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EAA Workshop – Sheet Metal

There was lots of good information and practical hands-on work at the EAA SportAir Workshops this weekend. The Museum of Flight Restoration Center at Paine Field (Everett, WA) makes for a great venue.

Sling builders were well represented, with 3 active projects and at least a couple prospective Sling TSi-leaning workshop attendees. It was nice to see and chat with fellow builder Philip Rueker, taking part in the Electrical course.

I didn’t quite finish my project, but they gave me a certificate anyway. I’m so glad I chose a Sling 2 kit with pulled rivets. I would be absolutely terrified to undertake a project with solid rivets and needing to conjure sufficient skills to wield a pneumatic rivet driver and bucking bar to achieve 14000-plus decent – let alone perfect – results. OMG!

Sheet Metal Training – Closing my Knowledge and Skills Gap

Before I start pulling rivets for real, I’m taking some time to train and practice related skills. There are many useful videos on the Internet. I also found a nice, inexpensive training kit from a homebuilt airplane company in Oregon. I’m signed up for an EAA SportAir sheetmetal workshop – October 26 – 27, at The Museum of Flight Restoration Facility, Paine Field in Washington.

The emphasis of the training resources are centered more on solid rivets and the expectation of somewhat less complete fabrication than what the Sling kits exhibit, but it still seems useful to be introduced to working directly with the metal.

Practice Parts

Before I tackle the training kit – using its materials, I’ve been experimenting with scrap pieces of aluminum sheet and angle, I found at my local Home Depot. It’s a good thing too. I surprised myself as I realized laying out and drilling holes for some short lines of rivets, posed more challenges than I expected. I made real scrap out of my scrap material. I’m learning.