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Bryan,

I can definitely see that 0.2 degrees difference in the hockey stick bend. Glad your not loosing any sleep over than anymore! :shock:

Get this area buttoned up and start building the foreword fuselage. It will be therapeutic after your recent rebuild.

Thanks Scott- getting this buttoned up is the plan.

Here is a drill block I made to help transfer holes:


Front side clecoed in:


Back side:


We also did a bunch of countersinking for the aft spar tunnel. Adam's first go with a micro countersink.

Adam has destroyed his first countersink. He has a talent there I think. I neglected to get a picture. Two more 120's on order.

Here is my technique to not screw up the hockey stick again. Thought I would share it. I took a piece of 1/8" scrap and transferred the holes from the upper angle. You can see the scrap clecoed on:


To upsize to the next hole, I use the drill press to put a straight hole through the scrap and the angle:


I am only doing two holes at a time, one per hockey stick. Now the whole thing is clecoed in. I have 1/4" that I can insert the snake drill into before I drill anything. This ensures the bit is straight. Also if the hole gets screwed up, it is usually on the entry and that part is scrap:


I plan to do this with the 7/8" square angle reinforcements too. Instead of using scrap the pilot drilled blocks will get the drill going straight. Between that, the angle, and the shim it is 1.125" of depth that will be done on the drill press

I am declaring victory on the top row of bolts:


I bought new material to remake the reinforcements. Too bad I bought 3/4" square instead of 7/8" square. Did I say that already? I forget. The 7/8" is in the way.

I am remaking the reinforcement blocks. Pictured is my portable handheld milling machine I used to radius the edge. Makes a heck of a mess.


Dimpled and countersunk aft spar tunnel pieces.

Getting there on the blocks. Here is one drilled in, one not drilled, and some assorted failures.

Nice work. I should have gotten a micro stop attachment. I love the use of non metal working tools for aluminum! I curious to see how you tackle the TI work!

6061-T6 is the pine of metals.

Here is my setup for drilling in those blocks. The inside holes have been brought up to #30 in the blocks, angle, and shim. Only the hockey stick to go. The hockey stick has a #40 right now. Because of the thickness of the stackup, clecos are no good. I have drill bits holding alignment and C clamps to clamp it. Since I took this picture I brought those holes up to #30 in the hockey stick and it came out well.

This picture is mostly the same as the prior one - except all the holes have been taken up to 3/16". I am officially recovered. Yay! You might notice one difference - I am using AN3 bolts rather than drill bits to hold the horizontal holes in the block aligned. I cut the threads off with a dremel, put some taper on the tip, then chocked up the bolt in the drill press to polish off the cad plate with scotch brite. Makes the fit a little looser, maybe by a couple thou, so as not to beat up the holes.

I have some clever ideas how to drill the last two 1/4" vertical holes that are used to bolt the tail down. You straight tailed heathens may not be interested but the fork tail devils among you may be. Stay tuned.