Fuselage - Bulkheads
Tonight, I assembled the F-704 center bulkhead asssembly with the close-tolerance bolts. As you can imagine, these were a tight fit, hence the term "close-tolerance." At first, I had a hard time getting the first bolt installed. I greased the bolt, and used a speed wrench to get the bolt to fit. After a bit of turning, I was able to get the first bolt through the first hole, and back out again. I was surprised to find that there was a slight mis-alignment between the heavy bar stock and the thinner material. I had to use a deburring tool on the outside of all of the holes.
It took a bit of work, but I managed to get all of the bolts fitted to each hole. Eventually, I got to the point where I could press each bolt in by hand. Of course, now I have a big blister on my right hand, it's still a pretty tight fit.
After all of the bolts and holes were pre-fitted, I assembled the pieces with clecos and bolts. Even after all of that work, this still took a bit of pounding with a plastic hammer. I suspect that Van wants you to practice here, before the wing is assembled, later.
 | The speed wrench helped a lot. |
 | Eventually the bolts can be hand pressed. |
 | All assembled, 2 bolts on each side. |
 | On bolt on top, one on the bottom, under that cleco. I may install all 8 bolts, just for fun, before I match drill this. |