Drilled the Rear Rib Flange Holes and Created Template for Covering the Old Hole

I managed to get up enough nerve to try to drill the two holes in my custom rear rib flanges of the second 408 rib. I used my 12 inch extension #30 drill bit and tried to apply enough force toward the inner part of each flange go ensure that my edge distance would be maintained. After drilling the holes, I checked the result using my hand-held mirror and a flashlight. The results looked promising.

I could not take off the LE assembly yet because I still have some custom work to do to fill the void created by the old access pane hole that Van's pre-cut into the skin. To begin, I took rough measurements of the major part of the hole, which was a square measuring 4 7/8 inches on all sides. I then grabbed an old file folder and applied those measurements to it:

Then I cut it out, being careful to apply a little extra material but cutting just outside the lines.

Then I removed some of the clecoes holding the new access panel cover plate on the bottom, and slid the paper template up and underneath the panel cover while aligning the other edges with the edges of the LE skin:

Then I traced around the edge of the bottom right side of the new panel cover to transfer the contour of that portion of the panel onto the paper template. Then I removed the template and cut out the area taken up by the new panel cover. This left the rough dimension of the area that needs to be filled after the new panel cover is completely installed.

The next step involved carefully checking the thickness of the new cover plate and trying to find some scrap material of the same thickness. Frankly I am a bit confused, because I think the outer skin is .028 inches thick, and it would stand to reason that if you are filling a hole surrounded by a .028 inch thick skin that you would want to use a piece of metal that was also .028 inches thick. However, when I checked the thickness of the new SafeAir cover plate, it is only .025 inches thick. So I do not understand the mismatch in thicknesses, but it could also be that I am mistaken, and the outer LE skin is also .025 inches thick.

I searched everywhere for some .028 inch scrap aluminum but could not find any. I finally settled on using some .025 inch thick 2024-T3 aluminum from my trim bundle kits for the empennage and wing kits. I taped the template to the metal and drew the outline. This is where I called it a night.

Next steps are to cut out the part from the scrap metal, debur the edges, and start final fitting and trimming it to the old hole. I then need to determine a rivet pattern to use to permanently attach this part to the subskin.Then I need to drill the holes needed for that.

Then comes the all important critical decision of how to cutout the section of the LE skin and trim the remaining portion of the subskin to its final form.Only then will I be ready to dimple all the holes and rivet the whole thing back onto the wing. So still some significant work to do, but its getting done - one day at a time.

KPR...

Transferred all Holes in the Access Panel Mounting Flange to the Subskin

If you have not quite figured out what I am doing in this series of posts (join the club!), I am basically eliminating the need for a separate access panel mounting flange by creating one out my existing subskin. I originally was not planning on doing this until I realized that the subskin was already going to be there, and would serve as an access panel mounting flange just as well as the other one.

Picking up where I left off yesterday, the next step was to match drill the #30 pre-drilled holes in the other mounting flange, through the predrilled holes in the access panel cover plate, and finally into the subskin at the proper locations. By placing the mounting flange over the LE skin, there is a gap between the subskin and the mounting flange that is filled by - you guessed it, the thickness of the access panel itself. it is pretty much the same process that I had to follow to cut the hole in the outer skin. Everything gets mounted in reverse order. The access panel goes under the mounting flange and over the LE skin as shown below:

My first step in transferring all the holes to the subskin was to match drill the predrilled #30 holes. to start this, I first clecoed all the #40 holes around the perimeter of the LE skin. I then had to line up the access panel cover with the predrilled holes in the mounting flange by hand, because remember, the #30 holes do not exist yet in the subskin, so there is no clearance for them yet. I think I started with the upper middle hole and worked my way around, drilling the hole through all 3 layers of metal, clecoing it, and moving to the next hole. The pic above shows what it looked like after drilling adn clecoing everything. The next pic shows the resulting holes after removing the assembly:

Now I needed to match drill the #40 holes on either side of the #30 holes. These are the rivet holes for the nut plates that will ultimately be installed under the subskin. The #30 holes will eventually be drilled to a larger size to accept the mounting screws for the panel cover.

After having a hard enough time with trying to line up the holes of the subskin, ribs, and leading edge skin, I wanted to make sure that all of these holes were as spot-on the mark as possible. The problem now is that I cannot drill the #40 holes through the access panel cover. Those holes only exist in the mounting flange, or in my case, the subskin. If I don;t use something underneath the mounting flange to fill the small gap between the subskin and the mounting flange, the holes might become misaligned during the drilling process.

