The Murphy Builders Site

Hello Rebelers:

I just searched the archives for some hints on the best way to get to the
bottom cabin skin for drilling without success. Soooo, I have a question for
the group.

I just finished trimming and fitting the cabin floor channels (you do
remember them, don't you?). All end clips have been cut, drilled and clecoed
to their respective channels. All holes have been laid out and drilled to
#40 in the FUS-40 and FUS-39 floor skins for the channels. There were PLENTY
of those too!

My question is, what has everybody done to get to the bottom skin for back
drilling those pre-drilled holes in FUS 39 and FUS-40 floor skin? Do I
rotate the fuselage the way the tail section was done, elevate the front
end, shove it partially off the workbench and block it up or what?

It looks pretty precarious if I rotate it! At this point without all skins
final riveted, there doesn't seem like there is too much to keep things from
flopping around when rotating the fuselage and if something flopped the
wrong way, it could damage the skin (don't want to do that).

What has everybody done here?

Thanks in advance for the help here.

Your Pilot Pal,
Terry Dazey
Rebel 662
Sumner, Washington U.S.A.



*-------------------------------------------------------------------------*
To unsubscribe from this list go to:
http://www.dcsol.com:81/public/code/html-subscribe.wcx
Archives located at http://rebel:builder@www.dcsol.com:81/default.htm
To contact the list admin, e-mail mike.davis@dcsol.com
*-------------------------------------------------------------------------*








-----------------------------------------------------------------
List archives located at: https://mail.dcsol.com/login
username "rebel" password "builder"
Unsubscribe: rebel-builders-unsubscribe@dcsol.com
List administrator: mike.davis@dcsol.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Terry.

When I reached this point in the building process I also thought the fuselage
seemed much to 'loose' to attempt to rotate it onto it's side. Besides that,
my workspace is vertically challenged and I could not have done it without
setting the fuselage on the floor first. So I was pretty much stuck with
finding another way.

One of the first things I did was to drill a pilot hole in the bottom flange
at each end of the floor channels that you cut and installed. I marked the
hole locations on the inside of the (exterior) floor panel, removed the
channel, and drilled this hole to #40 in the floor panel. This way once I was
on the underside of the fuselage all I had to do was 'connect the dots' with a
line of rivet holes.

With my workspace limitations I decided I would have to elevate the fuselage
slightly, then remove the worktable from under the fuselage. The tail cone at
this point was already elevated and supported by a separate stand, so I
disconnected and removed the worktable from under the tailcone.

My thought was to elevate and support the forward fuselage at the front
carrythrough frame without any support structure getting in the way
underneath. I had a tremendous concern about the fuselage collapsing in the
middle if I did that! I'm not any kind of engineer but I felt I would need to
make the fuselage as rigid as I could before raising it. I decided I could
accomplish that by first riveting the entire inner floor skins and inner
corner wraps in place, as well as riveting the roof panels/corner wraps in
place. So I did all that before going any further. Perhaps someone with more
experience would not think that was necessary, but that is the way I decided
to do it.

Once that was done I C-clamped two pieces of plywood across the rear face of
the forward uprights. These were long enough to extend well past the fuselage
sides. I screwed 2x4 upright legs at each end. In the bottom end of the 2x4 I
drilled a deep hole and installed a long bolt/nut/washer that would allow me
lift this framework when the time came.

I also screwed two plywood uprights to the two plywood crosspieces inside the
cabin. The top ends fit under the top carrythrough to take some of that load.

I will post some pictures to the archives to better illustrate this whole
affair.

As an additional means of support I made two short 2x4 stands with a 2x4
crosspiece which I placed under the fuselage at the bulkhead B location. The
crosspiece was just attached to the upright stands with C-clamps so that I
could easily raise it as the fuselage came up.

This may sound like a lot of work, but everything went together very quickly
once I decided how I was going to do it.

With all this in place I SLOWLY began wrenching the adjusting bolts on the
bottom legs of the carrythrough support framework. As the fuselage came up I
made sure to adjust the bulkhead B support tight against the fuselage. And I
made sure I wasn't getting any wrinkled panels indicating a collapsing
fuselage.

Suprisingly everything worked very well and as expected (hoped). I only needed
to raise the fuselage enough (a couple of inches) to then slide the worktable
out from under the cabin.

Once the table was gone I put another single upright 2x4 support under the
center floor area and moved the bulkhead B support to the bulkhead A location.
After I had completed all the work under the cabin floor I never did put the
worktables back. I built a small cradle to fit under the cabin for the
fuselage to sit on when it came time to remove the other framework. Then I had
plenty of room to do the main gear installation.

I should mention that when I started the fuselage construction I shortened my
worktables to approximately 20-22" in height. I did this because of my
vertically challenged workspace and knew that when it came time to raise the
tail I'd either have to have a short worktable or cut a hole in the ceiling
for the vertical stabilizer.

Anyway, I apologize for the long winded dissertation. This worked for me.
Maybe it can work for you or someone else. I hope you had a good holiday
weekend!

