SideSteps

Riveted both side steps on the side skins today and torqued the bolts on the inside to complete the installation. Both feel really sturdy when standing on them!

On the left side I used one blind rivet and on the right side two due to the fact I couldn't get a countersink bit on them in these locations.

Deburred, cleaned and primed the steps and the skin where the steps are going to be installed.

I also started to route the rudder cables through the snap bushings, and guess what: I forgot to drill out the hole in the bagage side ribs! I could drill it out to 3/8 inch, but the bit that goes up to 5/8 inch does not fit into my air drill. Have to find another solution for this.

More work on the steps today. I drilled the rivet holes in the right step using lots of boelube. After that I fitted the step and bend it in the vise and with pliers until it fit perfectly.

Used the dremel with a cutting wheel to trim the bit in the back lower corner so it nicely followed the bend in the fuse. Used the scotchbrite wheels to make the sides a bit more aerodynamic conforming. The bushing that will hold the pipe on the bagage rib was drilled in the benchdrill and slipped onto the pipe. I used my angle drill to drill it to the rib. Last thing was drilling the pipe to the bushing for a long an3-25bolt.

This was followed by countersinking the steps so that the rivets will sit flush and fitting the whole thing in.

Did the same thing on the left step as well. I do need to trim the corner but since the batteries on my dremel were empty, that's for tomorrow.

The bushing on this one didn't come out as nice as on the right step. Somehow it's a bit skewed, but I think it will probably be sufficient to hold a person standing on it.

I started to fit the right step to the side skin. The existing holes I drilled had to be enlarged quite a bit to make the side of the step sit flush with the skin. A sanding drum on the dremel was perfect for this!