Tentacles Of Winter Reach DOG Aviation

The photo below was taken a couple of days ago during the first snow of the season here at DOG Aviation. We only received a light dusting of snow, but it is a reminder the tentacles of winter are about to get a firmer grip on northeastern Ohio.

                                    The temperatures have dropped significantly which produced the first dusting
                                    of snow at DOG Aviation captured here by the photography department.

Bernie and Mike (two of my childhood friends from the old neighborhood) have taken pity on me and loaned me a couple of propane heaters to use in the shop when the winter temperatures get nastier. Thinking of safety, a carbon monoxide detector was procured as an added safety margin. Of course, no good deed goes unpunished and to coin a phrase from one of the songs by Tom Waits “the large print giveth and the small print taketh away”. While reading the detector’s instructions, discovered the detector is only rated down to 40 degrees ... that sucks! Guess a frozen detector is marginally better than no detector at all, so will mush on exercising extra caution whenever the heaters are in use. The roll-up doors are not weather sealed and there is a significant gap between the doors and the frame so there should be plenty of fresh air getting inside the shop ... plus there are a couple of vents on the roof but guess they will be out of play whenever there is significant snow on the roof.

             Propane heaters on loan to DOG Aviation from Bernie and Mike – should be a big help, thanks guys!

Between the Thanksgiving holiday, company, family medical issues, and setting up a new MP3 player for use in the shop, not much has been accomplished on the RV-12 since priming a few of the remaining wing components on Thanksgiving morning. My arm has still not fully recuperated from the marathon wing skin dimpling sessions, so the delay has been somewhat welcomed in that regard. Today work resumed on the RV-12’s left wing spar which is being machine countersunk for the 120 degree flush rivets being used in place of the LP4-3 rivets for the project.  There are oodles and oodles of holes in the spar’s upper and lower flanges which require machine countersinking … so this will be a mini project in and of itself.

                                          Beginning of the countersinking on the left wing spar for flush rivets
                                          using the countersink cage and the 120 degree countersink bit.

I may have mentioned this in a previous post but as a reminder for those interested ... using an adjustable air flow control with the air turned down really low makes a big difference. Countersinking the aluminum with the countersink bit spinning slowly coupled with some liquid Boelube virtually eliminates two issues … rivet hole elongation and countersink bit chattering - which creates flat spots on the countersink taper. Granted the spar material is thicker and somewhat less prone to rivet hole elongation … even so, spinning the countersink bit slowly and well lubricated makes a noticeable difference.