So I came up with a plan - I decided to sacrifice the panel cover that Vans provided to supposedly fill their pre-drilled access hole in the LE skin. I used it as a "filler" to fill the void between the subskin and the mounting flange so I had solid layers of metal to drill through.

I started with the lower right corner area by placing the Vans-supplied cover panel over their precut opening as follows:

This allowed me to be able to drill most of the $40 holes in that quadrant into the subskin.Here is the post-drilling pic for that section:

Then I relocated the panel cover to the upper right section and drilled as many of those holes that I could:

Every time I finished a section I had to uncleco everything and reposition the access panel to the next section.Took a little time to do this but wasn't that bad. Next was the upper left quadrant:

And then finally down to the lower right quadrant:

I was able to get all the holes from the mounting flange drilled except for one, which unfortunately is located on the left side just below the middle, right where the Vans hole and my new hole merge together. If I were to drill match drill this hole it would just hit the corner of the outer LE skin. So I have to put some thought in to this hole, which I will probably re-position slightly AFTER I figure out how I am going to fill the remaining area of the original Van's hole.

Anyway, after all this was done, I removed the entire panel assembly again to check my handy work and verify if I successfully transferred all the holes to the subskin. I think it came out pretty darn well:

As further proof, I placed the new access panel cover in its position and, now that all the holes have been drilled in the subskin, I was able to cleco it into position to check the fit:

The inner and outer edges of the panel cover are right up against the edge of the outer LE skin, so I may have to do some trimming to account for vibration and airflow pressures causing the two edges to rub and wear against each other. Vans panel cover was WAY undersized for the hole that they made, and I still can't understand why it was cut so undersized. Anyway, he fit of this new, slightly larger acess panel is pretty darn good, and I am pretty happy with these results.

The last pic is of my now machine gun holed Vans access panel cover. It turned out to be a really good back plate for the drilling that I needed to do. I was OK with doing this because, as you can tell from the above pic, I will need to fabricate a rather odd looking piece of metal to cover up the remaining portions of the old hole. Hopefully the pics make this a bit clearer now.

Next step is to drill the two holes in my custom flanges of my custom rib. I am really dreading this for reasons that I mentioned in my last post. Once these last holes are drilled, I need to fabricate that weirdly-shaped piece of metal to fill the remaining void from the Vans pre-cut hole, and come up with a rivet pattern to attach it permanently to the subskin. I will probably treat it like a patch again to ensure that sufficient strength is added back to that area that has been substantially cut away now.

Then I follow the remaining SafeAir instructions to mount the nut plates and drill the screw holes to the required size. Then I still need to decide how much of the subskin to leave in tact, and how much to remove around this entire area.Luckily I managed to check the right wing LE, and was relieved to find out that there is NO Vans precut hole on that side. I don't think I could go through this fiasco again!

Then the whole LE comes back off the wing and gets disassembled yet again (sigh), so that the subskin and other holes can be deburred, and then the dimples will be applied to every hole that needs one. Never thought I would be using the word "dimple" this soon. I wonder if I even remember how to do that?

Progress.........

KPR....

Primed Some LE parts and Reassembled and Mounted it to the Wing - FINALLY - PROGRESS!

It's been a long time comin', but I finally made some progress today. I put aside all house crap and other interruptions that have plagued me in recent weeks, and with weather also in my corner I managed to get some airplane building done today. Nothing earth-shattering mind you, but for me it was substantial.

Here is the left wing LE skin, ribs, and subskin all primed:

I used the same Akzo-Nobel 2-part epoxy primer as I did before, using the same trick I previously wrote about by using a plastic turkey baster to meter out the 20 ounce mixture from the larger paint cans. I knew I needed a bit more primer than my touch up gun could hold, but I wasn't sure exactly how much would be needed. For this job I used my $15.00 HF HVLP spray gun as shown below. It has a 20 ounce cup, so in addition to delivering the primer a bit better than the touch up gun, it also holds more. I mixed the full 20 ounces, mixing 10 ounces each of the primer base and the hardener. Waited the required 30 minutes after it was mixed and in the cup, and then did the deed.

I used my large paint box, but I did not put everything on the box at once. I did the ribs and the subskin first, and then removed those parts and did the LE skin. Why? because  I only wanted to prime the inside of the LE skin, and did not want to get any primer on the outside of the skin. Although it would also fit on the larger paint box, with everything else, there was a risk of over spray getting on the outside of the skin, so I primed it separately. I ended up only using about 17-18 ounces of primer, so at least I now have a marker for how much material a full load of primer will cover when  using the HVLP gun.

