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Matt Dralle's RV-8 Project
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Date: 12-13-2009
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Number of Hours: 2.00
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: Floor Skin Riveting - IMPORTANT TIP - Part 1
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Since all the wiring and other miscellaneous interior fuselage fabrication was complete, the time had come to rivet the rear floor skins and rear baggage skins in.
Now, here's a common misconception about this process. The plans will have you hold off riveting the front three stiffener angles to the floor skins on both the left and right sides until *after* the floor skins are riveted down. The notion here is that those three angles make it impossible to install the skins because of the bending that is required to get the floor skins in place.
I first tried installing floor skins with those stiffeners just cleco'd on and found that I had no trouble whatsoever getting the floor skins in. So then I riveted the stiffener angles to the floor skins and tried again. Still no problem, they went right in.
The reason I point this out is because if you wait to rivet those angle stiffeners until after the floor skins are installed, it will be MUCH more difficult to rivet them due to the limited access. The likelihood of damaging the floor skin during riveting is significantly higher as well. Since there is no issue with installing or uninstalling the skins with the stiffeners riveted on, don't wait.
The front edge of the floor skins also have platenuts installed to screw the front seat pan down. Additionally there are four -3 platenuts to screw the bridge for the control column down. I thought for sure these were going to be next to impossible to rivet, little lone rivet well. I was pleasantly surprised, however, as they came out nearly perfect and weren't too difficult to do. Color me amazed, again.
Riveting the floors took a while due to the numerous pop rivets that hold them down. Once it was complete, the floor is very substantial.
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Top Of Floor Skins Ready For Installation
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Top Of Floor Skins Ready For Installation
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Floor Skins Cleco'd In Place
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Copyright © 2008-2024 Matt Dralle. All Rights Reserved.
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