I started today's session by removing the excess material on the Aft Bottom Skin to make room for the Tailwheel Spring. During the last session, I marked the area to be removed with a sharpie. To hold the Skin still, I taped it to the work bench and used my Dremel Tool with a 1" cutoff wheel to cut close to the cut line.
Here is the Skin after I used the Dremel and cutoff wheel.
For the final trimming, I used several small fine files and 220 grit sandpaper. Here is how it turned out.....looks pretty good to me.
All of the #40 holes in the Skin needed to be dimpled. I used my pneumatic squeezer and a reduced diameter female die (recommended by the plans to reduce Skin distortion). There were two holes, however, I couldn't reach with the two yokes I have. So, I had to improvise. The two holes are circled below.....
And here is how I improvised.....a hammer, block of wood, small bucking bar, socket, 3/32 male dimple die, and a reduced diameter 3/32 female dimple die. I drilled a hole in the bucking bar to accept the shank of the male dimple die and taped the female dimple die to the socket.
Here was the process....
Using the concrete shop floor as support, I put the male die (attached to the bucking bar) through the hole in the Skin and the block of wood under the other end to level the Skin. The female die (taped to the socket) is put on the other dimple die and then a few hits with the hammer.....there you have it.
The prep work on the Aft Bottom Skin is complete, so it received Alumiprep, Alodine, and Priming. Tomorrow I will start riveting pieces together.....
