Day 2--Firewall, Wing assembly, and rivets!

Hello everyone! Thanks for following along--we hope you're enjoying the pics from here in Arlington.  Let us know if you have any questions or would like to see something else in the blog, and we'll try to make it happen!

Today was another great day for learning, with more 'firsts' for each of us.  Today we learned how to use a Nico press to fasten cables, attach cables to bell cranks & pulleys, use pull rivets, drill carbon fiber, countersink holes for flush rivets, cut & bend fuel line pipes, and use swage locks.  The list goes on!  Here are some photos of the things we were working on today.

First, here are the guts of the right wing coming together:

This is one of the flap pulleys in the right wing.  Each wing has two flap cables--one to deploy the flap and the other to retract it.  The big cotter pin next to the pulleys keeps the cables seated in the groove.  The third cable sitting above the pulley is one of the aileron cables--the other one isn't installed yet.

This is the aileron "secondary" cable (the primary cable is in the cockpit--the secondary is in the wing; we will attach the two later).  It uses a similar type of pulley system.  The other aileron cable, the "crossover" cable, isn't installed yet in this photo but also goes through this pulley.  As its name suggest, the 'crossover' cable works from wing to wing in order to ensure symmetric aileron travel during flight.

This is the completed aileron cable assembly.  The cables go to a bellcrank which attaches to a pushrod (far right, protruding from the aft wing spar).  The pushrod actuates the aileron in flight.

This is a closeup of the cable fittings we use.  The clamp that looks like an oil drum is a Nico clamp.  We hand-pressed them with a Nico clamp, then put heat-shrink around the assembly to keep it clean and prevent wire frays at the end.  The Nico clamp actually creates a strong point in the cable, so it is extremely unlikely to fail.

Tracy and Ryan.  Tracy is hand-riveting the right aileron trim tab.

This is the completed right aileron trim tab.  Nice work, Tracy!  Note the inspection hole in the upper right of the photo...

...Inside the inspection hole is the electric motor that actuates the trim.  Our airplane has 2-axis electric trim (pitch and roll), so we will have a motor in the tail as well.

Our left wing already has the 'guts' in it required to rivet the top skins on, so we did about 85% of the rivet work on it this afternoon.

 

Left Wing ready to rivet.  The porcupine look is the Cleco clamps which act like removable rivets. The hole in the wing is a fuel filling port--there are two on each wing for our 4 total fuel tanks.

The rivets are covered with Rivet Tape, which serves to hold them in place and also helps keep the rivet gun from damaging the surface when it impacts.

This is the inside of the left wing looking from inboard.  On the left you can see the rivets prior to riveting--once riveted they are more flush.  About 3 feet down into the wing you can see the first spar with the lightening holes cut in it.  The first 3 feet of wing are empty right now but will eventually contain the primary left fuel tank.  Our tanks are welded aluminum and contribute to the wing's final structural makeup.

Finally, today we installed the Engine Firewall:

Tracy with Matt drilling firewall holes.

Tracy's tool is a 90deg drill--think "dentist drill."  It's used for tight spaces.  We tried to get a picture of Eric working inside the fuselage but there wasn't room for the camera...just kidding.

This is the interior side of the firewall, with insulation to reduce unwanted cabin heat from the engine.

This is the exterior of the firewall, with cleco clamps holding the firewall to the fuselage.

Eric is using a countersink cutting tool to sink the wells for the flush rivets to the exact depth.  Matt is holding a vacuum next to the process to keep down carbon fiber dust...which irritates skin and also can short out electrical circuitry if it accumulates.

This is a typical buzz of activity around the airplane...yep, that's how you do it in two weeks!

This is the near-complete firewall with the flush rivets in.  I only had to drill out one of them & redo...lucky.  The red seal you see is fire retardant caulk.

Three months preggers and building a plane--my wife is awesome.  But Tired!  See you tomorrow!