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PmWiki /
WingTanksAmount of hours spent on wing tanks: 85.5 Oct 15, 2008 - 1h Finished torquing the bolts on the left and right wings. Boring work but it had to be done!
Oct 14, 2008 - 1.5h One by one the wings went onto the stand again to screw the tanks on top of their respective spars. After that was done the wings went back into the cradle and the wing stand was disassembled; so much space in the shop again :-) I also started to screw some of the AN3-4A bolts through the spar into the tank attach brackets and torque them to approx. 25 inch/lbs (according to Van's table in section 5 of the manual for a AN3 bolt). To do all of these is going to take a while...
 
Oct 13, 2008 - 0.5h Quickly leak-tested my tanks this afternoon and they seem to be leak-free. Good to be able to close this chapter!
Oct 12,2008 - 1h I've leak-tested the left tank today with the test set I got from Van's and a balloon from acme. I put in the filler cap over a piece of latex glove which nicely sealed off that hole. Since the throat of the balloon was quite wide, I made an extension from some left-over tubing and an AN fitting that I mounted on the fuel return line.
 
Unfortunately, using soapy water, I found a leak on the outboard edge of the tank where it comes together with the baffle. It looks like a huge leak, but really was quite small. Fixed it with some proseal and will test again in a couple of days.
Also noticed on the right tank that one of the rivets on the leading edge was coming out. Duh, seems I completely forgot to rivet it and it was only held in by proseal. I got it out and replaced it with a blind rivet swirled in proseal. Hopefully that will do the trick, but I'll find out in a couple of days.
Oct 7, 2008 - 1h I am done with the tanks! The access covers have been mounted with lots of proseal. I've decided to put the cork gaskets underneath as Van's recommends and if I ever have to open these tanks I will just put some new cork rings.
 
Also installed the fuel senders in both tanks, again with enough proseal to make sure it won't leak.
I'm planning to let this dry until the weekend and then do the leak test... everybody cross your fingers please :-)
Oct 5, 2008 - 5h Closed up the right tank today!
 
Before closing, I mounted and safety wired the flop-tube in the tank.
 
And riveted and prosealed the fuel sender hole. I've been a bit stupid and noticed I drilled the holes for the fuel sender plate about 10 degrees too far and thus the fuel sender itself cannot be mounted straight in the hole. I did some experimenting and it seems this is not a big problem as the arm still moved correctly in the tank.
 
I used blind rivets 41H on the sides of the brackets and 42H on the attach brackets. Swirled them in proseal before squeezing them in. I copied the position of the brackets from the left tank so that was easy.
  
Last thing to do is closing up both access holes and mounting the right fuel sender in the baffle. Oct 4, 2008 - 4.5h Closed up the left tank today!
 
The baffle and attach brackets have been riveted; access cover remaining. This took actually quite a while to do alone, but the proseal was usable for most of that time. Torqued and put proseal on all of the AN fittings (also the right tank which I will close up tomorrow). Still need to put the flop tube back in and safety wire it.
Protected the threads with some electrical tape
I made a note of the position of the attach brackets on the side of the tank (look also how nice the baffle rivets came out). 
I also drilled, countersunk and dimpled the right baffle for the fuel sender.
 
Screwed the fuel drain in as well. Let's hope this baby won't leak!
Oct 3, 2008 - 1h Received the safety-wiring set I ordered from Spruce today and have been practicing a bit with the flop tube. I think I understand how this works and will safety-wire the flop-tube in the tank tomorrow. Hopefully both tanks will be all sealed up after this weekend!
Sept 30, 2008 - 2h Made a hole in the right baffle for the fuel sender that is going to be mounted in the second tank bay (due to the flop tube occupying the first bay). Used the cheapy harbor freight fly cutter for that because the nice one I bought cannot be made small enough. Since I didn't want to switch on the compressor for these five holes, I started to prepare the bottom skins and took the blue plastic off.
Sept 28, 2008 - 5h Finally some work in the shop again after two weeks of parents visit! I finished riveting both the outboard ribs on the right tank today.
 
You can also see the anti-hangup bracket riveted in front of the access hole. The tank attach bracket with the flop tube took some time to do, but turned out alright. The black tape you see around the fitting is to protect the thread from proseal.
 
The only thing left is mounting the fuel sender in the back of the right tank (second bay) and closing both tanks up. Hope I will be done with pro-seal soon! Also hope that my tanks won't leak :-)
Sept 14, 2008 - 1h Fabricated the anti-hangup bracket that goes on the tank cover. Had some thought about where the best place is for the fuel return line so that it is not in the way of the flop tube.
Sept 13, 2008 - 1.5h Fabricated the fuel tank door for the second rib and the anti-hangup bracket (to make sure the flop tube does not get stuck).
 
