Alex's Vans RV-10 Build Log

I continued working on the left fuel tank by countersinking the row of holes in the skin that attach to the baffle, skipping every 10th hole. This was relatively straightforward once I had the countersink cage dialed to the correct depth. The only issue I encountered was while working along the bottom of the skin, I could not get the countersink pilot through the hole, as the baffle and skin holes did not line up perfectly. At first I decided to start reaming these holes, and while this worked, I wasn't happy with removing 1-2 thousandths of material on one edge of the baffle holes to get the countersink pilot to fit through. Instead of reaming, I decided to remove all clecoes from the bottom baffle flange, and recleco the skin to the baffle, this time taking extra care to ensure the holes were lined up from the start. This worked much better, and I was then able to countersink without needing to do any reaming  The reason this worked was that clecos don't fill the entire hole,...

Continuing on with the fuel tanks, I worked on separating the stiffeners. Due to their length, these were easiest to separate using shears. The tabs were then removed on the disc sander. I also cut and kept two vent clips that had been attached to the ends of the pre-formed stiffener angles. Separating the skin stiffeners using shears Shears tend to bend the cut edge slightly, especially on the first cut. I found it better to first cut on the side with the widely spaced notches (where the stiffener end angles will eventually reside), as the bent edge would be trimmed away.  The end angles were then marked for cutting with the band saw. Cuts are made relative to notches in the aluminum angle. I drew lines to help guide a straight cut. Once the 28 stiffeners were cut to size, final deburring of these and 2 vent clips was done using the deburring wheel. I also reamed all the holes with a #40 reamer. Stiffeners and vent clips deburred and ready for test fitting to skin Next I straighte...

Fuel tank skins are worked on prior to starting the fuel tank section of the build because the splice strips that connect the fuel tanks to the outboard leading edges are attached to one side of each skin. These strips need to be removed as detailed in section 17 of the plans. After the removing the splice strips with a cutoff wheel in the Dremel, I decided to finish deburring all edges of the fuel tank skins while I had them on the work bench. Splice strip removed from fuel tank skin. Edges were then cleaned up and deburred Next I took the fuel tank Z-bracket strips, and separated the brackets at the tabs using the band saw. I then cleaned up and deburred all the edges on the belt sander and deburring wheels. Fuel tank Z-brackets being separated using the band saw Z-brackets after deburring all edges. I labeled them L and R for now just to keep two separate piles. I then fabricated the two T-1009 J-channels by cutting the two remaining 6ft J-channels in the wing kit to a length of 64-...