Builder Assist Program Day 1

06 Mar 2006: 10 hours each. This was day 1 of the Builder Assist Program. We elected to stay at the onsite dorms, and it was really great being able to stay so close to the shop. They are nothing fancy, but you don't have time for TV anyway! We lucked out, as there was only one other builder coming that week, and he cancelled at the last minute. So we had the whole facility to ourselves!

Day 1 consisted of a series of presentations in a classroom giving an overview of what we'd be doing, then we headed for ths shop. First, inventory.






The rest of the day we spent on pre-assembly, match-drilling, deburring, and dimpling. Two of worked the horizontal stabilizer, and one worked the vertical. It's important to "flute" the ribs, as the manufacturing process warps them. This is done using fluting pliars to flatten them out, as shown here.



Here are some more photos showing the spar and skin pre-assembly, and some trimming and grinding work. The little cylinders sticking out everywhere are clecos, which you insert into the rivet holes to hold the pieces in assembly.