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Tool Box Practice Kit

JohnCFord

Well Known Member
Yesterday was a learning experience. I have had plenty of experience building other things such as cars and custom motorcycles. Bucking rivets is a little different and in short, I need more practice before bucking the "money" job....

Used my soldering iron to trim the blue plastic. I had to file the tip as not to score the end pieces.


Match drilled.


Dimpled.


Here are my dimple dies. What tool is used for these (and do you have one for sale?)? I had to convert my drill press to an arbor press for the end pieces and I used channel locks to dimple the box.


My first rivet ever!


Back side.


Pow! First casualty.


Second casualty.


After drill out and replacement. I did find that using a center drill, commonly used by machinists, was a great way to start a larger hole in the rivet head before drilling through. I also need a rivet cutter...


Pretty time consuming process but very fun. I'll finish this project and buy another tool box and probably the other practice project.
 
For those dies you either need a c-frame dimpler, DRDT-2, or a pneumatic squeezer. For the record, to my (relatively inexperienced) eyes, that looks way under dimpled. Definitely, not the crisp hole you are looking for.
 
For those dies you either need a c-frame dimpler, DRDT-2, or a pneumatic squeezer. For the record, to my (relatively inexperienced) eyes, that looks way under dimpled. Definitely, not the crisp hole you are looking for.

I agree. I wouldn't start another practice kit until you are set up for dimpling with one of the 3 items mentioned here.
 
tools

John
Welcome.
First I commend you for trying without the tools.
My advise is find a local builder and spend an hour learning basics. You will find out pretty quick which tools you want/need and get valuable experience using them.
As far as the tool box, the drill press and pliers won't give you the force needed. You need a C-frame or hand squeezer or both.
Your profile shows you as a CAP member. Their shop may have the tools and skills too.
Best of luck.
 
As a side note, my first tool box was pretty motley. It's amazing how much better the second one came out. I was feeling pretty confident heading in to the airfoil practice kit and found completely new ways to muck it up. I'm pretty sure you shouldn't need a rivet cutter for the practice kits.
 
Thanks for the insight, guys. Anyone have a pic filed away as to what a properly dimpled hole should look like. Next paycheck, more tools. By the way, I live in Norman, Oklahoma. I went to Brown tool on Friday and was able to look at their used over stock. Big pile of very useful stuff to be had for pretty cheap.
~J~
 
Thanks for the insight, guys. Anyone have a pic filed away as to what a properly dimpled hole should look like. Next paycheck, more tools. By the way, I live in Norman, Oklahoma. I went to Brown tool on Friday and was able to look at their used over stock. Big pile of very useful stuff to be had for pretty cheap.
~J~

The Van's section 5 actually does a really good job explaining it. To me, it's kind of like love. Hard to describe, but you know it when you see it. These helped me get my feet under me:

http://www.eaavideo.org/channel.aspx?ch=ch_hints_sheetmetal
 
Cool! I already have the material to weld together a DRDT-2 frame. All I need is a front end kit.
 
There are marks like these around the world in different places on aircraft! You just have them where you can see them. There are some pretty good rivets in there too! The drill press can not deliver the leverage and force that a hand squeezer does, so the dimples are under formed.

The tool box is a perfect learning opportunity. Welcome to the world of RV builders.
 
John,
The posts above are are all good. Two things I wanted to say are that riveting with a gun and bucking bar is easier if the work does not jump around. A good way to practice is to get some sheet metal and practice drilling, dimpling, and riveting with the work piece held in a vise or with someone holding it still.
Also the edges and corners look like they need smoothing up until all the tool marks and burrs are gone. I like to draw file this type edge.
Did you deburr the holes?
Good luck and welcome to the forum!
Charles
 
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John, I am sort of like you. I have built everything from inlay music boxes to 20 story resort hotels. What I didn't understand when I built my toolbox was how exact things had to be. My toolbox looks like **** and I don't show it to anyone! The hinge binds so bad it barely opens. The hasp sometimes works. I keep it so I remember to not "just wing it" on my build.

When you get started on the empennage, you will see measurements like
21 -27/32. Who even knew things were measured that close. I have a very complete woodshop with almost everything you would ever need to build anything out of wood. I can't even see 1/32!

Bottom line is you can't just make things work like you can with wood. There is no room for error or putty. If you don't have the right tool, you need stop and buy or borrow it. The time it takes to fix a screw up makes experimenting a bad deal - and it can cost you more than money.

I bought a bunch of practice aluminum and used up a bunch of rivets and I am pretty good now. I am tempted to do another toolbox and probably will when I am finished with my build. It would be fun to have them both on the shelf!
 
Project Update.

The Sun came out in Oklahoma which made for a perfect day to play. I still don't have a dimple machine but I did proceed with the next step and fit the hinge to the box and lid.

Match drilling the top was easy with the way the hinge fits to the box.

So far the hinge works very well. I'm pretty happy with it.

I plan to weld together a few DRDT-2 frames and and buy a front end kit from Experimental Aero. The remaining frames will be sold to offset the cost of the front end kit.
 
After match drilling the hing I got to do some pounding on round head rivets for the first time. This time the work was secured to my bench and I was able to install all of them without incident.

All the rivets on the back side are looking uniform and measured 1 1/2 times diameter. I feel good about the structural parts of the aircraft at this point.
 
And the latch

I wasn't too happy with the set on the two countersink rivets here either but I think having had a smaller flat set might have helped in this case. Again the round head rivets went in fine.
 
Welcome John,
I would recommend a proper dimpler first then for really good practice drill all the rivets and do them again. Good drilling out bad rivets needs more practice than riveting. That would be so much better than buying a new project. This is a practice kit and not really suposed to be a show piece. I would even consider cutting it up and using the metal for other practice pieces. Or at least find some scrap.
If you come up short of rivets there are plenty to be found and cheap.
Most of us have plenty of spares from the build. I would even mail you a few if you gave me a list of what you need.
 
I was able to borrow someones Dimpler. Thanks James from 1K4. Big difference with the amount of success I had riveting the piano hinge to the lid and box.









Had to drill two rivets out. It went very well and guess which ones they were... Shout out to Mark Wesson for sending me some backup rivet inventory. Thanks Mark.

 
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