Fuel Tank Construction

While I'm trying to build both wings at the same time, I'm thinking that I will have to build one tank at a time. The problem is that I have just enough clecos to have two wings clecoed, two leading edges clecoed, and one tank. :) Trying to beg/borrow/steal enough additional clecos just does not seem worth the effort. One tank at a time should be fine, as long as I do the two back to back.

Started on Right Tank

July 4, 2003

Ribs straightness and fluting were checked and then Christopher and I clecoed the first tank together. Pulling them together is a bear since the skins are so thick and stiff. Additionally, the end ribs are thicker as well which adds to the difficulty when pulling them in place. Still, we got it done. After the tank was clecoed I started work on the Z-brackets. I deburred the edges and measured for the first middle spar-side hole. I then made a quick jig (with a chunk of 2x4, some C-clamps holding it to the drill press, and some sharpie marks) for drilling. This let me measure once and then for all the rest of the brackets (except the two inboard Z-brackets which need to be drilled a little differently) I could just toss them up on the jig, clamp them to the 2x4, and drill. I've already started to match-drill the brackets to the spar but after the first two it was time to start the grill for the brats. :) Happy 4th of July, everyone! Time : 3.0 hours

Drilled Tank Z-Brackets

July 5, 2003

While waiting on the family to get ready to go out today I drilled the rest of my right-tank Z-brackets. I'm being nagged by the family to get up and head out the front door now so I'll cut this entry short! Suffice it to say that the match-drilling is going well. :) After our outing today (and while waiting for dinner) I spent a little more time drilling the Z-brackets for the left tank. I figured that while I was doing that particular flavor of operation I might as well get all of the brackets done! Time : 1.25 hours

Drilled Tank Z-Brackets

July 6, 2003

Another day of doing lots of little steps. Today I drilled the nutplate rivet holes in the z-brackets. I used a nutplate that I ran a 10-32 tap through to make it screw onto an AN-3 bolt easily. (That nutplate is now a throwaway 'cause in running the tap through the self-locking capability of the nutplate was compromised badly!) I then screwed the nutplate onto the z-bracket and used the ears as a drill guide. Lots of tedious little steps, but not a bad job given I had NPR going on the radio. I then countersunk the rivet holes for the nutplates. Again, a tedious job with lots of little steps but not bad once you get in the groove. :) I also used my electric scriber to etch the location for each z-bracket so that when we cleaned and alodined the brackets we could still figure out where they belonged. Finally, with Theresa's help I alodined the z-brackets. We cleaned off the sharpie marks, scuffed with Scotchbrite, and alodined. It went pretty fast and in fairly short order (after we ate dinner) they were ready to be primed. Sooooo ... I primed them. I'm ready for the final step in fitting the tanks but will leave that until the next session. Time : 3.5 hours

Installed Platenuts on Z-Brackets / Cut Out Stiffeners	July 9, 2003
When I got home from work Christopher was installing platenuts on the Z-brackets. I had shown him what needed to be done last night and he did some independent work today. Way cool! What a kid! :) While he finished that up I snipped out the tank stiffeners. They still need to be cleaned up on the Scotchbrite wheel but that'll be pretty quick work when I get around to it. Time : 1.25 hours

Installed (Temporarily) the Z-Brackets and Right Tank

July 12, 2003

I finally got some 10-32 cap-head screws so I don't waste my AN hardware temporarily installing the Z-brackets. I didn't want to have to worry about exact torque values! It was just very slow running all those bolts through those stubborn platenuts. I installed the brackets on both wings, just to have that job out of the way. I also installed the platenuts for the inboard bracket (which has the platenuts mounted on the front-side of the spar) with pulled rivets. I decided that all the rivets did was hold the platenuts handily while the bolts are out and riveting between those close spaced ribs risked me banging the spar reinforcements and it didn't seem worth it just to install solid rivets. We then set the tank up on the spar and the fit is fantastic! You can see the results in the pictures here. There is NO gap between the tank and the leading edge! Time : 2.5 hours

Touched the Project (Scotchbrited Tank Stiffeners)