Roger Hoffman #687R
Eugene, OR USA!



*-------------------------------------------------------------------------*
To unsubscribe from this list go to:
http://www.dcsol.com:81/public/code/html-subscribe.wcx
Archives located at http://rebel:builder@www.dcsol.com:81/default.htm
To contact the list admin, e-mail mike.davis@dcsol.com
*-------------------------------------------------------------------------*








-----------------------------------------------------------------
List archives located at: https://mail.dcsol.com/login
username "rebel" password "builder"
Unsubscribe: rebel-builders-unsubscribe@dcsol.com
List administrator: mike.davis@dcsol.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------

I uploaded 5 photos to R-Fuselage showing the structures I used.

R. Hoffman #687R
Eugene, OR USA!


*-------------------------------------------------------------------------*
To unsubscribe from this list go to:
http://www.dcsol.com:81/public/code/html-subscribe.wcx
Archives located at http://rebel:builder@www.dcsol.com:81/default.htm
To contact the list admin, e-mail mike.davis@dcsol.com
*-------------------------------------------------------------------------*








-----------------------------------------------------------------
List archives located at: https://mail.dcsol.com/login
username "rebel" password "builder"
Unsubscribe: rebel-builders-unsubscribe@dcsol.com
List administrator: mike.davis@dcsol.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------

In a message dated 5/25/2003 8:29:44 PM Pacific Standard Time,
dazey@earthlink.net writes:

It looks pretty precarious if I rotate it! At this point without all skins
final riveted, there doesn't seem like there is too much to keep things from
flopping around when rotating the fuselage and if something flopped the
wrong way, it could damage the skin (don't want to do that).

What has everybody done here?

I blocked up the Fuselage on the bench high enough to work between the bench
and the fuselage and that way everything stayed straight and true. You can
also hang a little of each side off the bench about 8-12 inches on each side to
work on each side and that only leaves a small center section on the bottom
that is tight to work in.

Jim R254



*-------------------------------------------------------------------------*
To unsubscribe from this list go to:
http://www.dcsol.com:81/public/code/html-subscribe.wcx
Archives located at http://rebel:builder@www.dcsol.com:81/default.htm
To contact the list admin, e-mail mike.davis@dcsol.com
*-------------------------------------------------------------------------*








-----------------------------------------------------------------
List archives located at: https://mail.dcsol.com/login
username "rebel" password "builder"
Unsubscribe: rebel-builders-unsubscribe@dcsol.com
List administrator: mike.davis@dcsol.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Terry

Drilling and riveting the bottom. I drilled and clecoed the top and sides
then put sleepers on the table so the clecoes would clear and rolled the
fuse over on the table.Be careful. No problem.

Good Luck
Murray

-----Original Message-----
From: mike.davis@dcsol.com [mailto:mike.davis@dcsol.com]On Behalf Of
Terry Dazey
Sent: Sunday, May 25, 2003 8:31 PM
To: murphy-rebel@dcsol.com
Subject: drilling cabin floor skin


Hello Rebelers:

I just searched the archives for some hints on the best way to get to the
bottom cabin skin for drilling without success. Soooo, I have a question for
the group.

I just finished trimming and fitting the cabin floor channels (you do
remember them, don't you?). All end clips have been cut, drilled and clecoed
to their respective channels. All holes have been laid out and drilled to
#40 in the FUS-40 and FUS-39 floor skins for the channels. There were PLENTY
of those too!

My question is, what has everybody done to get to the bottom skin for back
drilling those pre-drilled holes in FUS 39 and FUS-40 floor skin? Do I
rotate the fuselage the way the tail section was done, elevate the front
end, shove it partially off the workbench and block it up or what?

It looks pretty precarious if I rotate it! At this point without all skins
final riveted, there doesn't seem like there is too much to keep things from
flopping around when rotating the fuselage and if something flopped the
wrong way, it could damage the skin (don't want to do that).

What has everybody done here?

Thanks in advance for the help here.

Your Pilot Pal,
Terry Dazey
Rebel 662
Sumner, Washington U.S.A.



*-------------------------------------------------------------------------*
To unsubscribe from this list go to:
http://www.dcsol.com:81/public/code/html-subscribe.wcx
Archives located at http://rebel:builder@www.dcsol.com:81/default.htm
To contact the list admin, e-mail mike.davis@dcsol.com
*-------------------------------------------------------------------------*





*-------------------------------------------------------------------------*
To unsubscribe from this list go to:
http://www.dcsol.com:81/public/code/html-subscribe.wcx
Archives located at http://rebel:builder@www.dcsol.com:81/default.htm
To contact the list admin, e-mail mike.davis@dcsol.com
*-------------------------------------------------------------------------*








-----------------------------------------------------------------
List archives located at: https://mail.dcsol.com/login
username "rebel" password "builder"
Unsubscribe: rebel-builders-unsubscribe@dcsol.com
List administrator: mike.davis@dcsol.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------