Practice Project
Hours: 1.5 | Posted in GeneralI ordered the “RV Class Project” kit from Van’s; it comes with two projects to complete. The first is simple, sort of the ‘next step’ from the morning sheetmetal workshop we attended at OSH last summer–A narrow aluminum sheet, riveted to a piece of angle, with another sheet riveted to it. You get 20 holes to practice drilling, deburring, dimpling/countersinking, and riveting. 2 blind rivets, and 18 solid of assorted types & sizes. Pulled it out this afternoon–after cleaning up the yard in preparation for a picnic we’re hosting–and completed it in a reasonable time. Things I learned:
- This riveting thing isn’t as big of a deal as it’s sometimes feared. I over-drove a number of the rivets, mostly the smaller AD3′s, before I got the feel of the gun and how long to pull it for. I had a couple under-driven and then they ended up over-driven after I tried to give them another shot. I don’t believe I had any that would have been necessary to drill out, and I didn’t end up with any smileys or dents/dings…overall, not bad.
- Edges of sheet stock need to be rolled before dimpling…duh!
- Double-check the hole size before drilling the beginning and end of a row to cleco the rivet fan spacer into.
Overall, not a bad way to get started. I’m looking forward to trying out the squeezer & various yokes, along with the swivel rivet set, when I get into the larger practice project, which is a short section of control surface.
Also back in the saddle with flight training–we’ve had pretty strong/gusty winds here the past week or more; not too ideal for practicing pattern work, but I managed to get up for .6 with my instructor; I was happy to find that I didn’t seem to have lost as much as I feard I might have. 3 trips around & landings; the last one was fairly solid, and I got my 90-day solo endorsement renewed. Scheduled for Monday to try and get in some solo work in preparation for solo X-C; I’m not too optomistic about the winds…but that’s springtime in MN!