July 21, 2003

It has been a crazy few weeks with having some sort of bug (that seemed to be going around), a party one weekend, and out of town the next. As you can see I have not touched the project since the 12th! Even tonight I'm kinda tired from the wonderful weekend away last weekend, but wanted to "touch the project" just to remember how it feels to work on it! I didn't want to do anything that being tired would really screw up ... so I Scotchbrited tank stiffeners. There are a bunch of them, too. Got them all done and am now going to go get a bite to eat. :) Hopefully tomorrow night I'll have recovered even more and can get back to the main activity of getting that first tank fitted. However, this just goes to show that you should always have some small side-task to do just in case you hit a night when doing "big stuff" just isn't in the cards! Time : 1.25 hours

Drilled (Mostly) Right Tank

July 22, 2003

I drilled the right tank rib-to-skin rivet holes, avoiding drilling the skin-to-baffle holes because it is too easy to accidentally drill the spar doing those while mounted. DRILL THE SKIN-TO-BAFFLE HOLES WHILE NOT MOUNTED ON THE SPAR! Thankfully I remembered and didn't make a mistake myself. I also drilled the #19 holes through the tank skin into the join plate which goes between the tank and leading edge skins. Once the rib-to-skin holes were drilled I drilled the exposed inboard rib to Z-bracket and clecoed it in place. I then pulled off the leading edge and this exposed the outboard rib and Z-bracket letting me drill them as well. I then removed the tank skin and ribs ... leaving the two outboard ribs clecoed to their respective Z-brackets. This arrangement left me with wide open access to the rest of the Z-brackets and I drilled them as well. I then pulled the rest of the tank parts off of the spar and reassembled the tank in the cradle. This allowed me to drill the skin-to-baffle holes (safely away from the spar), thus completing virtually all of the drilling needed for this tank. Time : 2.25 hours

Finished Drilling Right Tank / Started Deburring

July 23, 2003

I finished drilling the right fuel tank. This included drilling the tank-to-spar screw holes. I also started doing a little deburring on the right leading edge. That is all the time I had before we had to head out for the evening ... but a little work done is better than no work done at all! I'm going to pause on tank work now to go finish the right wing leading edge. That way I can get it clecoed on and off the work bench making room for other parts. Trying to build two wings at the same time is an exercise in space management .. for sure! Time : 0.75 hours

Started Fabricating Tank Attach Brackets

August 30, 2003

I needed something simple to do as I was a little under the weather over the labor day weekend. Doing the cuts and shaping on the brackets seemed a good activity. I had cut the sections out of the angle stock on Marilyn's metal bandsaw, and then used the die grinder to cut off the bulk of the material to rough shape the outward-facing flange of the bracket. I then used my disk sander to further shape the flange, and finally my Scotchbrite wheel to clean it all up. I'm not completely done, but have made a good start on these parts and am pleased with how the shaping is coming along. Time : 2.5 hours

Clecoing Left Tank	September 6, 2003
While waiting for some charcoal to get ready for dinner ... I did a little more shaping of the tank attach bracket. I now have the flange which sticks out from the tank finished for both tanks. It looks *quite* nice. Once I am done drilling both tanks (I'm about to work on the left tank now) I'll make a pattern for the nose rib for the other flange. Time : 0.25 hours

Clecoing Left Tank

September 7, 2003

It was time to do the much hated first cleco-ing of the tank. These ribs are really stubborn, and much sweat is generated getting them clecoed together for the first time. Once they are drilled it isn't so bad, but this first tight fit is really tough. I had to pause with two ribs left. Earlier today we had to dig (and transport via wheelbarrow) a mound of dirt. I hurt .. and more specifically, my back hurts! Bending over to cleco finally did it in and a break is now called for! Since I didn't want to quit working, but couldn't bend over to cleco any longer, I did some general shop maintenance. Things like dragging my air compressor outside to drain accumulated water from the tank, and other small jobs that I always put off doing. :) Time : 1.5 hours

Clecoing Left Tank (Finished)

October 2, 2003

Ok ... you might wonder why a month has gone by with those two ribs still not installed. Along with many other things we had a hurricane (Isabel), went to the beach, had to deal with beta-release-madness at work, spending some of my Saturday free time helping out at the flying club, building a sewing table for Marie, taken kayaking lessons (and decided to put kayaking on hold until next spring) and a whole host of other things. I don't begrudge any of these activities (except for Isabel, actually) but they have taken my time. Tonight Tom comes by to take a look at an issue I have on the wing, and I do dearly hope he doesn't have anything too bad to say! (NOTE: Tom gave me a clean bill of health. He said that the progress is looking good and he is happy to give me a sign-off for this inspection!) Time : 0.5 hours

