Presented by Michael Howe
This page contains instructions for building the Panel from Van's that will be most of the skills required on the sheet metal part of any Van's aircraft.

Building Van's Practice Panel

Make the first cut 1/8" from line then go back and trim to the line

A good way to smooth the part is to use a 3M Wheel

Part edges are smooth after deburring. Use a Sharpie and mark the part number

Match drill the  stiffeners to skin

Deburr the holes in the skin and stiffeners that you just drilled

 If you are going to prime now prime the inside skin and stiffeners. There are quite a few different ideas on priming and you will want to read Van's recommendations in the manual. The prep for the skins is to first Scotch Brite the metal to scuff it and then clean it. For the class project we will use a self etching primer. Other types of primers will be discussed and you can make your own decision.

Dimple the skin holes for the stiffener using the "C" Frame

Another method to dimple the stiffeners is to put the dies in a squeezer and put the squeezer in a vise and "Squeeze the dimple. This method work anywhere the squeezer will allow you to reach the holes. You can also use the "C" Frame to do them.

If you want to keep the blue protective cover on as long as possible, use a soldering iron to score the area to be riveted and the protective blue will peel off along the line.

Back rivet the Stiffeners

Remove tape from rivets and check to see if all the rivets are flush.

Back drilling rib to spar using holes as a guide and using a long drill

After disassembling the Rib/Spar and deburring reassemble and drill to reinforcement plates

The Plans have the rivet callouts on them. Here you see 10  AN470AD4-4 Rivets will be used to rivet the reinforcement plates on.

Riveting the reinforcement plates

Drilling the skin to the ribs

Drilling skin to the spar using the holes in the skin as a guide.

Use temple to establish angle for drilling the trailing edge

Used the "C" Frame with dimple Dies to do holes in skin.

You can construct the special dimple bar shown in plans for the hard to get rib holes, or I prefer to use the vise grip dimple dies that are included in a lot of the RV builders kits available thru Avery or Cleveland. They work well in tight areas and I consider them one of my required tools.

To do the Spar Flange begin with the dimpling. Here I used my squeeze handles with dimple dies.

Finish by countersinking with micro stop countersink cutting deep enough for rivet

Here you can see the rivet flush with the top of the flange

Counter sink the trailing edge. This needs to be countersunk on both sides

Picture of holding fixture holding the part in place after the bottom skin is cleco on. Ready to rivet

Cleco on the bottom skin using the holding  fixture built from the plans

Rivet the skin to the front spar

Squeeze the skin to rib rivets

Using special bucking bar to buck the last rivet on the rib.