I really do like the HVLP gun. This next pic is what I will call a "self" portrait. What a great likeness, don't you think?

Actually this was my test sheet from the post-it poster sheets I have used in the past. The HVLP gun has a larger spray pattern that is perfect for larger parts. At the bottom you can see what happens if you don't keep moving the gin across the surface to be painted. I also liked that the fact that I did not need to make any of the fine tuning adjustments that this gun has for air pressure, paint flow, and paint pattern.

The next task was to reassemble the ribs and LE and remount it to the wing. This was a bear to do, especially when I had to re-cleco the two inboard ribs that lay underneath the subskin and the outer skin.It took me quite a while to get the LE reassembled and remounted, but I managed to do it.

This next series of pics shows one of the things that needed to do next - redraw the patterns for the new access hole and mounting flange on the now-primed subskin.

The first pic is after I matched drilled the holes for the mounting flange of the new access panel from the outer skin to the subskin, and then I clecoed the mounting flange to the outside so I could trace the necessary patterns onto the subskin.

I then drew the inner and outer outlines of the new mounting flange onto the subskin and removed the mounting flange. I now know where I have to remove material for the new access panel opening.

And a couple of notes added about radiuses and where to remove metal after the next dissasembly.

Hopefully this now starts to make some sense when I tried to describe this process in several previous posts. Pics are always better. From the above pics you can see the area that that new access panel mounting flange is supposed to occupy, as well as the remaining area from the old access panel opening that I still need to figure out how to close up. The challenge is how to blend the lower right corner where the new mounting flange goes with the old hole with the odd shape that now has to be closed up in the proper places.

So I've got some more math and measurements to make to continue this work, and, sadly-yes, I will need to remove and disassemble this all over again for the 80th time to debur the new holes and cut lines, so I'm not quite out of the woods on this just yet, but it will get done. We'll see just how much I get done before leaving for Oshkosh in 2 weeks.

Not shown in the above pics is the fact that I can now also match drill the 2 rear rib flange holes in the outer rib flanges that were added to the custom 408 rib from long ago. I'm a little worried about edge distance being correct on that one because I think I trimmed too much material from the flange that sits on the wing spar, but there is only one way to find out. Since these are the outer flange holes I will also probably have to dig out my 12 inch long #30 drill bit. If I do it right, the holes should have just enough edge distance. If not.......Well, let's just not go there yet.

Felt good to do some work on the bird again. These LE mods are kicking my ass, but as long as I still have some ass to kick, I'll keep going.

KPR.

Still Trying to Prime LE Parts

Lousy painting weather and other stuff getting in the way of priming my LE parts. My wife managed to locate a set of stainless steel turkey basters, complete with a cleaning brush, thermometer, and injection needle that screws into the threaded end of the tube - all for a reasonable $10.00 price. I should be able to use those repeatedly for measuring out small quantities of primer and catalyst. The only problem is that you cannot see through the metal tube, but since I use pre-marked paint cups from NAPA auto parts to measure all my quantities, that is really not a big deal.

I also found and bought two large syringes at the Walmart aircraft supply store that are supposed to be used for measuring out 2 cycle engine oil. These are plastic, so they will suffer from the same one-time-only use fate as the other plastic turkey basters did, but they will certainly fulfill their purpose.

Also had to focus on getting two teeth crowned in the past couple of weeks. The trailer is on the short list of prep steps now. Airventure is only a few weeks away and I am really excited to attend this year. The only thing I am really worried about is the weather while I am traveling.

I had also waited on priming the other parts because I was trying to decide if I wanted to go ahead and prime the entire subskin before I do any final trimming. I decided to do just that, since I still have to figure out the jigsaw puzzle that I need to put together from the two overlapping access panel openings in the skin. Here is the subskin after a preliminary scuffing of all sides:

This part had a lot of scratches and abrasions from all the trial fittings and repeated assembly and removal steps so far. It was a bear to get some of the deeper scratches out. None of them were really all that deep. they just looked bad against the remaining shiny alclad layer that has now been removed. I still have some final cleaning to do on this part before it will be ready for priming. I think it may actually fit a little better in between the skin and the ribs after removing the alclad layer. I hope to get everything primed before the end of this week.

The rest of this next series of pics is more for my benefit so that I do not lose the markings and measurements and thoughts that I scribbled down on the subskin  before removing them this evening. I may need to reference them when I am ready to start trimming down the subskin to its final form. As I start trimming this part it will start to make more sense.

