Day 81

Riveted the left fuel tank to the wing. Clear drilled and deburred each hole to insure proper alignment and tight fight of the rivets.

We ran out of the 4.8x10mm rivets that run the last 100 or so holes (top and bottom) at the root of the wing. (These we’re an item on our back order list.) Sent an email to Sling to ask if there was a possibility we could get them a little sooner, and are awaiting their reply.

In the meantime we went back to working on the wing tips. We had made a jig for the placement of the NAV light brackets. We installed the m4 rivnuts and got what we thought would work countersunk screws for them. Turns out USA countersinking is a different degree versus other standards… so the m4 bolts won’t work because they won’t sit flush enough with the brackets to allow the lights to snap on. Went and got USA standard countersunk screws and rivnuts for them. They fit better, but still too tight for the lights to snap onto the brackets.

We have decided to drill the rivnuts we prematurely pulled back out and fill the holes in with fiberglass. When it comes time to put the light brackets on we’ve decided we will use the 4.0x12mm countersunk rivets (which fit absolutely perfectly) to hold them on. We will pre drill them and check the alignment of the lights, but will not rivet them on until after the plane is finished and we are doing final install. That way the brackets will go on over top of the paint, instead of trying to tape them off, giving a better finish, and less chance of paint pealing.