Should I remove the fuel tanks to finish the wings?
Hi Kevin,
how long did it take from order to delivery?
Malte
Malte,
Here is a timeline of the quickbuild order-delivery time frame for the U.S.
Ordered QB Fuse & Wings 12-18-2017
Van's Rec'd kits 06-25-2018
Paid final to Van's 06-27-2018
Delivered 09-02-2018
PM me about the delay in delivery. I used a preferred vendor that does not crate the kits and this created a substantial delay. I know this does not affect you in your location.
Turner - GREAT idea using the centre punch dots to mark your parts L/R and their alignment. I have tried many things - like marking with a sharpie (acid etch took it off), wires / tags (time consuming and acid took the pen off the tags anyway!), keeping track of them (way too easy to forget or mix it up), so I finally went ahead and purchased a little vibrating pencil - figuring I would just make a little mark somewhere on the part for L/R or alignment etc - but this idea is even simpler. Thank you!
Turner - GREAT idea using the centre punch dots to mark your parts L/R and their alignment. I have tried many things - like marking with a sharpie (acid etch took it off), wires / tags (time consuming and acid took the pen off the tags anyway!), keeping track of them (way too easy to forget or mix it up), so I finally went ahead and purchased a little vibrating pencil - figuring I would just make a little mark somewhere on the part for L/R or alignment etc - but this idea is even simpler. Thank you!
Two things here caught my attention: "vibrating" and "pencil". I'm not entirely sure what this is, but it doesn't sound like it should be used on aluminum.
Is a vibrating pencil something that will scratch into the surface and does it actually use a lead pencil? Both of these are things that are detrimental to the longevity of aluminum aircraft structure.
The carbon in a lead pencil will work its way in between the grains of the aluminum and react with it to form intergranular corrosion. It's difficult if not impossible to remove lead pencil marks completely once you've applied them. If this pencil actually scratches the surface as it's laying down carbon that's even worse. Alodine or primer afterwards won't help as the carbon is already between the grains.
Also, I'm wary of marking the part with a center punch. This causes a stress riser at the punch site and it's more likely to start a crack over time. I'd stay away from doing this. Use the punch for marking the location of drilled holes as it's intended.
I assume you're priming or applying Alodine since you mention an acid etch. You can reapply a sharpie mark after you finish the priming or Alodine and avoid all of these issues.
I'm sensitive to these issues since my day job is aircraft stress/DaDT analysis and design of structural repairs.
Edit: After I wrote this I went to Turner's blog to see exactly where the punch marks were. It looks like you've got two marks close to the blind fastener. The fastener hole and the marks each have their own stress concentration factor (SCF). By being in close proximity to each other they multiply. However given this is a control pushrod that won't see much load (and therefore significant stress), you won't have an issue with potential cracks. This might be a good area to include on the annual condition inspection though.
Hi,
This is a “vibrating pencil” for want of a better description. Not a pencil and not lead.
https://www.amazon.com/General-Tools-505-Cordless-Precision/dp/B004YK66NM
I’ve tried marking after etching (I’m using Stewart systems clean, etch then prime) - but the sharpie marks really don’t bleed through hardly at all. Haven’t had much success with the other methods listed below.
Is a couple of dots here and there really the doom and gloom you predict? I figured a little scratch with the vibrating pencil to mark orientation would not be that bad - I’ve made much worse by accident with the male dimple die! (Albeit scotchbrited them out before priming).
As an example, the doubler plates for the rudder spar had to go on with one face to the spar. Would one dot on each face make a difference?
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t know either way!! I just thought I had found a good solution in Turner’s idea...