VS Skins

Tuesday, August 19 2008

SANY0032I got the skins re-attached last night, so that I was ready for riveting the middle ribs to the skin.  My father-in-law came over and we got right to work.  For the middle ribs it helps to have one person reaching in with the bucking bar, while the other uses the rivet gun. 

The riveting process goes like this

  1. Rivet the skin to the middle nose rib.  Start at front spar riveting both sides, and work forward
  2. Rivet the skin to the top rib forward of the front spar
  3. Rivet the bottom nose rib in place
  4. Rivet the skin to the forward spar.
    1. For the area above the middle rib, uncleco just enough so you can get your hand and a bucking bar in
    2. For the area below the middle rim, remove the bottom inspar rib
  5. Rivet the skin to the middle inspar rib
  6. Place the bottom inspar rib back in place and rivet it to the rear spar, and it and the nose rib to the forward spar
  7. Rivet the skin to the bottom inspar rib, skipping the fairing attach holes marked previously
  8. Rivet the skin to the rear spar
  9. Finish riveting the Spar caps to the rear spar below the skins

Working with my father in law, we got most of the way throuh step 4.  This worked out great because there were some difficult spots where it was good to have a second pair of hands and eyes.