Recommendations for "tight fit" holes

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Recommendations for "tight fit" holes

Postby samiam » Tue Aug 30, 2016 8:54 pm

I'm attaching the angles and wing-attach blocks to my preassembled spars. They are already predrilled for bolts - I'm hesitant to just use a hand drill and end up with oblong holes that are not tight fit. Any suggestions from other builders?
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Re: Recommendations for "tight fit" holes

Postby Bryan Cotton » Tue Aug 30, 2016 10:14 pm

Mike,
I drilled mine in the drill press. Maybe not the root rib angles but definitely for the spar attach.
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Poplar Grove, IL C77
Waiex 191 N191YX
Taildragger, Aerovee, acro ailerons
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Prebuilt spars and machined angle kit
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Re: Recommendations for "tight fit" holes

Postby radfordc » Wed Aug 31, 2016 9:48 am

I bought a Sonex that had loose wing bolt holes....enough that I could move the wing tip up and down about an 1". I fixed the problem by increasing the size of the hole from 3/8" to 7/16". I updrilled the holes using a hand drill and lots of WD-40 lube. I did the drilling in 1/64" increments....25/64; 13/32; 27/64. For the final 7/16" hole I used a reamer instead of a drill bit. The result was a nice tight fitting hole that required tapping the bolts home with a light mallet.
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Re: Recommendations for "tight fit" holes

Postby Bryan Cotton » Wed Aug 31, 2016 10:40 am

I also used a reamer for my last pass: 0.3725" for the AN6 bolts. There is no slop.
Bryan Cotton
Poplar Grove, IL C77
Waiex 191 N191YX
Taildragger, Aerovee, acro ailerons
dual sticks with sport trainer controls
Prebuilt spars and machined angle kit
Year 2 flying and approaching 200 hours December 23
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Bryan Cotton
 
Posts: 5383
Joined: Mon Jul 01, 2013 9:54 pm
Location: C77

Re: Recommendations for "tight fit" holes

Postby samiam » Thu Sep 01, 2016 4:14 pm

radfordc wrote:I bought a Sonex that had loose wing bolt holes....enough that I could move the wing tip up and down about an 1". I fixed the problem by increasing the size of the hole from 3/8" to 7/16". I updrilled the holes using a hand drill and lots of WD-40 lube. I did the drilling in 1/64" increments....25/64; 13/32; 27/64. For the final 7/16" hole I used a reamer instead of a drill bit. The result was a nice tight fitting hole that required tapping the bolts home with a light mallet.


I used this 1/64" increment method, and it worked great. Used regular drill bits, but with the small step up each time, the holes came out nice and round.

Thanks for the help!
Mike L
Sonex #1345
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Working on wings
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