Tonight I started the process of riveting the pro-sealed fuel tank filler opening and the drain plug. It was not easy! I manged to get all the rivets in but I found that it is easier to use the rivet gun and bucking bar but when I did that it was harder to get the rivets flush with the skin. I ended up drilling out a couple of rivets and redoing them, and realistically I should probably have drilled out another one or two because the did not squeeze as neatly as I wanted them to. Fortunately this is not a structural rivet joint so even if the rivets are only 95% as strong as perfectly set rivets it is more than enough.
I also modified my fuel tank jig to allow me to put the skins in without a bow in the middle. Part of the next step is to cleco the ribs back into place and I don't want to use the force that my clamping jig requires. So using some examples from other builders I decided it cleco both side of the nose in place and then slowly insert the skin and ribs into the jig. The problem is that I was worried that this would "dent" the skin where the top edges of the jig would be pressing against the skin. See my solution below.
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| boards attached to fuel tank jig top to prevent bowing of the skins when they are in the jig. You can also see the riveted drain flange before I cleaned it up. |
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| another picture of the board on the other side of the fuel tank jig. |
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| The finished fuel inlet. |
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| the inside of the riveted fuel inlet with proseal on the exposed shop heads. |