Drilled Left Tank and Z-brackets

October 4, 2003

I got a lot done in a short bit of time ... it helps that this is the second round of doing this work. I drilled the tank/rib holes, and the tank/z-bracket holes. Once I pulled the baffle back off I drilled any and all holes (including all the baffle holes, which are risky to drill while clecoed on the wing due to the high opportunity for drilling into the spar) which had not yet been touched. I also pulled the join plate out and got it deburred and scotchbrited ready to be dimpled and to have the platenuts attached. Progress! Time : 2.0 hours

Tank Stiffener Work

November 28, 2003

Now that the top skins are on the wing (see the wing section) and the QB fuselage is delivered (see the fuselage section) it is time to get back working on the tanks. Today I sorted the tank stiffeners into two groups ... one for each tank. I also used my soft Scotchbrite wheel on the die grinder to polish the edges of the stiffeners so they weren't so rough. Much nicer now! Christopher and I drilled the stiffeners to the right tank skin and then he set into deburring everything on that tank. He got all sides of the skin done as well as all the stiffeners, but we got distracted (on a Lowe's run) before he could get further. As for me, I worked on shaping the right tank attach angle. If you look above you'll see that I got the easy side done, and now was shaping the portion of the angle that fits into the nose of the rib. Partway through I realized that my abrasive disk on the disk sander was shot ... which meant a run to Lowe's (the distraction mentioned in the earlier paragraph). When we got back I finished up the angle, but Chris was tired of deburring so the ribs are left 'til tomorrow. Still, we got a good bit done today considering I seem to have picked up some cold bug! *grumble* Time : 2.5 hours

Right Tank Prep Continued

November 29, 2003

Theresa spent some time deburring the ribs, and then the baffle plate. I pulled off the blue plastic from the skin, deburred the edges of the skin, and started countersinking the skin/baffle rivet holes. Getting that plastic off in the cold this morning was made a lot easier after facing it at the propane heater in the shop for a few minutes! Not so close as to actually get even remotely hot ... but at least a little warmed up from being absolutely frigid. After lunch I finished up the countersinking on one side of the tank skin (tedious and tiring, given how I'm doing it) and pulling the conduit through the left wing (another tedious job, time logged under the Wings section). I'm still wrestling with a slight cold so spent the afternoon mainly watching my IFR ground school and didn't get nearly as much plane work done as I could have. Oh well. (Yes, I'm insane not only flying while building, but adding on an IFR rating as well.) Time : 1.5 hours

Left Tank Prep

November 30, 2003

Theresa spent an our disassembling the left tank, marking the ribs, and deburring the ribs and baffle. While she did this Christopher and I took the crate parts (plywood, 2x4s, metal bands, paper) to the dump. Always fun, ya know. I pulled the plastic off of the left tank skin while taking breaks from finishing countersinking of the baffle/skin rivet line on the right tank skin. Given how it is done I have to take regular breaks, so pulling plastic is a no-brainer job to do while waiting for my shoulder to stop hurting from the countersinking! :) Theresa tackled the job of deburring the left tank skin. That took a little bit. I worked on drilling the one tank attach bracket that was already finished, and then finishing and drilling the other tank attach bracket. Finally, I spent a little time deburring the left tank stiffeners. With that done, the next thing to do on the left tank is to cut the countersinks for the baffle/skin rivets. Time : 4.5 hours

Left Tank Countersinking

December 3, 2003

I spent a little time starting on the countersinks for the skin/baffle rivet holes. I'm still a little under the weather so mainly showed Theresa how to do it ... and did a few myself. Also as an experiment (and not counted in any logged time) I took a bit of scrap aluminum bar and practiced polishing it. Running from 250 grit to 600 grit I sanded the bar .. and then finally hit it with the polishing compound on a buffer mounted on my bench grinder. For a quick experiment, it came out great! The goal is to polish my fuel caps, and when I do them I'll likely start with a rougher grit at the start, and will go up to 1000 grit in the end before polishing on the buffer. Should turn out fantastic! Time : 0.5 hours

