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When I first unboxed my kit a few months ago, I wanted to get all of the inventory done, so my first drilling was removing the temporary rivets on the wing.
In that process, I completely mangled one of the holes on the inboard corner of the main fuel tank panel. I cursed myself, but moved on. I figured I would take care of it when I started the wings.
With the release of the new wing manual, I have decided to stop on the fuselage, and do the wings for now. The time had come to face my mistake.
The hole was nasty and oblong. I was concerned that a #27 drill bit would grab unevenly, and end up making it worse, or I'd end up with a hole that didn't align with the hole for the nutplate.
I took a blank sheet of paper, and rubbed with a pencil to create the transfer marks for the hole and a few on each side as well. I took that to my computer, and went through a few revisions to get it to fit. Once I was happy with that, I modeled up a 'tower' to guide the drill bit through the aluminum.
Overall, it took a couple of hours to model up up, print, and fit the final jig to drill one hole, but I am happy with the result.
'
It took just a couple of seconds to drill, and I felt the bit grab on the un-even edges of the hole. I am completely certain I would have made the situation worse by free-handing it.
Pictures attached.
In that process, I completely mangled one of the holes on the inboard corner of the main fuel tank panel. I cursed myself, but moved on. I figured I would take care of it when I started the wings.
With the release of the new wing manual, I have decided to stop on the fuselage, and do the wings for now. The time had come to face my mistake.
The hole was nasty and oblong. I was concerned that a #27 drill bit would grab unevenly, and end up making it worse, or I'd end up with a hole that didn't align with the hole for the nutplate.
I took a blank sheet of paper, and rubbed with a pencil to create the transfer marks for the hole and a few on each side as well. I took that to my computer, and went through a few revisions to get it to fit. Once I was happy with that, I modeled up a 'tower' to guide the drill bit through the aluminum.
Overall, it took a couple of hours to model up up, print, and fit the final jig to drill one hole, but I am happy with the result.
'
It took just a couple of seconds to drill, and I felt the bit grab on the un-even edges of the hole. I am completely certain I would have made the situation worse by free-handing it.
Pictures attached.
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