KPR....

Prepping the Trailer for Airventure 2017 and Finally Formed the Edges of the LE Skin

After a 2 month stint in the shop, I finally got my trailer back. I had delivered it back in April in hopes of beating the Memorial Day rush, only to see that holiday come and go with the trailer still in the shop. What a comedy (hardly) of problems - mostly weather related - but not all of them.

I had a larger than normal laundry list of fixes this year: Re-weld a broken step support, find and fix an air leak in my water supply line from the water pump, Check to see if I have a water tank leak in my spare water tank, fix a leaking gray water dump valve, re-attach and seal the driver side front corner molding that joins the corners of the walls of the trailer, and the annual wheel bearing repack.

Week one started with the shop telling me that 2 techs had quit that week, so they did not even look at it. Weeks 2 and 3 ended up with freezing cold temps that prevented any type of water  repairs. Week 4 was the week of softball sized hail that pretty much decimated the west side of Denver. Luckily they had pulled it into a stall to do the bearing pack by then, so I lucked out big time on that.

Then came the day that they called to tell me that my axles and were on backwards and my brakes were improperly installed and it would take brand new axles to fix it. Now folks, I have owned this trailer since 1998, and in all that time I have serviced the trailer brakes about once every other year for one reason or another. In all that time I have never had a single tech inform me that my brakes were upside down. This includes the previous 2 years where I did have extensive brake work done by the same shop! That led to several arguments, including comments like "what the hell are you doing with my brakes. That was not one of the things on the list of fixes, because they were working fine. You should not be touching my brakes!"

Then came the 2 weeks I had to wait because they found leak in my main sink's P-Trap, so it needed a new P-Trap. This turned into another nightmare because they had to order the right part. The first attempt at this ended up with the supplier sending the wrong part. Then, several days later, they sent the right part, but it was missing one of the required attachment fittings.So on and on it went......

Then, to top it all off, I finally went to pick it up, only to discover a problem with my front trailer brakes locking up under certain circumstances. So this ranks right up there with some of the worst trailer service experiences I have ever had. One thing I will never dispute - tent campers have it SOOOOO much easier than those of us that haul the boxed metal RV's around. Although they have to do without many conveniences and amenities that an RV provides, the reality is that RVs are pretty much an extremely condensed version of a second home, with many of the conveniences that a normal home provides.

Unfortunately they also require even more maintenance than a regular home to keep them operating properly, because of the pounding and vibration that they take while moving on the road. This is not unlike the maintenance requirements of an airplane, due to the vibrations and high stresses that they must endure. So I consider all the RV maintenance I have to perform as a kind of preparation for the airplane maintenance that will be required eventually.

A couple of years ago, while departing Omaha, Nebraska enroute to Oshkosh, I encountered some of the worst road construction I have ever experienced in my life. I literally think that they forgot to leave cones up along a stretch of I-80, and as a result, I literally thought that the entire frame of my trailer was going to be ripped apart,  not to mention my truck.It's things like this that force you to keep maintaining the unit every year. 2000 mile long trips are also not the normal expected trip length for a small travel trailer. So I also need to pay extra attention to making sure that things like the welds for the spring suspension, the axles, and the bearings are all in tact.

Anyway, now that I have my trailer back, it was time to start on my usual list of chores and checks that I always have to perform when I prepare for the 2000 mile round trip to Oshkosh from my home here in Denver. After spending most of the weekend checking everything out, it looks like it should be ready for the next journey to Airventure, assuming my trailer brakes are working properly. I will be conducting more tests on those in the weeks to come, but everything else seems to be in good working order.

Since that took up most of my weekend, not much done on the plane. However, I did finally get up the courage to perform the edge bend on the left wing LE skin edges using my edge forming tool I mentioned in the previous post. I struggled a bit with how I wanted to do this. I was concerned about securing the skin to keep the edge from moving while I ran the tool across it. I did not want to reattach the ribs because this would have contaminated the cleaning job I did several days ago. So I came up with what I thought was a great plan - I would use a ratchet strap and my wood forming blocks shaped like the wing ribs to force the top skin down into its finished shape and hold it tightly in place. This did not work for a number of reasons - the main one being that the wood rib forms stuck out a little too far and would interfere with the tool, which requires about 1.25 inches of clearance to allow the slight bend in the edges to be formed.

