Wing Outboard Leading Edge 17-3-9, 17-3-12

In-between top wing skin riveting sessions, I continued working on the outboard leading edges. 

First off I filled the stall warning slot holes in both leading edge skins as I will not be installing the standard stall warning system (instead going for an angle-of-attack indicator). 

To fill these holes, I decided to deviate from the plans, and instead used NAS1097 "oops" rivets. The advantage of using these, as opposed to standard AN426 rivets, is that they require only a shallow countersink to sit flush, rather than a full 3/32" dimple. rv10.org also suggested that a dimple at this location might deform the curve in the skin, so I chose to countersink instead.

After countersinking, the "oops" rivets were set using the Cleaveland Main Squeeze as I wanted full control over this process. I did run into an issue, however, while adjusting the squeeze depth as one of the left leading edge rivets did not sit entirely flush, and after squeezing I noticed some minor deformation as the skin stretched around the rivet. I was able to smooth this out using some 240 grit sandpaper and a ScotchBrite pad, and I didn't have any issues squeezing the other 3 rivets.

Stall warning slot guide holes countersunk for a NAS1097 "oops" rivet

Both "oops" rivets set in the right outboard leading edge skin

Shop heads formed well around the curve in the skin

"Oops" rivets in the left outboard leading edge required some gentle sanding to obtain a better finish

Next I dimpled all the holes in the outboard leading edge skins. Interior holes were all easily (although somewhat awkwardly due to the size of the skin) handled with the DRDT-2, and the holes around the edges were dimpled using the pneumatic squeezer for better control.

Right outboard leading edge skin after dimpling

Crisp dimples formed well along the entire skin using the DRDT-2 and pneumatic squeezer

Left outboard leading edge skin after dimpling

With dimpling complete, all outboard leading edge parts were now ready for priming.

Time Taken:     3.2 hours

Dates:                April 9 - April 13 2024

Wing Outboard Leading Edge Total Time:      28.2 hours
RV-10 Build Total Time:                                   647.0 hours

Priming Total Time:                     73.4 hours (not included in build time totals)