Left Tank Countersinking (again)	December 4-5, 2003
Theresa cut loose a spare few minutes to do some countersinking on the left fuel tank skin each day. Fifteen minutes a day isn't much, but every little bit helps .. and surprisingly enough it moved things along nicely! Time : 0.50 hours

Tank Progress

December 6, 2003

I finished the countersinks on the left fuel tank skin, drilled the T-410 stiffeners to their respective ribs (drilling the ribs at the same time as well). I also cut the anti-rotation brackets, cleaned them up on the Scotchbrite wheel, and started to drill the holes for the fuel fitting. It was then that I discovered that I didn't have a 9/16 drill bit! Off to Lowe's it is, then. I also discovered that I had the T-408 tank cover plates when what I really need at the T-411, it seems. The float style fuel senders get mounted onto the T-408 if you are using that style sender, and therefore there are a number of holes in that cover plate that are rather useless to me! This was a simple mistake at Van's since I did order the capacitive fuel senders when I ordered my wing kit ... so they should have known. I'll fix this up on Monday and until then work on what else I can. There is plenty to do, ya know. :) Time : 4.25 hours

More Tank Progress

December 7, 2003

Today was a collection of more tank prep work. I drilled the fuel cap flanges for both tanks, drilled the fuel drain flange for both tanks, and drilled the #19 holes for the tank/spar screws in the right tank skin as well. I then cut the countersinks in the fuel cap flanges and fabricated the vent line retainer clip for both tanks. I also created the dimples for the #8 screws on one of the tank skins. At that point it was getting rather cold and I was getting rather tired. Aside from airplane work ... there *was* other stuff to do today, and it all added up to me being bushed by dinner time. Time : 4.0 hours

Started Dimpling Tank Skins	December 26, 2003
You might wonder why there was the sudden big break in progress. As it turns out, the middle of December was insanity on multiple fronts. However, Theresa (not me!) finally got some time after the Christmas craziness calmed down and did some dimpling on the tanks. Wonderful. After I get a few other items off my plate I'm getting airplane work done over the holiday too! *whew* Time : 1.0 hours

Set Up Stiffener Dimpling Station

December 28, 2003

I took a few minutes out from the family visiting to pull together an idea I have had about making a stiffener dimpling station. I only had a few minutes, but this was so dirt simple that it only took a few minutes. Look at the picture to see the setup (picture to come soon). It allows me to sit there and quickly (and comfortably) dimple the large pile of tank stiffeners I have to dimple. Sometimes it is the simple solutions that are so satisfying. :) Time : 0.25 hours

Dimpled Tank Stiffeners

December 29, 2003

Ok .. ok .. I know I was supposed to work on the plane today. Instead I got distracted by the dearth of what seemed to me to be reasonable yoke clips for instrument approach plates. So I made one. I'll include a picture here ... just so you know how I spent my day. It did NOT take a day to fabricate it, but it did take the morning to puzzle through how I wanted to build it, throw out some ideas because the materials I wanted to use were not available (not handily enough, at least) and driving around designing as I walked through various stores. The fabricating took all of about 2 hours ... once I had it all figured out. This is the Mk 1 version, warts and all. If it works out I now have the material to make about four more. Want one? :) Oh .. yeah .. and I dimpled my tank stiffeners, too. That is the only shop time I could actually log today! Time : 0.50 hours

Capacitive Fuel Senders	December 30, 2003
I spent the morning working on positioning, drilling, and installing platenuts on the capacitive senders. It is finally time to open up the black goo ... so I can use it on some of the wire connectors. We'll see how that goes. This is the last bit of building in 2003, as I know I'll be too busy tomorrow (New Year's Eve) to get anything done! On to 2004 and more progress! Time : 2.5 hours

