Ivan's RV-7

Finishing the longerons, continuing the center sectionTimer icon3h

January 4, 2023

Somewhat finished the longerons today, continued with the center section.

Firstly, I drilled the aft canopy deck to the longerons. Not much here, clamped it to the longeron with the 0.032" trim strip as a spacer (to simulate the skin), then drilled the holes.

Drilling the aft canopy deck. View from the below.

Same for the second one.

Both are drilled.

Then I got back to the center section assembly. First, I clamped the F-704 bulkhead to it and drilled various holes. Some of these holes are shared with other skins which I don't have installed yet, so I could have drilled all the holes with everything assembled. However, the instructions say to drill now, so I did.

Clamping the center bulkhead.

On one hand, I want to rivet the F-704 to the seat ribs (actually, the instructions start the center section assembly with riveting the seat ribs to the F-704), but that would mean I need to dimple both the F-704 bulkhead and the F-776 center bottom skin. The problem, however, is that some of the holes are shared with the F-772 forward bottom skin and it will be harder to drill it if holes are dimpled. So I'll keep F-704 clecoed for now, so I can remove it later to dimple it and the F-776.

Finally, I used transfer punch to locate the holes for the bolts on the seat ribs. Initially I thought of carefully running a drill bit, but decided against it, so I don't damage the holes in the F-704 accidentally.

Marking the bolts holes.