[rebel-builders] Building a leak free fuel tank.. Rebel, Eli

[tjhickey]

Note: I sent this once before, but it did not seem to get onto the list. I
will try a second time. If you have seen this before, please delete.


I have no standing in this discussion, because even though my wings are done
and sleeping in the barn, and held air pressure for a day, I do not know
that they are leak free and won't for another god-knows-how-long.

I pretty much followed your tips, Wayne, but when it came to using clips to
support the location of the bulkhead rib in position for installation of the
stringers and small filler clips, I ran into trouble. My bulkhead ribs were
so warped that I was afraid that if I buttered up the stringers and clips,
when I removed the clips the rib would jump to one side or the other due to
warpage that the bond between the clips and stringers would be disturbed.
So I made some support plates that ran from the rib to the stringer and
would hold the stringer in relative position to the bulkhead rib. Then I let
the stringer run free outside the tank area. We did the top tank cover and
stringers all at once, and once the tank cover went on, everything was
locked in position. We also made stringer filler plates for each side of
each stringer penetration. Doing it this way we could avoid causing any
relative movement between the stringer and the rib that it went through.

This can't be done on a completed wing, as the stringers are locked to the
wing skin. Once the top was on and several clecos were stuck in place, we
quickly added the top skin to the wing, and stuck in a bunch of clecos to
make sure all the holes in the ribs, skin and stringers were back in
alignment.

Tim (fingers crossed) Hickey

PS. Wayne, let me add my thanks to the info that you post here. It helps us
more than you may ever know.




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