Tonight I put the pieces I missed up to good use. I used them to practiced drilling and riveting. Most of the stuff below I learned how to do at the Sonex two day workshop in Oshkosh, WI. I went to the workshop March 2013 and would highly recommend going if you plan on building a plane.
Here's the scrape pieces I used for practice the trim tab and a piano hinge. The first step is to match up the two pieces and drill a pilot hole with a #30 (or 3/32) bit. The #30 drill bit is just slightly larger than 3/32" which makes it much easier to clamp the silver 3/32" clecos.
The next step is to remove the piano hinge and debur ever hole on both sides. Deburing removes the stress risers which are caused by cutting or drilling the aluminum. A stress riser is like a small crack or tare, the material becomes much stronger if they are removed. Think about ripping something in two with your hands, it's much easier if there is a small tare or cut to get you started. A few twist of the deburing tool to is all it takes to remove the stress risers.
The holes need to be up drilled with a #30 drill bit which is slightly larger than 1/8". Then debur all the holes and clamp the two pieces together with the copper 1/8" clecos.
I've been wanting to use my new pneumatic rivet gun for awhile now. My friend Bob gave me a good tip which was to turn the air pressure down to around 40psi. I found it works best around 44psi. I gave it a try at 60psi and sure enough after setting the rivet the gun hopped off the rivet very quickly and then back onto the trim tab surface leaving a nice scar. I went ahead and marked my air pressure air regulator valve so I know where to set it when I need to rivet. I did so because my air drill requires around 90psi to operate efficiently and I'll be adjusting the pressure often.
One of the important things about rivets is they have to be flush with the surface of the material. I had one rivet with a slight gap. I removed and replaced the bad rivet. Removing the bad rivet is easy, with a quick tap of the drill it pops right out.
And both sides with all the rivets in place. I pretty happy with the way it turned out. I'll see if my buddy can stop by this weekend and take a look just to get a second opinion. Time for bed good night...
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