Capacitive Fuel Senders / Inboard Tank Rib Prep

January 16, 2004

Ok, the beginning of the year has been a bust as far as working on the plane goes. We have just been either too busy, or it has been way too cold, to get any work done. Oh well. Now, back to working! I soldered one capacitive sender wire to the BNC connector, and crimped/soldered the other wire to a ring terminal. I also very carefully set up the fly-cutter and cut the large access holes in the inboard tank rib. I used the T-408 to determine where the fuel line hole should go in my T-411, and also did some drilling on some scrap to determine how large a hole I needed for both the fuel vent line AN fitting as well for the BNC connector. This all took so long (3 hours!) because I was continually having to get out stuff I've not used in ages, or making other changes. For instance, I had to change the chuck on my drill press to my old larger (but not zero closure) chuck, had to remember how my terminal crimper worked, had to drag out my Weller soldering station, etc. Time : 3.0 hours

More Inboard Tank Rib Prep

January 17, 2004

Today I continued work on getting the inboard tank ribs ready to go. I drilled the holes for both the capacitive sender BNC bulkhead connector, the tank vent line AN fitting, and the fuel line AN fitting. I also had to drill the two #30 holes for the anti-rotation bracket. These holes in the tank cover plate (for me, a T-411) were not predrilled since this part is designed to accommodate both capacitive sender installation as well as the flop tube. I've decided to skip the flop tube after all, so had to install the holes for the standard fuel pickup. I also drilled the #8 screw holes for the cover in the rib, as well as the holes for the cover reinforcement ring. This included all the #40 holes for the platenuts that go into the reinforcement ring. If I had not gotten to the point where my feet were killing me from standing on concrete, I would have done the dimpling/countersinking for those rivets as well. Oh well, gotta leave something for the next session! This means I'm getting really close to not being able to put off the proseal activity any longer! Woe is me. :) Time : 3.5 hours

More Tank Prep

January 24, 2004

Today was blissfully warm (in the 50s) so working in the shop was a real treat (compared to what it is going to be like tomorrow .. in the 20s!). I countersunk the tank reinforcement rings, dimpled the ribs, and then clecoed (with Christopher's help) and riveted the platenuts on. This took a wile ... there are a lot of holes ... but I got it done. I also drilled the rivet holes in the anti-rotation brackets. I then pulled out the fuel pickup tube and cut it in half. I flared one end and used my new tubing bender to bend it roughly to the right angle. I'm going to wait until final fitting to cut it to size and finish the far end. Aside from finishing dimpling the tank skins, I've done about all I can without messing with the "Black Death ™". Maybe if it is not too freezing tomorrow .. I'll get into that bucket of fun. :) Time : 3.75 hours

Finished Tank Dimpling

February 1, 2004

Theresa had dimpled the bottom side of the left tank already, and I had dimpled the #8 screw dimples. That left half of a skin and another whole skin to dimple. It is amazing to me how long it takes, but virtually the whole time was spent today on the dimples ... with a little work on reworking the flair on my fuel pickup tubes. You see, I did the flair and bend before putting on the AN nut. The nut itself was no problem, but the bushing .. well .. it would not go past the bend. Given that I felt the distance between the top of the flair and the bend was too long anyway ... I cut it off, slipped on the bushing, and re-flared the tube. Problem solved. Note to self: Always remember to fit the AN fittings BEFORE you do the flair so that you can actually get the buggers on when the time comes! Time to go watch the Superbowl now. Go Panthers! (Not that I'm a huge fan, but what the heck .. gotta root for the "home" team. Right? *grin*) Time : 3.25 hours

Prosealed Fuel Pickup / Capacitive Sender Wires

February 7, 2004

This is my first round of "fun" with Proseal. It went well enough, but I had an alignment problem with one of my anti-rotation brackets and riveting was not possible. I had to adjust it a bit which meant MEKing the proseal back off .. working on the part .. and doing it all over again. *groan* Not fun. Once I was done I had polished off my box of latex gloves and lots of paper towels. That being said, I learned a bit about working with the stuff and am glad my first round was a simple/small one. It'll go better next time. :) I did get the fuel pickup fittings in place, prosealed, with the anti-rotation brackets in place and prosealed as well. I used some left over proseal to cover the wires already attached to the capacitive sender plates. Time : 2.25 hours

Prosealing Tank Stiffeners / Filler Ring / Sump Drain (Left)

