Hello all,
how many clecos/dia do you think are needed for the building of a Sonerai1 ? Mini, optimum, comfort...
Phil
Phil,
The main goal for assembling sheet metal aircraft is to maintain position of the panels to be joined sufficient to rivet properly. While it's tempting to want a cleeco for every hole, on a fuselage side, I'd install lots of cleecos in the area I was riveting. Areas away from the "worksite" could suffer skipped holes, but in any case WHILE RIVETING YOU CONSTANTLY CHECK ALIGNMENT, NOT ONLY WHERE YOU'RE RIVETING, BUT AWAY AS WELL.
If things start to go "cattywhumpus" you have to find a helper to apply "reverse english" for the next few rivets to restore proper orientation.
Ask other builders if they recall any warping tendencies for your design.
Also, where you can, at appropriate corners, between two bulkheads for example, don't drill, #30 for AD4s, drill at 1/8". It will be a push fit, Sometimes you'll need a small socket on the Manufactured head backing up when you push one out. Don't beat them out from the backside. it stretches things you don't want stretched.
Cleeco's aren't adequate for positioning assemblies - an undriven AD4 does a much better job.
If you're flush riveting, you can put the manufacturer's head on a flat plate and "fatten" the stem using the Rivet Gun VERY CAREFULLY, swelling the stem to fit the approximate .148" diameter a dimpled hole assumes and achieve the same purpose.
There's lots more to these assembly techniques. Back when I was presenting at OSH, teaching in the sheet metal workshop and seminars at Sun'nFun, it was clear that while the OSH workshops taught basic sheet metal techniques, they didn't teach the student how to "build."
Regards,
mjb