So I abandoned that idea for a much more low tech solution as shown in the next pic:

I slid the skin as far out onto the edge of the table as I dared, and placed some weights on the skin. In retrospect I should have clamped the bottom skin down, but I got lazy - and paid the price for it. The first edge to be formed was the top one. I did my best to follow the setup instructions from Cleaveland tools, and then got ready to form the edge. The tool was drawn across the edge after being clamped to the skin. the slight bend, or crease in the skin as I prefer to call it, was formed as expected with no issues:

The last pic that I have shows where things did not go as planned because I did  not flip the skin and re-clamp it tight to the table. Instead, after I finished forming the edge of the upper skin as shown above, I decided to leave everything in place and turn the tool upside down so I could do the other edge without rearranging the skin.Notice the multiple lines in the next pic where the tool slid off the edge because I was not holding it properly. Fortunately this is not seem to deform the edge of the skin at all, so I think I am OK. If I had made the same mistake that many other builders do when they use this tool by tightening the clamping pressure of the tool on the skin too tightly, it could have been a much different story and a very bad outcome.

I basically went back over the bad areas where the tool slipped and reran the tool over them once or twice to make sure then bend was applied in all the right places. The slight line that runs through each rivet hole is the correct indication that the bend has been applied properly to the edge. This should keep the edges from curling up and creating a gap between the skin edge and the wing spar when they are riveted in place. Glad to get that over with. Now I can focus on getting some parts primed and reassembled so that I can keep moving forward.

KPR.

LE Prep Episode 3

Edit 6-9-17 - I revised some of this post to make it more readable, and also to correct a gross oversight on my part.  I previously used the term "kerf" to describe the process of applying a small bend in the edge of each skin so that it provides some spring back when riveted in place to prevent the edge from curling upward and creating a gap between the two surfaces. This was not the correct term to use, as kerfing is an entirely different procedure for a different reason.

The other problem with this is that in previous posts from long ago when working on my rudder I may have also referred to this process as "rollling" the leading edge, which is also an entirely different procedure for a different purpose. The problem is with the way the edge forming tools is contructed. It is basically a set of modified locking pliers with a set of custom-positioned rollers welded on to the ends of the pliers at a pre-determined angle. The "rollers" on this edge forming tool can be confused with the term "edge rolling," and thus the confusion.

SO let me stand corrected - the official name of the tool that I am about to use is an EDGE FORMING TOOL. It uses a set of rollers to force a small bend in the edge of the skin. This process has NOTHING to do with kerfing, which is a procedure that awaits me whenever I get back to working on the main wing skins. There, now I feel better..... ----------End edit.

No pics tonight. One other thing I almost forgot about was the outer edges of the LE skin. So I went out last night and ran my finger across the edges, and it took less than a second for me to discover the same small bumps about 3 inches apart from each other along the edges. These are the separation points where the skin is still attached to the metal blank that is placed into the CNC machine to perform the initial cutout of the LE skin. Vans does not remove these seemingly minor bumps from the skins. They can, however, act as stress concentration points, and could cause metal fatigue and cracking if they are not smoothed out.

So, like everything else with this kit, all these little bumps along the edge need to be filed and smoothed. I used my flat jewelers file and a piece of 320 aluminum oxide sand paper glued to a 1/2 inch wood dowel to file and smooth all of the bumps. I also had to residual scratches that needed a bit more work to smooth those out before priming everything.

A call to Vans also revealed two more things. I need to slightly round the corners to get rid of the sharp corners - another potential stress concentration point on the skin. They also confirmed that I will want to slightly bend the edges of the LE skin where they attach to the wing spar flange. So now I have to find my edge bending tool, practice with it on some scrap metal, and hope like heck that I don't screw up the edges on the LE skin. I think I will need to clear off a large area on my work bench so I can clamp down each skin edge so I can use both hands to draw the edge bending tool along the skin edges.

As I recall, one problem many builders were having with applying this small bend to the edge of the skin was that they were using the tool incorrectly. They close the pliers too tightly so it is extremely hard to run the rollers across the skin to achieve the small bend. Then, when they start to apply the bend the rollers slip off the edge, messing up the edge of the skin along the way. Only slight pressure is needed on the skin while the tool is drawn toward you to create a very small and barely noticeable bend on the edge of the skin.Cleaveland Tools now has a video on their website that demonstrates how to set this tool up and use it properly.

Tomorrow I will probably scuff and clean the subskin, apply the bend to the edges, and on Thursday I should be ready to prime a bunch of metal again. Then more assembly, measuring, disassembly, cutting, deburring, etc., etc.

