So, I started the day late as I was hesitating to get started on drilling holes in my beautiful wing skin and attack it with a saw on top of it! Instead I piddled around with the scans of the paper templates that I had done some weeks ago. I thought I could save the original and use a printout from the computer to do the real work. It worked ok on the nav light but the one for the landing light is too big to fit on one piece of letter paper. Here's what I did to get around it:
I hope you can see that I did two printouts, one of the left side and one of the right side and then taped them together. This is ok for marking the cutout section of the landing but it is not sufficient and precise enough to mark the holes that have to get drilled out. I thought about this for a while and then drove to AlphaGraphics and had them make a a few copies of the original template. Spent $0.64 and probably a quart of gas to get there and back.
I should have done this to begin with!
I still used my piece of patchwork as it is better to not cut out the template you use for marking the drill spots. The paper stays stiffer and has less tendency to wrinkle.
Over this template I taped the one for the drill spots which I had just gotten from the copy shop.
I used a center punch to punch the holes though the templates into the aluminum. I used a light setting as the skin is not that stiff in that area and punched each hole twice, then removed the top template and marked the cutout area for the light.
Then this template came off and I was curious if the center punch had done a good job or maybe too good of a job ...
Then the scary part was up - drilling. No way back after doing this but it was easier now as I had already dinged the wing by punching those dents into it. But trust me on this one, I was almost nauseated when I grabbed the drill and headed towards the first spot!
It went ok, although I still have no proof that what I did was a good job. I'll know tomorrow when clecoing the ribs in that are supposed to hold the light. If they cleco in easily, then the holes are good!
For now I can just hope that it doesn't just look good.
Then I had to make a decision how to cut out the landing light area. I drilled a hole in it and opened it up with the step drill until I was sure I could get a saw blade or even a nibbler in there to get the job done.
I had bought a pneumatic metal saw when it was on sale at HF as I thought this might be the tool to use for the landing light. Now I hooked it up and found this saw to be scrap metal. The piston hangs a lot and the force it's creating doesn't allow the saw to move through anything. As soon as it touches anything it stops moving and just blows air. What a disappointment! More so as I didn't have a backup plan better than using the pneumatic nibbler. But that tool is so aggressive that I was not feeling good to use this around my pretty wing. So I thought I'd give the jigsaw a try. All I had to do for that was to put some protective tape on the wing so the baseplate wouldn't scratch it. Easily done.
I set everything on the jigsaw to minimal movement, slow stroke and minimal forward movement and I started to saw the straight line on the top. Great job! Easy to control, a very straight and clean cut and I can even go into the curves with it. I quickly noticed that it'd be easier if I added a few more holes.
And so I sawed along and cutthrough the upper part of the landing light cutout. I realized that I shouldn't try to be fancy and do the bottom part without turning the wing over. There was just too much at stake. So I stopped at the leading edge.
My wife helped me turn the wing over and even she got so excited about this cutout procedure that she had to take images herself. I have already finished the cut out here.
And here is the reason why I (correctly) thought it would be a good idea to hold off on putting the wingtip skin in. This shot is taken from the outboard rib separating wing and wingtip.
Easy access if I need a third hand or just want to support a piece while working on it with my other hand at the same time.
Well, and that was the cutout procedure. I then went on (without photos as you wouldn't have seen the little difference anyway) to trim the cutout with the angle die grinder, then deburr it with fine hand files on outside (for beauty) and on the INSIDE (to not mar the glass insert as it will press against the inside of the cutout). Finally I polished the edges with the 1" Scrotchbrite wheel on the die grinder. Worked all great.
With the rest of daylight left I finished the prep work on the flaperon ribs and I had added the few landing light parts as well after deburring them.
It was dusk when I was done - otherwise I would have probably shot the primer, too :-).
No comments:
Post a Comment