February 8, 2004

With a lot of help from Christopher we got the stiffeners, filler ring, and sump drain done on the right tank today. There isn't much to say that hasn't been said ... proseal gets *everywhere* if you are not careful, have lots of gloves and paper towels at the ready. I made a point to scuff the areas to be prosealed with my Scotchbrite pads, and then cleaned with MEK. I cleaned the rivets with MEK as well. I got everything as squeaky clean as possible, then did NOT touch it again. We'll see how it goes when time comes to leak-test. I did use the proseal cartridge gun that I purchased off of eBay, and it was fantastic! The little cartridges are expensive, but I'll be buying a couple more to finish off the tanks. I will tell you, though, that one 6oz cartridge goes a LOT further than you might expect. We did everything today and had a good third of the cartridge left (unfortunately, since after it is mixed it'll cure and can't be used again). Time : 4.5 hours

Prosealing Tank Stiffeners / Filler Ring / Sump Drain (Right)	February 14, 2004
The previous entry might as well be copied here with only a few differences. This time it went faster, even though this time we had a few rivets to drill out. I also used a good bit more proseal this time around ... and have no clue why. Even so, the gun was once again a real win! Oh, and my helper today was Theresa, and a great helper she is too! Time : 3.0 hours

Misc Tank Rib Prep

February 15, 2004

This morning as I was thinking about what to do next I realized that I had not yet dimpled the tank ribs! I knew I was going to get around to it some time .. so today was the day. I also "fabricated" (if you can really call it that) the little plates to put over the tooling hold on the inboard rib, drilled the plate to the rib, and then riveted and prosealed it in place. I also double-checked the various tank rib reinforcement plates to insure they were ready to go, and Scotchbrited the rib flanges as well as the place where the reinforcement plates will be installed. The morning was spent, sadly, in a lengthy quest for propane for my space heater ... else I could not have worked out in the very cold garage much at all today! Fortunately, I did find some propane and Mr. Heater was back in action again today. Time : 3.5 hours

Started Clecoing the Right Tank

February 21, 2004

We are having a party tonight, so there was very little time to work on the plane. Furthermore, I'm in the final segment of working on my instrument rating ... and it is likely the case that I won't get much work done on the plane for a few weeks. However, I had to touch it a bit, so did get three ribs clecoed into the right tank. This is in preparation for riveting and prosealing the tank ... which we'll get to eventually. :) Time : 1.0 hours

Finished Clecoing Tanks for Riveting

March 13, 2004

Ok ... it has been a long silent break here, mainly because I'm trying to finish up my instrument rating. Why I elected to fly, train, and build is beyond me. Not a bad thing, but tough. My instrument written is behind me now (successfully!) and I'm back to building. I clecoed the rest of the tanks together to hold them straight for the riveting sessions. I'll be pulling ribs out as I go to make room but the tanks will be held fairly rigid by the other ribs which will be in place. Time : 1.5 hours

Riveting Left Tank

March 14, 2004

Getting ready took a bit of time, what with mixing the proseal, getting out all the tools, setting the air pressure and checking the gun, and all the other little steps. Since this was the first rib prosealed in place we wanted to go slowly and make sure nothing was forgotten. Still, something was forgotten. On the first rib we neglected to do the few turns with the deburring tool to help the rivet seat well. If you look very carefully you'll see that the rivets sit slightly proud. Oh well ... for the rest of the ribs we'll give a few turns with the debur tool and then clean before we proseal. (We don't want metal shavings in the mix here!) Rib one is done and we are now obligated to go do lunch with the family. Once we come back we are going to finish this tank today ... at least those ribs which have to have their rivets driven. [ Out to lunch ...] We are back from lunch and have gotten another pair of ribs driven in an hour and a half. It is slow, messy work .. but we are getting there. Now we have to break for some more family time, and I hope my Proseal cartridge holds up 'til we get back! [ Time passes ... ] The Proseal cartridge did hold up ... but just barely. We can't allow quite so many breaks in the process next time. However, we got all the ribs that needed to be *driven* (that is to say, the inner five) done. Still left to be done is adding a "fillet" of Proseal along the rib flanges and adding spots of Proseal on the rivet shop heads. Easy enough to do the next time we rivet. Time : 5.5 hours

More Tank Work

March 27, 2004

More breaks in working due to finishing up my instrument rating. No, I have not made it out for my checkride but we are getting there. Also, Theresa (who is one of my major building assistants) has not been able to get out into the shop so things have been delayed ... again. Today was an exercise in fixing up problems. I drilled the wrong ribs for the fuel senders, and had to re-drill the right ribs. I also put the clip for the vent line in the wrong place and had to move that. None of this was a big deal, but it did take time. All fixed now, and I'm moving forward. I cut my vent lines and have them ready to install. With luck I'll make even more progress tomorrow! :) Time : 3.25 hours

