Monday, January 21, 2019

Finishing up the F-705 Bulkhead - 2 hours

Tonight, I bolted the seatbelt anchors onto the bulkhead and torqued them. I also installed the nutplates on the side of the bulkhead (with NAS1097 rivets).

 Next I began to setup to drill the plastic flap bearing blocks. I installed both blocks on the bulkhead and measured each side to ensure that they were parallel.


Once I was sure that both were in the correct location, I clamped them and checked twice.


Once I was happy with the setup, I used the palm drill to start a pilot hole with the #12 bit. I then set up the drill press to complete the holes.

When finished drilling, on inspection. The holes didn't line up, the new hole seemed to be crooked. Really weird. It bugged me for quite a while, and then as soon as I put the blocks together....I figured out what happened.

The blocks from Vans are not cut straight at the factory...one block is at a slight angle when placed on a flat surface. So depending on how it sat when I drilled it....the holes were not going to be "Straight". Ugh...what a silly Gotcha. I will order a couple new flap blocks and drill it again. I will have to be careful to ensure that they are both straight to begin with before drilling.