Final Product

So far we have made great progress on the plane so far. We have finished the left wing and are now working on the right wing. Over the past few months we have spent them riveting together the wings and preparing the final steps. To finish the plane we will need to attach the wings and engine and then paint the entire plane. So far I have done all of my hours and will continue to work until we finish the airplane.

 For my product for the AXIS STEM core I am thinking of bringing in the aileron of the wing that we are currently working on. This way I can show what the work that we have done looks like and show all of the panelists what my work looks like. I can showcase all of the riveting and how the riveting process works and how I have been doing it.

Progress Update #1

So far I have enjoyed my senior project immensely. Each meeting usually starts with a quick lesson on what we will be working on for the day. These have included aerodynamics and the metals that are involved in the plane and how they are made. I feel that I have learned so much over the course of the project in just a few short months. One of the primary things we have worked with are rivets. These are a small piece of metal that holds the other pieces of the plane together. However on any particular part of the plane there are hundreds of them so putting them in or taking them out is a multiple day ordeal. This can be very frustrating at times as it can feel like little progress has been made, although it is rewarding to see a finished piece. The image below is a picture of rivets that I removed along with the tools that were used to do the job. The frustrating part is that it can take a few minutes to get just one rivet, and I spent about an hour to just get those few rivets below out.

After all of the rivets are taken out and the pieces of metal are cleaned we then have to put all of the rivets back in. This is usually a two man job as one person shoots the rivet gun while the other person holds a bucking bar to squash the rivet and hold the pieces of the plane in place. Below there is a small section that was riveted together by Jason and I.

Sometimes the pieces of metal that the rivet goes into do not perfectly line up. We then have to use a small tool and wiggle it around to make the holes line up so that we can put the rivet in and secure the two or more pieces of metal together.

Form B: 18 hours

The Beginnings

There she sat in all of her glory. Stripped down with no wings or engine with all of the paint removed, waiting for the next job to be completed. That's our job at the Airport, to rebuild this aircraft, a 1960 2 seat Cessna. We have to check all the parts on the aircraft to make sure they function properly, and remove corrosion from any parts of the metal. This is important as the corrosion can eat through the metal and cause failures. We then have to put all the parts back together and then onto the aircraft, finishing with a paint job. 

So far all of the corrosion has been removed from the outside of the plane along with the inside shell of the body. Currently the wings have been disassembled and scrubbed free of corrosion and waiting for a coat of anti-corrosion paint. Also we have taken many rivets out so that we have access to the inside of the different components. Taking out rivets is a difficult task that involves drilling off the head of the rivet and then pushing the rest of the rivet out of the other side of the hole.

In the next few weeks our main task will be to scrub out corrosion and prepare the metal to be painted. To prepare the metal for painting we have to use green 'scratchies' to rough up the metal so that the paint can stick to it. After that, we have to put rivets back in and rebuild the metal after it has been painted.