Cleaveland Tools All-in-One Rivet Gage - very handy tool!

Another really bad pic of a special gauge that I ordered from Cleveland Tools - it has 3 measurements, the size or diameter of the shop head, the height or depth of the shop head, and the height of the remaining rivet shat that is required after it is inserted into the work, to ensure that that rivet is long enough to form a proper shop head. Very handy tool once you understand how to use it.

Shop Head of the AN470AD4-6 Rivets - First Sub assembly complete!

And the other side of the assembly showing the shop head, or the stem of the rivet that has been smashed down, forming the opposite side of the rivet. These have to meet specific thickness and depth measurements, and so using the correct rivet is very important. I have GOT to get me a camera with a manual focus, or fiure out how to disable the auto focus on this one!

Used the Pneumatic Squeezer to set these - Rivets number 1 through 6 are done!

Another blurry pic of all 6 dome headed rivets secured in place - the assembly came out pretty nice looking, if I do say so myself.

Getting ready to drive my first rivets!

Ready to Rivet - the same center hinge and bearing assembly, clamped tightly to the work bench with some 1x2 wood blocks to prevent damaging the powder coat finnish on the hinges. One rivet has been inserted - the plans calle for a -5 size rivet (won't go into detail about rivet nomenclature and sizing here), but the width of the assembled pieces warranted a slightly longer -6 rivet - so that is what I used.

One tip about this - make sure that there is always at elast one cleco installed on either side of the rivet that you are about to set. This keeps the parts from separating due to too loose of a fit resulting from inadequate clamping.

My first fabricated tool! Radius Gauges for Checking Bend Radius

Living proof that I do not like cheap digital cameras very much. This is a bit blurry, but shows two different gauges that I made out of scrap aluminum sheet that Van's provides in the kit. They are used to ensure that the wood form blockes that are used to bend the ends of the aluminum support angle brackets on the front spar of the HS. This is thick aluminum, and you just can't take a piece of wood with a sharp edge on it and start bending the metal - it will fatigue and crack if not bent with a proper radius in the bend. The plans called for a minimum bend radius of 1/8 inch. A trick I learned from one of the sheet metal books I read was to take the scrap metal,drill a 1/4 inch hole in it, and then cut away the metal. leaving a 1/8 inch radius. The gauge can then be placed on two sides of the wood block, which can be sanded to the correct contour for radius needed for the bend.

NAPA Primer and Metal Cleaning Products used by lots of plane builders

Pic of the NAPA prime and surface cleaner that I purchased for the small jobs. Need to use a respirator with this stuff - self etching primer contains an acid that roughs of the surface of he metal, allowing the primer to adhere to bare metal. The process involves sparying the part with the surface cleaner, wiping it dry, then air blowing it dry, then applying the primer. Takes about 15 minutes to dry to the point that you can handle the part.

First 7220 Self Etching NAPA Primer sprayed on HS Center Bearing

A bad pic of the center bearing hanging up on my painting booth hanger (a strand of aluminum wire that I removed from the garage when I wired in a new circuit for the high powered tools to keep them separate from the lights.) It is long enough to string across the garage by attaching it to the shelf brackets on one side and another shelf bracket on the opposite side of the garage. Although hard to see - it has been sprayed with the primer, and the center part has been masked over with frog tape. It is hanging from another piece of copper wire - remnant from the new electrical circuit mentioned previously. This works pretty well for me as a painting platform. I need to get some more flood lamps to add much needed light.