Van's Air Force
Western Canada Wing
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Van's Air Force
Western Canada Wing |
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Tedd McHenry's RV-6 Project: Tips Click on any photo below to view it full size. |
01/01/03 The latest addition to my workshop: a whiteboard, for planning. Actually, it's not a real whiteboard--they're too expensive for my Scotch heart. It's an old storm window I don't use any more. I taped a big sheet of paper to the back side, to make the writing more legible. Dry-erase markers work perfectly on it. | |
Give a Kid a Hammer Department... 01/02/25 I have two toys I can't resist using: my laser level and my radial arm saw. About two years ago I bought an aluminum-cutting blade for the saw, for another project. I'm continually looking for ways to use it on the RV project. This was one. With a simple fence for a fixture, it was easy to cut the tapers on the elevator and rudder stiffeners, and they all come out nearly identical. | |
01/04/08 I decided that I wanted to use a positive pressure mask when I started priming. But I just couldn't afford the Hobby Air system right now. So I rigged up the arrangement you see in the photo, after discussing it with a friend who's an experienced painter. The mask is an off-the-shelf filter mask, from Home Depot. It has two filters with integral check valves, and an exhaust check valve. When the blower is running, the mask's exhaust check valve passes the excess air (the blower produces far more than I consume). The mask has a positive pressure at all times. For a blower, I used the motor and turbine from an old Hoover upright vacuum that I had lying around. I gave it a thorough cleaning first, considering the sort of stuff that's gone through it over the years. The turbine housing fits nicely into the end of a piece of 4" PVC drain pipe, which I also had lying around. (Sometimes it's handy to be in the middle of a house renovation while building an airplane.) The blower is connected to the mask with 3" heater hose, also from Home Depot. I would have preferred to use vacuum hose, but the price knocked my socks off: about $5 a foot! Now that I've proven to myself that it works, I'm going to add more hose. What you see is just 8 feet of hose. Once installed in my garage it will have about 24 feet, to give me room to move around, and to allow the intake to be located far from any fumes. The heater hose is quite thin, and tries to shoot out straight like a New Year's Tickler when the blower comes on. Another drawback is that the turbine exhausts over the motor, so if anything nasty comes from the motor it's headed my way. But I have the filter in between to take out any chunks. If the motor burns out, I'll certainly be the first to know! All-in-all, though, it seems to work quite well. And it costs as close to nothing as anything gets in the airplane-building world. The acid test will be when I'm painting, which will be soon. | |
01/08/12The tool cheapskate strikes again. I didn't bother to buy any of the restricted-access dimpling tools available from Avery, Cleveland, or wherever. So today, to finish the dimpling on the HS skeleton, I made this dimpling tool from an ordinary hardware-store C clamp (for 99 cents).
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01/11/17This is the dimpling tool I made for tight locations, such as the tips of the rudder top and bottom ribs. As you can see, it's made from a "C" clamp. I have drilled and countersunk a dimple die into the left-hand end, and replaced the "foot" with a 3/16" hole to hold a dimple die. Click here to see more about the construction of this tool. | |
Riveting in Tight Places02/01/23 Okay, I'm a slow builder. But sometimes good things come to he who waits. I had been putting off setting the last few rivets in each of my control surfaces because I just couldn't come up with a satisfactory way to do them. With the tail almost finished, I was browsing through some of the articles on this web site when I came across one by John Ammeter called How to Rivet in Tight Places. John described a technique that I have found to be very easy, and which produces excellent results. The technique requires a special bucking bar, like the one shown in this photo. I've subsequently been told that an axe blade works well. | |
Begin by placing the control surface on the workbench on top of your back-riveting plate. This photo shows a finished piece, but when you begin the last few rivets would be in the holes, but not yet set. Clamp the control surface carefully in place, using shims as shown. The rest of the control surface needs to be supported so that it remains level. You don't want scratches from the edges of your back-riveting plate. | |
Now place the tapered bucking bar onto the rivet you want to buck. Although it's not shown in this photo, the opposite end of the bucking bar is supported by tapered shims, so that it sits flat, perpendicular to the axis of the rivet. Now comes the slightly scary part. Grab your dead-blow hammer and--while carefully holding the bucking bar--whup it. Two or three good hits will set the rivet nicely. Check and reposition the bucking bar between each hit! There is some risk with this technique, so you want to be careful. | |
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Van's Air Force Western Canada Wing is not affiliated in any way with Van's Aircraft Incorporated. Western Canada RVator is not a publication of Van's Aircraft or any other corporation. All products reviewed or mentioned are not necessarily recommended for use by RV builders, but are described for information only. All builder's tips are presented only as a source of information and a forum for exchange and the sharing of ideas and construction methods. No responsibility is assumed, expressed, or implied as to the suitability, accuracy, safety, or approval thereof. Any party using the suggestions, ideas, or examples does so at his or her own risk and discretion and without recourse against anyone. The members of Van's Air Force Western Canada Wing, the editor of the Western Canada RVator, and all authors and contributors are not responsible for any product or builder's tips misuse, incorrect construction, or design failure, nor any other peril. All material on this web site is copyright Van's Air Force Western Canada Wing, or copyright the attributed author, unless otherwise noted. | |||