Monday, January 3, 2022

Installed the F-796A tank attach brackets - 2.5 hours

I want to get the fuel vent lines installed, but I'm concerned that I need to fit the tank attach brackets before the vent lines are installed as I do not want to damage the lines.

Frankly I was dreading installing these purely as the clearances to the edges are so tight as well as its tricky to drill thick material by hand. 

My idea to help make this easy was to use a piece of aluminum flat bar. I drilled one of the holes from the F-796A bracket into the flat bar and started to drill the second hole, enough to identify the center to allow for a #40 pilot hole. With this I have a template I can work with to mark and drill the remaining holes on the fuselage.

I am able to place the template on the fuse. Confirm the location of the #40 hole and start the new hole. Before drilling...I double checked that the alignment was good. Yup!! it is.
Using both the template bolted to the fuse and the ATS drill jig. I slowly started increasing the holes sizes using the drill. Stepping the holes, #40, #30, #19, etc etc. until I was able to ream the holes for the AN3 bolt. It was perfect!