Yet Again More Tank Work	March 28, 2004
I installed the vent line, one of the fuel sender plates, snaked the wire from that plate through the snap bushings, and installed and sealed one of the end ribs. There should be more to write from all the work, but that really sums it all up well enough! Time : 4.5 hours

Inboard Fuel Sender Plate Installed

May 23, 2004

Installed the BNC connector into the end rib, snaked the wire into where the inboard sender plate resides, crimped the connected onto the wires and installed the connector onto the plate. April (and much of May) was a dead loss on airplane building due to finishing my instrument rating, going to Sun-N-Fun, going to San Jose for business, and a host of other activities. I'm back at it now, though. :) Time : 2.5 hours

Left Fuel Tank (Mostly) Finished

May 24, 2004

I'm back working on the plane with a vengeance now! Today I had help (lots of it!) from both Theresa and Chris. Thanks guys! We installed the inboard fuel sender plate, the inboard rib, the vent line fitting, riveted the rib, riveted the tank attach bracket and reenforcement plate, attached the vent line, and pro-sealed the BNC connector for the fuel sender. The only thing left to do at that point was to install the back baffle, and (except for the lower line of rivets) that is what I did. I used the pop rivets as recommended and the Z-brackets went on with no trouble at all. Sure seems like I should have more to write, but it takes a LOT of time to do all this given the number of rivets, the annoyance of the pro-seal on everything, and the ongoing cleanup needed as clecos and tools get coated in pro-seal. Yuck. I ran out of time (and energy!) today so the bottom line of baffle rivets will have to be installed later this week. After that I'm going to give it some time and then once the pro-seal has had a good chance to cure I'll leak test the tank (please please please let it not leak!). :) Time : 8.0 hours

Finished Left Fuel Tank	May 25, 2004
After working late on "real work" I went out and set that last row of rivets. This was the line on the bottom of the back baffle. The left tank (other than leak testing and fixing any problems found) is done! Time : 1.5 hours

Preped for Leak Test

May 29-30, 2004

I spent a little time over the holiday weekend (when I didn't have other commitments) preping for the leak test. I realized that I had made one small mistake by installing the screws on the tank access cover with only fuel lube ... and then upon reading the directions again discovered that I really should have used pro-seal (and should have realized this without the directions!). So, I pulled out the screws one at a time, cleaned them in MEK, and then reinstalled them with a dab of pro-seal. It made a nice little "gasket" around the head of the screw but I had to let this all cure before leak testing. Also, I realized that just sticking the 1/2 inch tubing I have over the vent line would NOT seal adequately. The threads would let air out so I need to create an adapter with some flared tubing that I can put on the vent line. Then the plastic tubing can go over the smooth aluminum tubing and make a good seal. Then ... the moment(s) of truth. The leak test. :) Time : 2.0 hours

Right Tank Outboard Sender	June 2, 2004
I had mis-drilled the holes to attach the outboard fuel sender, so I took a little time to fix them tonight. I wanted to have everything ready for riveting on Saturday. I have a little more to do (need to fabricate the vent line, and final fit the fuel pickup tube) but we are essentially ready to go. Time : 1.0 hours

Right Tank Interior Ribs Installed	June 5, 2004
Theresa and I (as planned) installed and sealed the interior ribs in the right tank. I'd say more, but you have heard it all before. :) Time : 4.0 hours

Right Tank Work Continues / Left Leaks Sealed

June 13, 2004

The left tank did not end up being leak free, so today I tried to seal the spots that were leaking. There were three .. the BNC connector, and the two bottom rear corners. At first I thought that the outboard leak was going to be a nightmare to fix, then some kind RV-lister pointed out (off list) that I could get to that spot through the filler hole. Why didn't I realize that sooner?? I put an "extension" onto my Semco nozzle, reached down to the corner, and applied a lot of goo right on the bad spot. I took a stick and pushed it around to make sure the hole was filled. I also took off the access plate and put proseal on the other corner, and on the BNC connector. I've got to let it cure a while before I leak-test again .. but all in all I feel pretty good. We'll see once those big leaks are taken care of whether there are any little ones. I also did some additional sealing of the ribs on the right tank, installed the vent line, installed the fuel senders, and riveted on the outboard rib. It took a lot longer to do than to type up this entry ... and it is somewhat frustrating that hours of work can be distilled into two lines of logbook entry! Oh well. :) Time : 5.5 hours

Right Tank Closed Out (Almost!)

