Squaring Aft Fuse

[mattputz]

Hi, gang - I'm getting ready to drill up the aft fuselage (Sonex A tailwheel). I've got the sides and vertical formers riveted (all except for the top, to receive the turtledeck) I've got the all of the prepunched stuff clecoed, the tailwheel bracket is drilled and clecoed to the vert. stab. insert, but other than that I haven't drilled any of the non-pre-punched items.

I've got it on sawhorses right now, and I'm trying to figure out what I should be caring about related to squaring things. Should I just trust the pre-punching, even if things are a bit wobbly at the moment? Would you drill and cleco the bottom skin first, and then hit the rest? Or the other way around. Thoughts? And if there's a good thread for me to reference, I'm happy to check that out as well. Thanks in advance...

Matt - Sonex 1585

[racaldwell]

Matt,

I used the bottom skin as a reference for that plane and marked its outline on the table for visible reference. I built mine up on a leveled table with an extension added (I have a long fuselage.) From the table surface, several carpenter squares clamped to the table keep the sides vertical. The top surfaces were clamped to the required dims and then I drilled all the cross members. I riveted everything the same way. Seemed to come out fine. BTW, my table surface is sitting on sawhorses with 2 x 4 inch aluminum extrusions as runners for support and shimmed level. Then hot glued together so not to move. ( There are some advantages for working at an aluminum extrusion facility.) I'm sure the same could be done with some straight wood rather quickly.

Rick Caldwell
Xenos 0057

[mattputz]

Rick, were you using any pre-punched pieces (cross-ties, etc.), or were you drilling all your own pilot holes?

[Bryan Cotton]

I also built mine up on a leveled table, and then let the bottom skin set the triangle shape. My kit had pre-punched holes.

[racaldwell]

I cut the pieces from 8 ft channels and drilled all the holes. I had the sides clecoed when I put it all together, then took it apart for alodine and then I riveted all together at once except the bottom skin and turtledeck parts.

Rick

[mattputz]

Thanks for the input on this, everybody. The reason I originally posted this was because I couldn't, for the life of me, get the bottom skin to make sense with the cross-ties. Everything was just enough off that I wasn't sure what to trust. Should have contacted the factory earlier, but Kerry let me know that the cross-ties I have were part of an early batch that had some chronic problems, and so they're shipping me a new set no questions asked. Props to the factory - awesome service. I'm hopeful that things will square up better with the new ones. I'll let you know.

Matt - Sonex 1585