October 31, 2004 - Left Wing

Here I am riveting the leading edge onto the main spar.

It was straightforward riveting the skin to the spar. Riveting the leading edge ribs to the spar was not. I elected to use blind rivets since I didn't feel I'd be able to do a good job with the rivet gun and universal rivets. The problem is getting the bucking bar inside the leading edge. It is possible -- by sticking your arm through the spar lightening holes -- but you would have to do it by "feel". I shot one rivet using the double angle set, but it came out terrible and I had to drill it out.

The blind rivets were no piece of cake either, as the rivet holes were very close to the rib. I had to buy a sacrificial rivet puller and grind off the side of it. It still wouldn't work. Then I discovered that if I put the pop-rivet in the hole, then slid the rivet-puller on the grip, it worked pretty well. I quickly found I needed to put two layers of masking tape on the rib to protect it from scratches. Once I worked out the process, the pop-riveting went rapidly. I was very pleased with how it came out. All the rib flanges are tightly fitted close to the spar web.

Next it was time to rivet the leading edge skin to the wing spar. For the first time in a long time, I had a very rewarding task that was quick and easy to do. It was no problem getting the main squeeze on virtually every rivet; and they all came out perfect. I really enjoyed myself on this task.

I hung the top skins briefly to identify the areas that needed to be sanded for the "scarf" joint. I sanded the top of the inboard skin and the bottom of the outboard skin. Probably didn't take enough metal off, since I was mostly just using emery cloth. After sanding, I used my Alodyne Pen on the non-alcaded areas.

Then I cleaned off the skins and doubler with Acetone, to get the fingerprints off.

Next, I hung the skins for hopefully the last time. I hung the plumb bobs and was very happy that the inboard and outboard strings were exactly equidistance from the bottom spar. Very cool. Everything is ready for riveting the top skins.