Workbench

Stefan convinced me that my conference room table wouldn't work and that we needed a real workbench.

Here is Stefan about a day or two into the work bench. Stefan's assistance here is invaluable as I don't have any experience with woodworking.

The workbench is 4'x8' with a shelf space underneath and a special dimpling surface you can see built around the dimpler.

Here is the finished product. We've got a layer of carpet on the dimpling surface and the workbench to protect the wood. For now, it is removable.

A close up shot of the dimpler. You can see the surface is even with the bottom half of the dimpling set. Pretty cool!

Practice Tool Box

Here we are working on the practice tool box. Clecoing, drilling, deburring, dimpling are all straightforward. The hand squeeze rivet gun is easy to operate. We squeezed some of the rivets too hard and bent the aluminum. A soft surface on the table would also help protect the metal.



Riveting with the gun and bucking bar is lots of fun. We learned to keep the bucking bar off the aluminum to avoid scratches. The cupped set used with universal head rivets will take some practice. We skipped a few dents across the aluminum.




Here is the completed tool box in just around 10 hours. Looks good other than the dents in the front from the rivet gun.

Practice Kit and Tools Arrived

Here I am with Stefan on our first day. The tools just arrived and we've layed them out on our conference room table work-bench along with the two practice kits.


Tools were purchased from Cleaveland Tools - their basic starter set. The practice kits were purchased from Vans Aircraft.


Instructions on the tools and kit were light. We had to get some air tool oil to get started using the pneumatic drill and rivet gun.

We are eager to get started.

Introduction

Welcome to Jim Ruttler's RV-10 blog where you can follow along and review my progress as I build my own airplane!

No, I don't know how to fly a plane or how to build one, but I'm not going to let these small details prevent me from trying. I've recruited Stefan, my father-in-law, to assist with the building and my dad to assist with the flying part. Now, I just need to get started.