A new #40 drill bit gave it's life to bring you this entry. Drilled about 400 holes today. Started with a new bit and used lots of Boelube, but with that many holes in 1/8" thick longeron, it took a while.

First thing this morning, I dropped RJ off at work and then ran down to the Yard Store to but some more clecos. When I got there, I spent a few minutes rummaging through their used bins and scored big time- 200 silver clecos for 30 cents each!

The day just got better when I looked on the bottom shelf and discovered that since the last time I was there they had come up with some Daniels crimpers that were Boeing surplus. I know that because they still had the Boeing inventory stickers on them. Those crimpers are around $400 new and I got them for $20!

When I got home, I chucked up a new #40 bit and started drilling the longerons from the rear forward.

Basically, my method was to start at the tail, and drill every other hole, cleco-ing as I went. Went one bay fwd, then changed to the other side. Once I got both sides done I went back and drilled in between the clecos, then moved to the next forward set of bays.

At each bulkhead, theres the potential to drill though and snowman the hole on the little bulkhead tab on the inside of the longeron, so on those holes, I chucked up a #40 bit with a drill stop set to only go about 1/2 way through the longeron. That way when I take everything apart to debur, I can drill those the rest of the way through, ream the tabs to #40 separately, and hopefully everything will line up without blowing out any of the holes.

I also made the little clips that connect the F-704 vertical members to the longerons.

Reading ahead in the plans, I don't see where it ever tells you to match drill the side skins to the F-715 seat ribs or the center section aft row of rivets to the tailcone. I threw the question out there on VAF and verified that there's no reason to to go ahead and do that, so thats probably next on my list.