TitleGarrison

No bird ever flew nonstop from New York to Tokyo, or raced 15 miles high at triple the speed of sound.                                                                                                   
  But birds do something else.
  They do not conquer the air; they romance it.
.”

  Peter Garrison

HoursAndCounting

Jur's RV7 Aircraft Factory
2917 hours
and counting
Some decisions in life are bare of any obvious logic

 

As I am really avoiding having to start cleaning edges on the ribs, I decided to make the stiffeners for the left fuel tank.

Vans delivers some long pieces of stock angle to be used to create the various length stiffeners.
Both tanks will carry about 160 liters of fuel, 80 kg in each tank so a little extra support for the skin is no luxury.

Fortunatly, Vans has already made some notches on the stock angles that show you where to cut and round corners. This makes this task really a no brainer. Trust the notches and snip away, no need for extra measuring.
They even have foreseen the shortening of the inboard stiffener for allowing water to drain down to the lowest point in the tank near the inboard rib.

First step, just cut the long bars in parts using the aviation snips. Then use the band saw to remove roughly the corners. Last, our dear friend scotchbrite will grind away the last part and polish the corners.

A word of caution: don't prime any of the inside of the tank ! The primer may react on the fuel and start peeling of or contaminate the fuel.

A piece before and after.

Then isntalled the stiffeners on the skin, clecoed and matchdrilled them. Mark the position of the stiffeners on the flange with a sharpie pen.

Finally, deburred the holes of stiffeners and skin and dimpled the stiffeners for 3/32 rivets with the pneumatic squeezer.

As you can see, there are 4 lengths of stiffeners. The shorties and then 3 other lengths that are very close.

I assembled all my courage and started working on cleaning edges of the fuel tank ribs. All are done with vixen file and V-deburr tool. Next step is the scotchbrite in the die grinder. But that will be for next time.

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Use the kit buttons in the top ribbon bar to see a chronological overview per sub section per kit. For the full chronological article list, see chronological build link in prelude menu here below. The easiest way to lookup information is by typing in some part numbers or keywords using the search option in the ribbon bar

 

Caution !

Some advice on reading my log for fellow builders !

In some articles, I made corrections at later date on the original article to rectify my own stupidities or faults. Read through the entire article if you intend to use my findings/experiences on your own project !

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Legal Mumbo-Jumbo

It’s possible (not likely) that I’m not as smart as I think I am. (Occasionally, I have moments when I know this to be true. Fortunately, the feeling passes quickly.) Although I have tried to make this information as accurate as I can, it is not only possible, but also quite likely, that erroneous and misguided information lurks within these pages. I cannot and do not warrant these pages to be error free and correct. Furthermore, I accept no liability for the use of this (mis)information. And, as many would say, your mileage may vary. If, after reading this, you are intent on proceeding, please be aware that the contents of this site are protected by copyright (copyright © 2011 and 2012). Nonetheless, you may copy this material subject to these two conditions: (1) any information used is for non-commercial purposes, and (2) the source of the material is properly credited. Of course, you may link to any page herein. At some articles, snippets of the plans from Vans are visible. These are for educational and illustrations purposes only and should never be used as plans for part construction or assembly as plans may have changed since the picture was taken and more important they are protected by Copyright by the Vans Aircraft Mothership company.

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