Sept 11, 2008 - 2h Finished the last two internal ribs tonight. Only the two end ribs and the baffle left and those can be done with the squeezer, which means the tough part is done!
Sept 10, 2008 - 2h Riveted two more ribs in the tank and did the reinforcement plate on the outboard rib. Four more ribs to go... I also noticed that I forgot to rivet the fuel vent clip on the fuel cap flange and had to figure something else out for that. Decided to rivet it on right under the flange itself (with lots of proseal).
 
Sept 8, 2008 - 2h Cleco'd the tank together and prosealed and riveted the first rib of the right tank today. I forgot how yuk it is to work with this stuff...
Sept 7, 2008 - 3h Today I started to mess with the proseal again and back-riveted the stiffeners on and riveted the drain flange and fuel cap flange (part squeezer, part rivet gun).
 
 
The rest of this week will be mostly spent on the ribs. Oh, I need to go and buy some more MEK; almost done with the stuff!!
Sept 6, 2008 - 7h A very productive saturday! I dimpled the tank skin with the C-frame, dimpled the rib flanges and stiffeners with the squeezer (of course I roughened up all areas where there is going to be proseal with some scotch-brite). I made the reinforcements plates for the end ribs and drilled them to the ribs.
Also fabricated the tank attach angle and drilled it to the rib after having drilled the hole for the flop tube.
 
I matched the tank access cover with the ribs and drilled the screw holes (#19). After that match-drilled the access ring to the rib and drilled the nutplates rivet holes. I had to drill out one of the rivets and that made the hole so big that I put in a an426ad4 rivet instead of the ad3.
Here you can clearly see the big rivet head I had to put in
Drilled the tank drain flange to the skin. Drilled the fuel cap flange to the skin and countersunk the holes in the flange.
Sept 3, 2008 - 1h More deburring of the right tank skin and the ribs.
Sept 2, 2008 - 1.5h Deburred holes in right tank ribs and stiffeners. Removed blue protective plastic from the skin. Drilled out the right access cover hole with the fly cutter.
August 9, 2008 - 1h Made the fuel pickup tube: cut it, bend it, crimped the end and sawed some slits in it.
 July 17, 2008 - 1h Fabricated the fuel return line for the Egg fuel injection closed loop today and mounted it in the left tank.
 July 16, 2008 - 1h Installed the vent line in the left tank today. My first flare with the flaring tool went very well (I think...)
  July 14, 2008 - 2h I prosealed/riveted the outboard rib today which means all the ribs have been done! I think I'm going to let it dry for a couple of days and then fill it up with water to do a first leak test. If something leaks at least I can fix it easily because the tank is still open. I also took the wing off the stand and put it in the rolling wingstand I got from Jeff to make place for the second wing construction. I will put it back for a moment when I'll mount the tank on the left wing.
July 13, 2008 - 6h A marathon session on the left tank today and almost done with the thing (it's a about time). I've done the last couple internal ribs and the inboard rib incl. the tank attach bracket and T-410 bracket.
  Inner ribs done. Does not look bad at all. Hope they are all leak-proof!   Inboard rib with a detailed pic of the attach bracket. This proseal is everywhere... I'm glad I'm almost done, but it's hard to forget there's a second tank coming up! By the way, if you can leave the blue protective plastic on your skins as much as possible; it's much easier to keep your skins nice that way. I've seen most people remove it completely, but I don't think this is necessary. July 12, 2008 - 2h I riveted another two ribs today. Two more internal ribs to go for this tank. I seem to have a better rhythm and can do about one rib per hour now. Tomorrow I should be able to finish all of the ribs hopefully. I bought some plastic cups and found some tongue depressors at the drug store (they were looking a bit funny at me when I asked for these and were probably wondering what I was going to do with them :-)
July 10, 2008 - 2h From the rate I am going it seems I can do about one rib a day. I think this would be much faster with two people, but when nobody is around I'll have to cope this way. The sequence of riveting and cleaning is what makes this slow.
 
Maybe I will manage to finish the left tank in the weekend when I have some more time. July 8, 2008 - 1h Riveted the drain and the deluxe fuel cap on the left tank skin today. I almost forgot to rivet on the fuel vent clip, but remembered the last moment! What a messy stuff this proseal is; I am developing quite a dislike for it :-(
 
Fuel drain riveted and prosealed front and back
 
Fuel filler cap riveted and prosealed front and back.
The bottom rivet on the fuel filler ring did not come out perfectly straight, but there's not too much I can do about it because I think the hole did not come out straight somehow. See if I can correct this a little bit later.
July 6, 2008 - 4h I deburred and dimpled all the tank ribs and stiffeners today and also had my first proseal session. What a fun to work with this sticky goo... Not! Anyway, just back-riveting the stiffeners took much longer than I thought especially making sure that there are no leaks between the skin and the edge of the stiffeners.
 
