Final Shop Preparations

I'm officially declaring the airplane factory open for construction! I'm expecting to order the empennage kit next week for a delivery shortly before the Thanksgiving holiday. I'm sure I will continue to make improvements on my work space and tool collection, but I feel ready to start construction.

Although my early plans did not call for upgrading the wiring in the garage, I found a compressor I really liked and at a good price. The only downside, it only runs on 220V service. So that necessitated some new service run in the garage. I hired a friend of a friend (an out of work electrician) to run the line while I was making other shop improvements. I realize this may be a problem when time to move to the hangar, but I'll burn that bridge when I get to it.

While waiting for the 220V service I ran an air hose up and across the ceiling to this retractable reel. I think it turned out very nice. Included in my Cleaveland tool kit was the light hose kit, so between that and the regular air hose hanging from the ceiling that should make working with air tools very nice and comfortable.

Last, but not least I built the recommended C-Frame dimpler tool work surface. I deviated from the plans slightly. I think it called for 0.75"x3.25" support beams, but your standard 1x4 is 0.75"x3.5". So rather than trying to cut a quarter inch of the entire length of my 1x4s, I just went with the 3.5" dimension. In hindsight 1x3s (0.75"x2.5") would have been better. I ended up having to make small stands to sit the C-Frame on to bring it up to the right height.

I couldn't resist the temptation to drill a couple extra holes in my practice project. I dimpled one hole with the C-Frame and the other with my pneumatic squeezer. I then set a flush rivet (AN427AD3-3) in the hole dimpled with the squeezer. I used my back rivet set to drive this rivet. I'm very happy with the quality of the dimples, and I look forward to making a lot more.

First Van's Order

Just some gratuitous photos of my very first Van's Aircraft order. Nothing real exciting. Just a few books and some spare rivets, but I couldn't resist documenting the first shipment from Van's. Next time it'll be an Empennage kit for an RV-7A!

OCD and a Tool Box

I, like many men, have always wanted a very nice set of tools. Growing up I saw and admired many a large tool chest full of wrenches, sockets, pliers, screwdrivers and such. For most of my adult life I've settled for piecing together mixed and matched kits in cheap Rubbermaid tool boxes. So when I decided to build the RV, I took it as an opportunity and excuse to go out and spend a bunch of money on a nice tool chest and the tools to go with it.

At my work we have a very nice tool box. An extreme example of, "A place for everything and everything in its place.", as shown below. I have always been impressed with this tool box, and I knew that I wanted to incorporate some of its features into my own.


Not to be out done, I set to work on my new tool chest and 358 piece Craftsman tool set. After 27 hours of tedious work, I'm very happy with the results. You may call me crazy, but when I need a tool, I bet I find it no time flat. The 27 hours of work now, I hope, will save me hundreds of hours during the build and maintenance of my RV. Below is my "riveting" drawer. The black material is 1/2" thick foam from Sears that I cut out in the shape of the tools. This drawer was pretty easy. The hardest drawers were the ones with all the sockets!


I'm still not complete with this little project. I need to cut some access to some of the pliers and smaller tools where it's hard to get a finger down in between the foam. Also, I want to create some sort of backing under the foam to help hold things down and in place. But right now, I'm focused on getting that first kit ordered.

Here's my attempt at making a collage in Picasa showing some of the work that went into my new tool chest.

Tools Galore

I just received my tool order from Cleaveland Aircraft Tool. I was expecting these boxes to be bigger and heavier for some reason. I went with their Complete Airframe Tool Package with the Pneumatic Squeezer Upgrade. I also invested in the Sioux Die Grinder kit (with a straight grinder instead of angled) and Angle Drill Kit.


The next picture didn't turn out so well, but you can get the gist. A lot of new tools to play with.

The Airplane Factory

Two hard weeks of work behind me and one very nice looking airplane factory (IMHO) to show for it. I'm very happy with the way the shop has turned out. I can't wait to get the rest of my tools to fill that toolbox and officially start the build.

In the picture above you see the shop in full airplane building mode. The work bench ended up a stout six feet by three feet. Hopefully enough room for most bench top jobs. I lowered the bottom shelf all the way to the floor to provide for maximum storage. I had wanted to put a thick epoxy coating over the top of the bench to provide some extra durability, but it would have almost doubled the cost of the bench.

With the supplies left over from the main work bench I was able to build a smaller 2'x4' table for the corner. This is where I have placed my drill press, bench grinder and vise. You can just see the corner of it off to the right in the photo above.

The other feature I'm particularly proud of is the collapsible drafting style desk on the wall. This large writing surface is perfect for laying out drawings while working. The wall mounted brackets adjust to fold the desk flat against and at 70, 80 and 90 degree angles to the wall. In the picture the desk is sitting at 70 degrees which for me seems perfect. It also has a piece of plexiglass on it under which I can put handy reference materials.

The last photo shows the shop in "garage mode". One of the main requirements of the shop was that it must be able to house a single car throughout the build process. With the desk folded against the wall, the entire shop fits into the extra 4'x12' area off to the right of the garage door. Now I just have to figure out where to put the air compressor and a belt\disc sander.

RV Builder's Class

This past weekend I attended a two day class introducing the basics of aluminum airplane construction. The class was held in Indianapolis at Grov-Air Inc. Grov-Air is a builders assistance company on the West side of Indianapolis founded by Troy Grover and specializing in the RV series of aircraft. I imagine the class was very similar to the Sportair Workshops that I've heard so much about. Troy scheduled this class perfectly to fit in with one of my trips back to Indy.

Over the two day class we built two small projects, using many of the different techniques that will be required to build my RV. Deburring, match drilling, back riveting, rivet squeezing and dimpling just to name a few. The first project was just a couple pieces of sheet aluminum riveted together and then to a piece of aluminum angle. The second project was similar to a part of the RV-9 aileron. I was also introduced to many of the different tools that are used. That's a real plus since I haven't ordered any of my specialty aircraft tools yet, and now I have a better understanding of what they all do and which ones I really need and want.

I think both my projects turned out pretty well. One thing I learned is that everything takes longer than you expect. I looked at this little aileron looking deal and thought, "That shouldn't take long to finish". I was surprised to be leaving Grov-Air about two hours late on Sunday night. Troy didn't seem to mind me sticking around a little while longer. Troy is a great guy, and having him so close to where I will be building my RV is a real plus. I'm sure I'll be soliciting his help throughout the build.

So with my first rivets behind me, I'm feeling confident in my skills and looking forward to getting this project under way. Work's been picking up lately so maybe with a little OT I can get my empennage kit ordered sometime this month.

Preparations Begin

This week I've begun preparations for "The Shop". As you can see this is no small task. I imagine most builders, at least first time builders, start about the same place. The Shop is simply a two car garage, which must be able to accomodate one car and a couple motorcycles throughout the build.

I can already tell that I will have to demonstrate a little bit of restraint during this phase, lest I spend the majority of my budget on setting up to build the plane, and have nothing left for the plane itself. I've been looking over Craig's list for second hand power tools to curb some costs.

I'm hoping to just declutter as best as possible and maybe install some additional lighting. No plans as of yet to upgrade the electrical, nor any other major modifications.

You can see we still have a lot of boxes from the move. We've been in the new house for over a year now I think. Or maybe it's a year this November. How time flies!

I plan on building a work bench on casters, similar to the EAA 1000 standard work bench. I'll probably kick the bench dimensions up a notch. You can never have too much work space, right? When I'm not pounding rivets, the whole shop needs to tuck away into the corner on the right. That's the corner currently filled with old moving boxes.