Fuel Tanks Post #6

More Fuel Tank fun. What more can a guy ask for? I think I'm now over the hardest part of the fuel tanks (at least I think so) with another weekend of installing the ribs. It is truly amazing how much the proseal slows things down. I'm typing this post a day after working on the tanks and I will be honest, I hurt a little, muscles aching and tight from the prior days labor. See comments under the pics for more detail of this weekends work.

23rd     3.75 hrs     Clecoed prosealed ribs into place, alodined parts, nutplates, filler tab
24th     6.25hrs      Riveting ribs with proseal

10 hrs on Fuel Tanks = 43hrs Total

The only fillet seal I felt worthy of taking a picture. I've learned that Proseal is not my craft.

I'm making a fuel tab to hang down inside the tank. This will aid in depth perception when filling the tanks and provide another reference point other than empty, full, and somewhere in between. How much fuel will be in the tanks when filled to the bottom of the tab? Good question. I won't know until I try it out, but it doesn't matter. It's somewhere in between full and empty, but this will provide a defenitive point of reference while filling the tanks.

View looking down into tank. The tab is 3.5" long.

The ribs clecoed in place. A cleco in every hole.

Installed nutplates on all the fuel tank attach brackets.

 

Another weekend on the fuel tanks with all the center ribs riveted in place with proseal.

I received my Gretz pitot mast in the mail. I needed this before working on my lower skins. There isn't much to it. Can't say it's worth the $100 it cost, maybe the special shaped tubing that makes the mast is expensive. Regardless, I need the thing to mount the Dynon AOA/Heated Pitot I will be installing.

Attack of the Sealant

It was a normal day, as normal can be, for a man building an airplane in his backyard shop as I began to work on the dreaded fuel tanks again. It all started with mixing the Proseal as its peculiar sulfuric scent filled the air of the shop. With the use of multiple layers of gloves and open windows and doors I began to rivet the ribs into their final resting place. Squeezing and spreading more of the thick black caustic goo onto the tank ribs. I was doing well until I noticed some had gotten onto the work bench. I quickly wiped it up and carried on with my work. Then I noticed a black smear on my shirt, curious 'How did that get there' I thought. No wait it is now on my jeans. I quickly changed gloves to a new clean pair to prohibit the spreading of the sticky black goo. This appears to have only angered the substance as it is now spreading even faster; my gloves, shirt, jeans are covered, the workbench may need to be burned to rid it of the goo. It's moving farther now onto the floor and to the other work bench. It appears to be beyond my control. I'm beginning to fear the worst. For the safety of my family and all of humanity I'm locking myself in the shop, closing all doors and windows. This self quarantine may be the only hope we have for survival as a species. The black goo is taking over...

This may be my last post......build on without me.


16th   2.0    Clecloed ribs in place with Proseal
17th   5.75  Riveted ribs in place with Proseal

9.75hrs on Fuel Tanks = 33hrs Total

Fuel Tanks Post #4

The fourth post to include work on the tanks with many to follow I'm sure.

Friday Night
I had a small can of proseal left over from a while ago so I just mixed the remaining amounts of the two parts into the larger can. I then smeared the proseal onto the stiffening angles like peanut butter covering everything. Then clecoed them in place. I'm following the method posted here...
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=7602

Saturday
After working on several other parts of the fuel tanks; deburring, dimpling, etc. It was time to rivet the stiffening angles into place. I used popsicle sticks to measure my mixture of proseal. It's a 10 to 1 ratio so 10 scoops of the white stuff to 1 scoop of the black to make a beautifully smelly gray paste that we call Proseal. Then I scooped the mixture off the paper plate into a ziploc, squeezed it all to one end, snipped off the tip and had myself a nice Proseal applicator. A pastry chef would be proud. Clean out the rivet hole with a drill then add dollup of Proseal and slide the rivet in. Fill all the holes in each stiffener. Lay the set up down on a back rivet plate and finish the job. Clean up and move on to the next set of stiffeners. Then add a filet to the edges and another dollop on the shop head of the rivet and your done. No big deal....but it takes three times as long as you would think.

Sunday
Same as Saturday with the addition of making plugs for the ribs tooling holes. When the ribs are made there are holes about 3/16" in size in each of them from the hydroforming process they go through to be made. I have found through experience that usually when there are holes in something they tend to leak : ). So I made a patch from some thin aluminum to be held in by Proseal and two small rivets just to make sure they will never come off.

Date                Time
Friday 8th       2.5hrs    
Saturday 9th   4.25hrs  
Sunday 10th   4.25hrs

11hrs on Fuel Tanks = 25.25hrs Total