Looks awesome 😎 I glued a thin washer on the tangs between the protruding rivet heads to keep the floor skin from deforming when tightening the bolts. This worked great. Also look at the rudder return option. It might interfere with a couple rear stiffener rivets you have. Also, the aft 6” are covered anyway. The RR kit also comes with two L brackets that go up the center to hold the cover on and could act as a “smaller” stiffener as well.
I like the washer idea. I’ll do the same. You’re correct on the rudder return interfering with the rivets I placed. Two of my stiffener holes are off by approx 3/8” from those return bracket holes. I’ll have to remove those and re-drill.
FWIW on the rudder return, I put three 8-32 nut plates (instead of riveting) where it goes through the lower skin. This way you can still lift the aft part of the floor board (w/sticks removed) for access. Already saved me once.
Don’t worry yourself about adding strength here and there. I wish the plane itself were a bit more substantial and less of a “light sport” type design with the example of the skin being thicker or the seat adjustment mechanism being traditional like on your Cessna. It would be nearly impossible to tell the difference of a 20lbs heavier plane with the same cg.
That’s why tapered silicone rubber plugs should be used. We powdercoat a lot of tube structures with holes that can’t have powdercoat and we plug them with silicone plugs made for that purpose.
Loctite is worth a try. Can’t TIG these as the rivnuts are aluminum and the frame steel. But, that raises an interesting thought about using stainless rivnuts and tacking.
Great video.
Good job. Ours did first flight yesterday morning.
Excellent! That’s got to feel great. I’m 1-1.5 yrs behind you.
Looks awesome 😎
I glued a thin washer on the tangs between the protruding rivet heads to keep the floor skin from deforming when tightening the bolts. This worked great.
Also look at the rudder return option. It might interfere with a couple rear stiffener rivets you have. Also, the aft 6” are covered anyway. The RR kit also comes with two L brackets that go up the center to hold the cover on and could act as a “smaller” stiffener as well.
I like the washer idea. I’ll do the same.
You’re correct on the rudder return interfering with the rivets I placed. Two of my stiffener holes are off by approx 3/8” from those return bracket holes. I’ll have to remove those and re-drill.
FWIW on the rudder return, I put three 8-32 nut plates (instead of riveting) where it goes through the lower skin. This way you can still lift the aft part of the floor board (w/sticks removed) for access. Already saved me once.
Don’t worry yourself about adding strength here and there. I wish the plane itself were a bit more substantial and less of a “light sport” type design with the example of the skin being thicker or the seat adjustment mechanism being traditional like on your Cessna. It would be nearly impossible to tell the difference of a 20lbs heavier plane with the same cg.
the holes for the seat are not drill so it will not fill the tubes with sand from blasting for powder coating
That’s why tapered silicone rubber plugs should be used. We powdercoat a lot of tube structures with holes that can’t have powdercoat and we plug them with silicone plugs made for that purpose.
Can you lock-tight the riv-nut so it will not spin if you need to remove the bolt? Maybe a tiny TIG tack? Possible experiment?
Loctite is worth a try. Can’t TIG these as the rivnuts are aluminum and the frame steel. But, that raises an interesting thought about using stainless rivnuts and tacking.