Shop/Tools

Disclaimer: This site is to document the building of my RV-8. In no way is it intended to give advice, or to provide instruction on aircraft constuction, spelling, or grammer.

It all starts off with a good place to work. In my case it’s my garage.

I will be using the third stall…. Now I just need a fridge and a TV! )

I made this work bench based on instructions from the EAA website. http://www.eaa1000.av.org/technicl/worktabl/worktabl.htm

I’m sure I will be making a few more of these as the parts get larger.

(I know the bench doesn’t look level in the photo, however it really is!)

After much research I decided to purchase an RV specific tool kit from Ishams tool company www.planetools.com One of the main reasons was the DRDT-2 (the large gray dimpler in the photo’s), and the pnematic riveter. This kit comes with just about everything I will need to build my entire airplane.

Some of the other shop tools…

I got this 29 gallon air compressor. Noise was a major concern, so I decided that an oil lubricated belt driven unit was the way to go.

A Bench Grinder is one tool that most builders consider essential. I got this one for about $35 from Lowes.

Variable Band Saw. Very helpfull when fabricating various parts. I found this one on Craigslist for $30!!!

 

This is Boelube. Made by the Boeing Aircraft company. It is a lubricant that is used for drill bits, saws, and many other metal working applications.

 

OOPS Rivets and Edge Roller.

The Oops rivets are rivets that are used when you drill a hole too large. The head of the rivet is the same size as a smaller rivet, but the shaft is a size larger.

The Edge roller is used to roll a crease in the metal. You need to do this when you roll the leading edges of various controll surfaces like the rudder, elevators,etc.

*Update* 01/16/10

Today as I am getting ready to start my wings, I decided it was time to epoxy my garage floor. I have had the floor kit for a number of months, and just haven’t had the motivation to do it. For some reason I woke up today and said, today is the day.

I think the floor looks much better, and cleaning up is way easier now!

Old floor. Note the rust stain from draining the water from my aircompressor.

 

 

Rolling on the epoxy

 

Andrew helping to spread the flakes

 

Finished.

 

Close up.