inadvertently riveted where one of the ribs goes, so I need to drill out those 4 rivets.
2. Rivet landing light pieces.
3. Test fit of the top skins for fit, levelness and squareness of the spars/jigs.
4. Bolt down jigs after checking level again.
5. Flip assembly.
6. Test fit of bottom skins (don't forget stringer!) for fit and levelness.
7. Test fit of pitot assembly.
8. Flip assembly.
9. Remove top skins and rivet ribs.
10. Flip assembly.
11. Rivet bottom skins.
12. Flip...
13. Wiring in.
14. Air lines in.
15. ...

GREAT video review just out of the Sling 4!

1 hr. doing final sealing on left tank.

If you haven't taken the survey a few posts ago, please do.  It's completely anonymous.  I'm just curious who's reading the blog.

Used the more liquid Class A sealant.

NEXT SESSIONS:

1. Right wing down and start on the left wing!!  The tops of the wings will remain open until I get it inspected.

1 hr. final testing of the right tank.

Balloon well inflated and soaping up everything one last time and staring at it really closely.

Methodically going around: Outside rivets, ends and then the back plate on top.  Bubbles... but no growing or multiplying bubbles.

Soaping up everywhere it could possibly leak.  All Good!

Balloon still inflated 3 hours later.  I'm satisfied.

NEXT SESSIONS:

1. Finish internal sealing of left tank with Class A sealant.
2. Right wing down and start on the left wing!!  The tops of the wings will remain open until I get it inspected.

1 hr. putting in the fuel drain in the left tank and starting retest of the right tank.

Don't forget to fill in the survey in the previous post if you haven't already.  I'll post the results next week.

Also, I did a bunch of updates to the Building & Testing Fuel Tanks page.

Don't forget the Loctite 577 on the drain plug threads!

Installed!

Tightened down firm with a wrench.

Filler-up!

Bubbles, but no growing bubbles!  I think it's all sealed!  I'll do a final check tonight by painting the soapy water over everything one last time and watching very closely.

NEXT SESSIONS:

1. Finish internal sealing of left tank with Class A (less viscous) sealant.
2. Final soapy water test of right tank.
3. Right wing down and start on the left wing!!  The tops of the wings will remain open until I get it inspected.