putting lid on tank tomorrow

Jesse Jenks · Post by **Jesse Jenks** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:38 pm

Any last words of advice before I cap off my first fuel tank? I'm pretty
sure I goobered up all the holes pretty good. I made some .032 shims to put
in where the main skin will slide under tank skin at stringer and rib
locations. I did a trial fit of the tank skin after installing the tank
bulkheads with proseal and found that the hole alignment along the top of
the bulkheads had shifted a bit due to the proseal now between the bulkheads
and ribs. I just ran the drill through again. There will be plenty of goop
to take up the slack. Any estimates on how much proseal to mix for sticking
the top on? I have 4 bays, I mixed 66 cc total (base and hardener) for the
bottom and had barely enough. I was using the squishout on the inside from
each rivet to coat subsequent rivets, but obviously I won't be able to do
that this time. That brings up another question: you get a long slug of
proseal hanging off each rivet on the inside, and when installing the tank
top these will remain. They come off rather easily because the rivets have
not been cleaned, so do they end up floating around in your tank clogging
things up? I suppose one could clean/scotchbright each rivet, but that seems
kind of ridiculous.
Jesse

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Bob Patterson · Post by **Bob Patterson** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:38 pm

Hi Jesse !

Of course, you'll be turning the wing over as soon as you finish
all the rivets - this should help the ProSeal to settle back onto
the top, and prevent sagging at the ribs.

The seal around the stringers is most critical - it's best
to leave space around the J cutouts, so ProSeal can squeeze out
all around them - it's the PS that gives the seal, and more gives
more flex later. Many use J-cut plates on both sides of the
bulkhead, filled with PS, like an oreo cookie - again, lots of
PS, so it squeezes out all around.

Some builders have put ProSeal on the ribs & bulkheads to build
up a fillet, putting on a layer of Saran Wrap, then installing the top
with clecoes, and inverting the wing. When the ProSeal sets, remove
the top & Saran Wrap, trim the fillets, rough them up with scotchbrite,
and put the top on with more PS - the idea is that the pre-formed
fillets give a better seal because of larger surface area, and you
get to see what the inside would have looked like if you didn't
do this step ! :-)

......bobp

-------------------------------orig.-------------------------
On Wednesday 14 September 2005 01:14 am, Jesse Jenks wrote:

Any last words of advice before I cap off my first fuel tank? I'm pretty
sure I goobered up all the holes pretty good. I made some .032 shims to

put

in where the main skin will slide under tank skin at stringer and rib
locations. I did a trial fit of the tank skin after installing the tank
bulkheads with proseal and found that the hole alignment along the top of
the bulkheads had shifted a bit due to the proseal now between the

bulkheads

and ribs. I just ran the drill through again. There will be plenty of goop
to take up the slack. Any estimates on how much proseal to mix for

sticking

the top on? I have 4 bays, I mixed 66 cc total (base and hardener) for the
bottom and had barely enough. I was using the squishout on the inside from
each rivet to coat subsequent rivets, but obviously I won't be able to do
that this time. That brings up another question: you get a long slug of
proseal hanging off each rivet on the inside, and when installing the tank
top these will remain. They come off rather easily because the rivets have
not been cleaned, so do they end up floating around in your tank clogging
things up? I suppose one could clean/scotchbright each rivet, but that

seems

kind of ridiculous.
Jesse

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Ken · Post by **Ken** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:38 pm

Did you drill a hole through the bottom stringers at the wing root so
fuel doesn't get trapped ahead of each stringer? Or maybe that is in the
manual now??
Ken

Jesse Jenks wrote:

Any last words of advice before I cap off my first fuel tank? I'm pretty
sure I goobered up all the holes pretty good.

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Jesse Jenks · Post by **Jesse Jenks** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:38 pm

Thanks Bob and Ken,

I just finished the top install. It took me and a friend most of the day,
but I'm happy with it. We'll see how happy I am after the pressure test.
Ken, the manual does have you cut the one bottom stringer short at the root.
Bob, thanks for the wing flip tip. I had actually not thought of that. It
probably mentions that in the manual, but I haven't read the manual since I
began working on the skins, as it is so useless. Anyhow the flip does seem
to get most of the proseal plugs to flop over and stick to the top, as
witnessed on the outboard tank rib flange that is outside the tank. It sure
takes me forever to clean up around all the rivets. Is there a better way
than just scrubbing and scrubbing with acetone and paper shop towels? Maybe
using cloth rags would be better. The heavy duty blue paper towels shred
pretty quick on the rivet heads. It took me about 2 hours just for cleanup
Jesse

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Wayne G. O'Shea · Post by **Wayne G. O'Shea** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:38 pm

Be careful with that clean up! I only clean the smears on the skin and leave
the rivets alone. Once the proseal has tacked up for a couple days I use my
finger nail and remove the "o-ring" around each rivet head. Once things have
hardened for a few weeks then I'd scrub with scotchbrite for a final
cleaning before paint. My fear has always been that acetone is going to get
under the heads of the rivets and be detrimental to the proseal.

