Tools!
It’s been a while since my last update and I’m a bit behind on posting so there will be a number of updates in short sequence. Having been more or less done with the workshop there was still one major item missing… The tool kit.
Bringing together some pieces of aluminum requires some specialist tools which typically cannot be found in the typical toolbox. I’ll go more into detail on a dedicated tool page where I’ll expand into my reasoning behind each and my opinion on them as I start to gain experience using them.
With regards to a supplier I decided not to re-invent the wheel and go with the most common supplier for Van’s aircraft toolkits and that’s Cleaveland Aircraft Tool. I’ve heard mostly good things about them and I can only state that my experience with them has been great.
They feature an RV Tool kit which can be customized according to your needs. I had already ordered the DRDT-2 dimpling tool and as such didn’t need a C-Frame. I also decided against the back riveting plate as it’s simply a slab of steel which would add quite some cost to the shipping charges.
Beyond that I decided to double up on everything that is “consumable” meaning drills, reamers to avoid more shipping costs later on. I also decided to get an additional countersink cage to avoid constantly swapping out between #30 and #40 sizes, the most common rivet sizes. For those of you who are new to this and already get a spinning head about tools, tool sizes etc… don’t worry. I started from scratch as well and it all comes naturally. You learn as you go.
I want to give a big compliment to Annette at Cleaveland tool who was amazing in getting my toolkit customized. I can wholeheartedly recommend their toolkits. Toolkit was received within a few days. I was thinking I will do one of those “unboxing” videos but decided against it… a big part of the video would be removing packaging, protective wrapping etc…
As a surprise, Cleaveland even threw in a small practice kit which is the first thing to play with and get some experience with those tools. It’s been a long time since I ordered those first preview plans (2001) but the time has come…. The time is NOW!