And to think I was going to have my fuel tanks done by the end of this summer - yeah right!

KPR.

LE rib and skin prep for primer - part 2

Had some family obligations this weekend, so not a lot of time spent on the plane, but I am inching ever closer to spraying more of that expensive epoxy primer on my remaining LE parts. Here is pic that I love showing to folks so they can see the difference between brand new "tools" and what it looks like after you use them during the build. On the left is a brand new, as yet unused medium grade (maroon) scotch brite pad. On the right is the one that I started using when I prepped the first two LE ribs and a couple of other parts. Since then I have prepped the 4 remaining LE ribs, and the interior LE skin.

When prepping my main wing ribs for primer a long time ago, I decided to follow a practice that Steve Riffe used to clean his parts prior to priming them. I took two orange HD buckets, filled both with warm water, and put Dawn dish soap (original formula) in one of them. I have found that the subsequent cleaning with acetone goes much faster if the most of the grime and residue has first been removed by washing the parts with Dawn first. It does not take long for the soapy water to turn pitch black, and I am always amazed at how filthy the parts actually are. Anyway, I set up a wash/rinse routine for the 4 remaining ribs, using a scrubbing sponge with the green scuff pad attached to one side.

I have not yet done this for the main wing skins, and I had not used this method for any of the other larger skins yet. But since I needed to prime a larger-than-normal part of the interior LE skin due to my subskin that will be in contact with the interior of the first bay of the LE, I decided that I would also try the same washing method I used for the ribs. Obviously due to the size of the LE skin I could not dunk it into the buckets like I did for the ribs, but I did use the sponge to wash the interior as best I could, and then wiped it dry with a micro fiber cloth. It seems to have worked well.

Prior to this I realized that I had not yet deburred any of the edges of the access panel holes or the outer edges of the LE skin itself. So I took my edge deburring tool and took care of that. this also raised a question that I will need to get answered from Vans or from someone on VAF. I am not certain if I am supposed to kerf the edges of the skin where they will attach to the main wing spar flanges. I think that I still need to do this, but I need to make certain.

I only question this because these skins are supposed to butt up very closely to the main wing skins and the fuel tank skins. I don't know if kerfing the LE skin will introduce a larger than desired gap between the main skins ant the LE, or if this is still necessary regardless, so that the edges of the skin will lay flat against the wing spar flanges when riveted in place. If I find out that I need to do this, I will need to find my edge kerfing tool from Cleaveland Tools, that I haven't used since I put all the tail feathers together.

Next is a pic of the 4 ribs all scuffed, cleaned, and final cleaned with acetone and a microfiber cloth. when you do multiple parts like this, especially those that need to be assembled in a very specific order, you have to devise a method to keep each part organized, since all prior identifying markings will be removed during the cleaning process. In this case, I kept the ribs organized by keeping them stacked in a very specific order each time I scuffed or cleaned them. I lined them up on the table after cleaning them so that they were in the same position that they will be installed in the LE from left to right. The end rib flanges face a different direction than the rest, so that one is easy to spot. But the others are exactly the same rib, with the same rivet holes and flanges all facing the same direction. Keeping them in order is very important, since even small variations in the match drilling process can make a difference in the final fit of the parts when they are riveted together. After they are primed I will put some tape on them and mark the rib position on the tape.

And finally a pic of the wing skin all washed and ready for primer. After the suds bath all scuffed metal was final-cleaned with acetone and a microfiber cloth (my carcinogen of choice for cleaning metal). I used chemical-resistant rubber gloves to keep it off my hands. These are the long green ones at the bottom of the pic. Also shown are a large number of microfiber towels that need to go in the washing machine so I can try to reuse them. Suggestion: do NOT put these in with any other clothes. Best to keep the airplane building/chemically-laiden materials away from other things, just in case.

Since I will most likely need to use a bit more primer to cover these parts than I did for the last batch, I will plan to use my HF HVLP spray gun, since it has a 20 ounce cup and larger spray area, compared to my touch up sprayer than only has a 7 ounce cup.I think that one full cup-load of primer from the HVLP gun will cover the interior skins and the 4 remaining ribs.

I will probably scuff and prime the entire subskin as well, since I have not yet determined the final form of this part, and I can't really do that until I have this access panel mess taken care of once and for all. One nice thing about living in Denver is that I don't have to worry about surface corrosion very much. So I can leave the scuffed parts till tomorrow, when I have more time to set up the sprayer and everything else that has to be setup for priming.


Till then,

KPR...