Cheers,
Wayne

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jesse Jenks" <jessejenks@hotmail.com>
To: <rebel-builders@dcsol.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2005 9:57 PM
Subject: Re: putting lid on tank tomorrow

Thanks Bob and Ken,

I just finished the top install. It took me and a friend most of the day,
but I'm happy with it. We'll see how happy I am after the pressure test.
Ken, the manual does have you cut the one bottom stringer short at the

root.

Bob, thanks for the wing flip tip. I had actually not thought of that. It
probably mentions that in the manual, but I haven't read the manual since

I

began working on the skins, as it is so useless. Anyhow the flip does seem
to get most of the proseal plugs to flop over and stick to the top, as
witnessed on the outboard tank rib flange that is outside the tank. It

sure

takes me forever to clean up around all the rivets. Is there a better way
than just scrubbing and scrubbing with acetone and paper shop towels?

Maybe

using cloth rags would be better. The heavy duty blue paper towels shred
pretty quick on the rivet heads. It took me about 2 hours just for cleanup
Jesse

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Dave Ricker · Post by **Dave Ricker** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:38 pm

Hi Jesse

Go to your local industrial supplier and get some 3M Wypall X60 wipes, they come
in a box of 180 for somewhere around $20 and are great for the job. We
discovered them before doing our first tanks and the roll of blue towels quickly
got moved to the garage for when I'm tinkering with cars.

Congrats on sealing up that tank, a big milestone!

Cheers,

Dave

Jesse Jenks wrote:

Thanks Bob and Ken,

I just finished the top install. It took me and a friend most of the day,
but I'm happy with it. We'll see how happy I am after the pressure test.
Ken, the manual does have you cut the one bottom stringer short at the root.
Bob, thanks for the wing flip tip. I had actually not thought of that. It
probably mentions that in the manual, but I haven't read the manual since I
began working on the skins, as it is so useless. Anyhow the flip does seem
to get most of the proseal plugs to flop over and stick to the top, as
witnessed on the outboard tank rib flange that is outside the tank. It sure
takes me forever to clean up around all the rivets. Is there a better way
than just scrubbing and scrubbing with acetone and paper shop towels? Maybe
using cloth rags would be better. The heavy duty blue paper towels shred
pretty quick on the rivet heads. It took me about 2 hours just for cleanup
Jesse

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--
David A. Ricker
Fall River, Nova Scotia
Canada

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Alan Hepburn · Post by **Alan Hepburn** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:38 pm

Take the cutout from the wing skin, cut some holes in it so you can get
your hand inside, wax it so it doesn't stick, then Proseal and cleco it in
place. Use your finger to form a nice flange on all areas inside. Then
remove the wing skin after a couple of days any scuff up the Proseal surface
with Scotchbrite. Then Proseal the tank skin proper in place. Can't
remember how much I used. I just mixed what seemed like enough. Try to
keep the ambient temperature cool so you have more working time. Don't
start at 9 o'clock at night!

Al

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Jesse Jenks · Post by **Jesse Jenks** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:38 pm

Too late now. I'll remember that for the next wing. I am not planning on
painting, so I'm always thinking "clean".
Jesse

From: "Wayne G. O'Shea" <oifa@irishfield.on.ca>
Reply-To: <rebel-builders@dcsol.com>
To: <rebel-builders@dcsol.com>
Subject: Re: putting lid on tank tomorrow
Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2005 21:59:17 -0400

Be careful with that clean up! I only clean the smears on the skin and
leave
the rivets alone. Once the proseal has tacked up for a couple days I use my
finger nail and remove the "o-ring" around each rivet head. Once things
have
hardened for a few weeks then I'd scrub with scotchbrite for a final
cleaning before paint. My fear has always been that acetone is going to get
under the heads of the rivets and be detrimental to the proseal.

Cheers,
Wayne

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jesse Jenks" <jessejenks@hotmail.com>
To: <rebel-builders@dcsol.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2005 9:57 PM
Subject: Re: putting lid on tank tomorrow

Thanks Bob and Ken,

I just finished the top install. It took me and a friend most of the
day,
but I'm happy with it. We'll see how happy I am after the pressure test.
Ken, the manual does have you cut the one bottom stringer short at the
root.
Bob, thanks for the wing flip tip. I had actually not thought of that.
It
probably mentions that in the manual, but I haven't read the manual
since
I
began working on the skins, as it is so useless. Anyhow the flip does
seem
to get most of the proseal plugs to flop over and stick to the top, as
witnessed on the outboard tank rib flange that is outside the tank. It
sure
takes me forever to clean up around all the rivets. Is there a better
way
than just scrubbing and scrubbing with acetone and paper shop towels?
Maybe
using cloth rags would be better. The heavy duty blue paper towels shred
pretty quick on the rivet heads. It took me about 2 hours just for
cleanup
Jesse

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