19 July 2005 - F705 Bulkhead
I started work on the third bulkhead, the F705, which is just behind and supports the seats, and provides an attachment point for the wing rear spars.  This page represents about four evenings worth of not-real-exciting work. 

The bulkhead is a rectangular structure and the first step is the bottom portion assembly of the rectangle.  The first step was to cut a long reinforcing strip to length. 

More fashioning work.  I had to taper the two pieces to the lines drawn on the top piece. 
 
I had to make two spacers out of the thick, square piece on the bottom. 
 
It was at this point that I was really wishing I had a band saw.  I even took these pieces out to the airport because I thought some friends might have a band saw in their hangar.  But no joy. 
 
A rare shot of yours truly doing home maintenance!  Lynnette and I spent 3/4 of the weekend painting in the house.    
I gave up on the band saw and started sawing aluminum. 
I soon realized I could only get halfway down the line with the hacksaw.  I had to use the dremel tool to do the rest. 
Finished sawing one -- still have to file it smooth -- and have started on the second.  The two spacers are taking shape.
All the sawing and filing is complete.  Here I have fit all the pieces together in preparation for matchdrilling.  The spacer needed some filing on one edge so the top piece would fit snugly.  
The entire assembly.
The assembly clamped together.  I have started drilling the holes, using the main bulkhead piece as the drill template.
A closeup of the clamp on one end.
Assembly drilling complete.

The next step was to drill the seat belt anchor brackets to the assembly.  I drilled the right hand brackets, then bolted them to the assembly as show here.  I still have to drill the left hand brackets.  

Close up of the right seat belt anchor bracket. 
 
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