pilotryan wrote:Who even solders anymore? We have the technology of the future now! What an awesome tool though. The clamp and the snap on butane torch are now on my scopes.

I do appreciate all of the suggestions guys. Can’t wait to show off my toolbox once it’s all foamed up.

Now I need some sticker ideas...

Those quick solder joints are great, but bulky. When you have a lot of connections that need to be compact, there’s no free lunch.

You can stagger the joints to make it smaller overall.
On the motorcycle, I used crimped pins and shrink wrap to join harnesses. Easier to split apart if if I ever needed to.

Halestorm wrote:Parallel pliers from Knipex are a must, can do everything from tightening axle nuts to squeezing small rivets.

Which size do you find to be most useful?

Chris

Chris, I use the 5" the most, and 10" second. I didn't think I'd ever use the little 5" ones when I seen them the first time, but man are they handy.

pilotryan wrote:Can’t wait to show off my toolbox once it’s all foamed up.

You have issues.

akgreg wrote:You have issues.

You must be new here. That’s common knowledge around this neck of the woods.

akgreg wrote:

pilotryan wrote:Can’t wait to show off my toolbox once it’s all foamed up.

You have issues.

I enjoy the enthusiasm.

Hman442 wrote:I enjoy the enthusiasm.

Speaking of enthusiasm, I got my Sioux drill in the mail today. It is absolutely the best drill I have ever had the pleasure of using. Excellent weight with an excellent grip and reversing mechanism. I know this will be getting some serious use during the next few months. The only thing I don't love about it is the keyed chuck. I just have a feeling that I will lose the key...

I am most likely going to wait until I splurge on a rivet gun, but if Sioux has as nice of a gun as that palm drill, I might end up with one of theirs. Chicago Pneumatic also has an interesting ergonomic version of their rivet guns, but it's quite a bit more expensive than the Sioux. I'm guessing that like most things, you get what you pay for. I am also thinking that a 3x gun would be acceptable for most things that I would use it for. While working on Cessnas, have any of you guys ever had use for a 2x or a 4x (or higher) rated gun?

If into sheet metal work....these come in handy. These are from my last project.
The Planishing hammer makes quick work on dings, dents and oil canning on flat surfaces. Will shrink flat plate into a bowl....for an aileron pulley cover.


English wheel....couple minutes to make great bump outs.



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Damn I wish I lived close so I could learn those skills. Never have gotten that far into sheet metal. Seems to be a dying art.

I wish more people knew how to do sheetmetal. It seems rather difficult to get the wizard certification though.



All kidding aside, I’d love to learn how to wheel an English wheel. Really is a dying art.

This is where the FSDO sent their mechanics to study tin work:

https://www.tinmantech.com/education/workshops/

TM Technologies Kent White teaching a class in Anchorage. Matthew Schumacher, Dan Schillings, Paul Minelga and Del Rawlings...me all five of us are building or have built a Bearhawk. Dan’s is the Subaru powered yellow Bearhawk at Merrill.

This is Kent....at the fourth oldest Yup’ik Village site in Alaska. First ever Silver Salmon.

Last summer Kent brought up prototype dies for the Planishing hammer. Spent time roughing out speed fairings for the PA18 gear.


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pilotryan wrote:

Hman442 wrote:I enjoy the enthusiasm.

While working on Cessnas, have any of you guys ever had use for a 2x or a 4x (or higher) rated gun?

I have used a 2X in tight areas under floorboards and tail sections. A 1X pocket rivet gun can pay for itself too. Also use a 4X bucking Monel rivets, on occasion. (2X & 3x will usually work harden Monels too quickly). I’ve also used my 9X enough to require a rebuild. But that was on Learjets.

We do a lot of wings, control surfaces and fuselage work. The 2X gun is used most of the time for the 3/32 and 1/8 inch rivets. You will sooner or later literally destroy those thin skinned projects with that 3X, until you have a lot of experience.
Nothing worse than working your way out of something where you have to reach with a long bar and oops, I just massacred The skin cause The bar slipped off. The 3X is great for #5 rivets, and even long #4 in heavy structure, but save yourself a lot of trouble and stick with the 2X for the small dia rivets!

m_moyle wrote:Last summer Kent brought up prototype dies for the Planishing hammer. Spent time roughing out speed fairings for the PA18 gear.


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For some reason, the very thought of "speed fairings" on a PA18 just cracked me up...

But I do admire his work! Wish I knew 1/10 what he knows.

I passed sheet metal structures somehow.

Now I'm looking to get some more cool tools, specifically, what would I need (if this was my airplane) to put this back together without using blind rivets like cherry-max?



I'm specifically looking at this section on our airplane. My starboard side lower door sill is really wonky and it is something that I would like to look into replacing.