Not happening today … the tail cone is in the shed which will require snow shoveling just to get the door open and it is cold. Tomorrow we are slated to have a one day heat wave … all the way up to 36 degrees. So plan on taking advantage of that and will get to the tail cone for the match drilling tomorrow. Meanwhile, in an effort to continue chipping away at unfinished tasks, decided to skip to section 26 and begin working on the RV-12’s seats.
Section 26 begins by instructing the builder to cut and prepare six hinge pieces which will be installed onto the seat backs. These will allow the pilot to make adjustments to the seating prior to flight and to flip the seats forward to access the pins that hold the wing spars secure. Of the six hinge pieces cut to size, the two F-1237H hinges require having one of the eyelets removed … in the photo below, the red eyelet needs to be cut away as pointed to on the lowest hinge in the photo.
Cut hinge pieces for both of the RV-12’s seats. The
red eyelet needs to be removed as done on the bottom hinge in the photo.
After the hinge pieces are cut to the proper length,
a locating hole is drilled into each hinge. This hole will allow each hinge to
be Clecoed onto the seat back parts so the remainder of the hinge can be match
drilled. The hole location was center punched and then drilled using a small
drill bit to create a lead hole … then the hole was enlarged in steps to a
final size of #30.
Drilling a lead hole into one of the hinge
pieces.
The hinges were then Clecoed into position using
the lead hole, clamped with a few Cleco clamps and then match drilled.
Using the lead hole to position the hinge for
match drilling.
Match drilling one of the hinges to the seatback
brace.
Hinges for both seats now match drilled.
Unfortunately, after all the drilling is over, I can’t bring myself to rivet the hinges onto the seat back parts because the hinges are not primed or painted. It would bother me to no end to have some hinges painted and others not. Last Fall I just simply ran out of time, so figured the seats could wait until spring to get assembled. So priming and painting of the hinges will be done then. After all, there’s really no rush … won’t be flying the airplane any time soon. But there sure would be a cool factor to be able to sit in the cockpit … oh well, will have to wait until Spring.
