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Tools
Reviewing every tool that I use on this project would be silly. Instead, let's talk about some of the tools that will
make life easier.
DRDT-2
  C-Frame dimpling sucks.
DRDT-2
rocks - Thanks Paul. I haven't
sufficient flow of speech to do this tool justice. It's available as a ready-to-use tool, or as a parts kit. I've
built two from parts (so far). The first one I built per the plans using 3x6x3/16" steel tube, and let
Dennis Millsap
talk me out of it the week he moved to Greenville, NC. The second one I built using 4x6x1/4" steel tube (because it was
the first piece of steel that I stumbled across in the scrap yard). Both do a fine job, but the 4x6 tool is more stable
due to the wider foot-print and increased weight (about 80 pounds). No noise, perfect control, no noise, easy alignment,
no noise...
90-Degree Drills
I put off buying an angle drill for a long time. I borrowed one of the
cheesy 90-deg attachments that chucks in a drill, and found it awkward to
handle and too fat to fit in most of the places that I wanted to use it.
I wanted a slow drill (500-1000 rpm), mostly for de-burring the back side of
rib flanges, and didn't want to pay a lot for it.
 I
watched eBay for months, and bought this 2700 rpm drill for about $60.
It was stiff and more often than not wouldn't run. I threw it in the
bottom of the tool box thinking I'd either sell it or find a repair shop.
 Not
long after I bought the 2700 rpm drill, I found this Cleco brand 500 rpm air
ratchet on eBay, again, about $60. It might come in handy.
I figured I could change the output shaft from the square drive to 1/4-28
thread, or making an adapter. When I hooked it to the air line, it
started running and wouldn't quit - the throttle was stuck open. It
went into the bottom drawer of the tool box with the other one. Keep
reading - it gets better.
Production Tool Technologies in Georgia overhauled BOTH of these drills for
$40. That's $40 total. Including shipping.
 I
hit The Yard
Store web site one day looking for something else, and found this 600 rpm
drill in the Clearance section for $125. I called the tool room and was
told that it was used, but had been overhauled to new specs. It works
great, and is just the ticket for de-burring flanges.
Back-Rivet Plate
 Back-riveting, generally, produces nice results with minimal fuss and requires the least skill (attention, dexterity, et al) -
mash the sheets to the plate and pound away. The back-riveting plate that Cleveland sells is too small. Avery's is
marginally better. Want a good back rivet plate? Use your cast iron table saw top - a saw with stamped steel wings won't
stand the pounding and the wings are not usually flat. Just pay attention to where the blade hole and miter slots are. No table saw? You might find
a chunk of steel at the local scrap yard that you can fashion into a larger plate. Setting the plate into a piece of
plywood helps. My back-rivet band-aid is shown here. The lines drawn on the wood served first to guide the router
in hogging out the hole for the plate. In use, I can WAG (that's Wide Angle Guess, unless you're Army) where to position
the rivet I'm about to pound - if I can see the lines around the structure to which I'm riveting. My table saw is in storage
(thanks Troy) 15 miles away, or I'd be using it instead.
Drilling vs. Reaming
 If at all possible (meaning, if I remember to switch bits) I prefer to ream pre-punched holes
rather than drill. I have a tendency to use the terms interchangeably, but will endeavor to be precise. I drilled all the parts for the RV-7 tail. While I was waiting for Van to grow enough aluminum
to generate the wing kit, I gathered a few tools and did a lot of gee-whiz research. There was an extended discussion on
the Matronics RV List about drilling vs. reaming, so I bought a few reamers to play with. I'm hooked. The reamers
are a little slower, but they make a round hole and leave almost no burr. Drills tend to bite and as a result leave an
oblong hole and comparatively nasty burr - the thinner the sheet the worse the distortion. Get a few reamers and turn
them slow - you'll like it.
Quick-Change Tooling
 Cleveland
Aircraft Tools offers a quick-change chuck with
an array of matching adapters for just about anything you might want to stick in your drill motor. It seems expensive
just thumbing thru the catalog, but it's priceless on the bench. A huge time-saver.
Highly recommended.
These two compartmented boxes came from Harbor Freight. they are great for storing lots of small pieces and will fit in the
drawer of my tool box. Everything but small washers will stay put with the lid closed.
If you simply must tote it by the handle, thread your washers on a loop of
safety wire and even they will stay in the cup.
Rod End Bearing Driver
   You'll
need to make one of these little gems. Use it to screw the rod end
bearings into the nutplates in the tail surfaces.
Sam Buchanan has a tutorial on how to do it
yourself. If you're intimidated at the very thought of working PVC, send
me $10 and I'll hack one together for you, postage paid, of course :)
Edge Roller
 Here's
the edge roller I got from Cleveland. When you dimple or rivet, one of the
results of the operation is localized stretching of the aluminum around the
hole. Dimples and rivet lines near the edge of a sheet will cause the
sheet to curl. This tool puts a slight bend on the edge, and helps reduce
the curling effect.
Trailing Edge Bend Brake
  Believe
it or not, I had a hard time finding lumber and hinges that I thought were
suitable for this device. The Lowe's and Home Depot stores in the
Montgomery area are pitiful examples. The brake is used to complete the TE
bends on the elevators, ailerons and flaps of the RV-7. The RV-8 rudder
needs it, too.
Bench Block
 A
scrap chunk of 2x4 punched full of holes and screwed to the wall keeps the dozen
or so bits and doodads that I use a lot close, stable and off the bench.
Big-Screw Dimpler
 I
don't yet know how many holes need to be dimpled for screws bigger than #8, but
I suspect it's not very many, certainly not enough to justify buying a die set.
I drilled a pilot hole in the end of a scrap of oak and used my countersink to
cut a female dimple in the block. Slip the screw thru the hole that needs
to be dimpled and into the block, then tap it with the rivet gun. Tweak
the depth of the cut until the screw sits flush in it's hole.
Narrow Space Dimpler
 There
are a few places that need dimples where there is simply not room enough to get
the dies in place, most notably the aft ends of the elevator, rudder, aileron
and flap ribs. You can do a passable job with a stub of 1/4x1/2 steel bar
stock. Drill and countersink the bar, then use it as the female die. A
rivet tapped with the gun and a flush set acts as the male die. Not
perfect, but acceptable. | 
