All I needed to do was mark center on the F-712 bulkhead, dimension it and fit it for drilling. Quite straight forward. Or so I thought.
I marked the holes and drilled them on the drill press.
Drew a center line on the bulkhead.
Lined up the piece and clamped it.
UPDATE - Just a heads up that the plans/manual don't actually have you install the tie down bar to the F-712 bulkhead at this point. The instructions actually have you install this part much later when you install the vertical stabilizer to the fuselage. I figured this out after priming and riveting the tie-down bar onto the F-712 bulkhead and spent much time researching if it was going to cause problems. I finally came to the conclusion after talking to a local builder friend (and also noticed that this was done on a few other build logs - John's RV7A project, Bruce Swayze's RV7A project) that this was totally ok to leave riveted on and did not cause issues later. An angle drill is used to start the #1/8" holes into the vertical stabilizer, and of course I plan on using the drill press anyway to finish the job.
Started drilling the holes to 1/8" and clecoing. Last hole that needed to be drilled, the drill bit in the drill press grabbed the assembly and sucked it up, resulting in the hole becoming oblong and destroying the piece.
I think I've come to a brick wall. I've screwed up almost every bulkhead. Of course I realize now that my 1/8" drillbit was the culprit. It has a different twist than the other cobalt # bits that I have. It must be only for wood and me using it on aluminum is causing it to ruin holes when it grabs. I'm so frustrated at this point.