June 20, 2004

Today I riveted (and sealed) the inboard rib and the back baffle. I ran out of blind-rivets (AD-42H) for the Z-brackets!! Damn! All I need is five of them, but putting on the last Z-bracket will have to wait. Also, like the other tank I'm waiting to actually install the skin/baffle rivets (only because I'm exhausted, though). I should be about done with Pro-seal, however. I need a little for the last few blind-rivets, and a little for the cover plate screws, but that SHOULD be it (assuming no leaks, of course). Time : 5.75 hours

Right Tank Closed Out (More .. but .. )

June 26, 2004

I got some time today to do most of the rest of the closing of the right tank. I riveted on that last Z-bracket, realized I put one of the end ones on wrong (dang!!), drilled it out, reattached it the right way, fabricated the fuel pickup line, and installed the tank access cover. I still need to install the skin/baffle rivets, but an evening of tedious work will see that completed. If we weren't going to a party in about 20 minutes, it would get done today! I also re-installed the tank access cover on the left fuel tank, so as soon as the proseal is cured ... we can leak test it again. Time : 2.5 hours

Right Tank Baffle Rivets

June 27, 2004

This morning I spent some time riveting the skin/baffle line and got the bottom side completed. Tedious, mainly because of needing to clean the dried proseal from the clecos as I went. After lunch Theresa and I jumped into doing the top size set of rivets and with two people it went twice as fast. Not all jobs divide so well but this time we did double the speed. The second set took only an hour. Time : 3.0 hours

Left Tank Re-sealed (again)

October 4, 2004

I long ago found I *still* had a two leaks in the tank, only noticed once the other few were sealed. Today, after a long delay (avoiding ProSeal for a bit, frankly) to build the ailerons and flaps, I mixed up some ProSeal and sealed the two latest problems spots. I now need to let that cure, and then we'll leak-test again. I also need to do the first round of leak testing on the right tank. Now that the ailerons and flaps are done, there is no longer any excuses to avoid finishing the tanks. :) Time : 1.0 hours

Both Tanks Tested (Left Still Needs Work)

October 9, 2004

I leak tested both tanks, and realized that I had mis-remembered where one of the original leaks was on the left tank. Doh! :) So I reached into the filler hole with a long stick with proseal on the end, and sealed the right spot. I also added some sealant on the outside. The other spot that leaked (the top-rear corner on the inboard rib) seems to be sealed fine now though. In leak testing the right tank, the only place I got bubbles from my soapy water were the duct tape on the tank filler hole, and the duct tape around the balloon/tubing off the vent line. The balloon blew up nicely (but not a LOT, as I don't want to stress my tank too much). I think this tank is good to go! Wonderful! Time : 2.0 hours

Right Tank Mounted

October 10, 2004

With the right tank good to go, I mounted it onto the right wing. I did a number of other things on this date (go see the Wings section) which is why this is such a brief little entry. I racked up so much time because of my setup. I had saved a stubby part of one half of my wing stand just for this occasion. I clamped it to my bench which had the parallel supports right at about 109" apart ... perfect for hanging the wing back up again. Once I got them clamped up, I drafted my son and we put the wing in place. The other thing that slowed me down a little is that the tank is such a tight fit that I had to do some fitting. I had to take a file to the outboard end of the tank skin where it mated with the leading edge skin to get the fit just right. I also had to make myself a homebrew "drift pin" from an AN3-32A bolt. :) A little quick work on the bench grinder and Scotchbrite wheel created me a pin I could use for those fine adjustments. Even so, I only needed it in 2 or 3 places to pull the holes into perfect alignment. It feels fantastic to finally have a tank on a wing and feel like we are coming into the home stretch on the wing construction! Time : 2.25 hours

 

Total Time : 128.00 hours 

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