Preparing the table for a proseal session and rivets cleaned in MEK
 
All done with the stiffeners
July 3, 2008 - 3h Was able to do some work on the plane today after working in the yard and house a bit (my company gives us 2 days off for the 4th of July). I match-drilled the access cover and riveted the access ring including the platenuts on the inboard tank rib and put the whole tank together again.
 
The tank access cover being match-drilled with the inboard rib
 
The access ring from front and back
I really have to start figuring out how the fuel system works as really soon now I will have to put some plumbing in the tank. By the way, I've put down a deposit for an Eggenfellner H6 as well: Jan is offering these for $5,000 less for a limited amount of time, so I could not resist obviously :-)
June 21, 2008 - 4h I got some time in the shop today after yet another work week in California. I'm done traveling for a while so hopefully I get this left wing done soon. Today I fabricated the left tank attach angle and drilled it to the rib together with the reinforcement plate on the other side.
(this looks crooked, but it's not)
 
I also fitted the deluxe fuel cap (looks nice!) and the drain valve to the skin, match-drilled the rivet holes and countersunk the holes in the fuel cap flange.
 
 
I started cutting the big hole out of the inboard rib using a fly-cutter, but that didn't really work out; I think my cutter is too cheapo and I'll have to buy another one tomorrow. Hopefully I will find one at the local hardware store.
June 14, 2008 - 2h Deburred and primed all the tank attach brackets and riveted the platenuts on six of them. Riveted platenuts for the inboard attach bracket on the spar using the rivet gun. I also primed the bottom side of the baffle and W-423 plate. Somehow the self-etching primer (spray can) doesn't stick very well to the baffle and comes at some places; I have to find out why that is. I've started to fabricate the tank attach angle T-405 and the reinforcement plate T-410 (made two of them, also for the right tank). Tomorrow I won't have time to work in the shop, because of the airshow at New Garden airport.
June 13, 2008 - 2h I have been away to LA for work last week and got some time in the shop again. I redid all of the tank attach brackets as they came out pretty bad last time: I would not have been able to rivet the baffle to the brackets, not even with a poprivet gun shaved down. This means of course that I will have to order some new ones from Van's to do the right tank later.
June 7, 2008 - 3h It's getting very hot out here; today the temps have gone up to 97 F! Luckily I have A/C in my shop so that definitely keeps things bearable.
I countersunk all the skin to baffle attach holes and dimpled the skin to spar attach holes.
I also prepared all the tank stiffeners and clecod them to the skin for match-drilling.
Time to go swimming now...
June 6, 2008 - 3h Tonight I drilled the baffle to the tank attach brackets and match-drilled all the holes in the tank skins with the ribs and the baffle. Sounds simple doesn't it? Lots of work though!
  
I also match drilled the tank skin with the joint plate using a #19 drillbit and drilled out all the holes that attach the tank skin to the spar to #19.
June 5, 2008 - 4h Tonight I've clecod the left tank together and I actually ran out of clecos! I'm happy I'm not doing both wings at the same time as I would have to order a boatload of extra clecos that you hardly need anymore after the wings.
After cleco'ing the tank attach brackets underneath the spar using the center holes I drilled yesterday, I match drilled the left and right holes using the spar as a guide. That centerline I drew yesterday was useful.
 
After that was all done, I drilled the holes for the platenut rivets using the following method: first clamp the platenut to the bracket using a screw partially screwed in the platenut (enough to be tight). The hole on the side of the platenut that is not clamped can now be drilled using a #40 drill. Place a cleco in the hole just drilled and remove the clamp so that the other hole can be drilled.
  
The next step was riveting all the platenuts to the brackets, but first I primed those areas where the platenuts touch the aluminum with self-etching primer (the rest of the bracket will be primed when the rest of the holes have been drilled). Here's an image of the result.
This was followed by mounting all the brackets on the front of the spar using screws that, again, were not completely screwed in the brackets, but tight enough to hold it together for drilling later. When the tank structure was placed on top of the spar, everything fitted great including right next to the leading edge that was already cleco'd to the spar.
 
Before cleaning up for the night, I placed the inboard bracket between the spar and the tank baffle and matchdrilled the #12 holes in the bracket from underneath the spar.
I'm going to follow the method that most people seem to be using when drilling the holes in the baffle and attach brackets, where the skin is taken off and the baffle stays where it is so that all the holes can easily be drilled.
Oh, I decided to measure for twist one more time: there's absolutely zero twist in my setup. That will make me sleep better at night :-)
June 3, 2008 - 1h Didn't spent too much time in the shop today due to an eye exam (and the accompanying eye dilation) this evening. I did prepare all the tank attach brackets (T-712), drilled the #12 holes in the center of six of the brackets and cleco them to the underside of the spar for match-drilling.
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