As the instructions recommended, I soaked the rivets in MEK to clean them.
I hacked together a balance beam scale with which I had hoped to measure the 10:1 ratio of sealant to accelerant. The scale worked great, but I didn't end up using it...more in a minute...
I laid out electrical tape where the ribs will go. This theoretically will keep the rib areas clear of sealant. I can tell you now, after the fact, that it works great.
I didn't catch any pics while sealing and riveting, since I was here alone, but it went like this:
I got everything absolutely ready before I cracked the ProSeal open. Tools right there, plenty of rags, MEK, gloves, rivets, stiffeners and skins cleaned, etc. As soon as I opened the can of ProSeal I knew I was in for it...it's very thick, gooey stuff. And that's before you add the black accelerant to make the formulaic "Black Death."
As I "scooped" it from the can into the plastic cup (which was supposed to go on the stupid balance beam scale), I immediately knew I was not about to use the hack scale. This stuff was too sticky and gooey and would get all over the place if I tried to delicately balance cups on the scale "platforms" -- screw that. Fortunately I had thought ahead and had Plan B just waiting to happen...I had snarfed my wife's digital kitchen scale (Weight Watchers, I guess there's something to say for you...) and enclosed it in a ziplock bag (good move, by the way). I resorted to using that sucker.
I blopped (I think that verb aptly describes the process...blopping) a bunch of the melted-taffee-like off-white colored sealant into the cup...an amount that seemed like a good one...the instructions say to use a dab the "size of four golf balls." What ever! That's too much. Anyway, this worked out to about 3 5/8 ounces of sealant. I tared the scale with a small plastic dixie cup on it, and slowly added black death until it read 3/8 ounces. Good 'nuff.
Then I scraped and scraped the black death out of the small cup and quickly mixed the now dark gray mixture. I had read somewhere that it mixes very evenly very quickly...this, fortunately, is the truth. It doesn't take long to have a nice consistent mixture, at least color-wise.
I was already starting to sweat under the full face cover, hearing protection (don't forget to put it on in advance; you will be riveting after all...), and rubber gloves. Anyway, I went right to it. One by one, I sealed and riveted the stiffeners on. It's actually very straightforward (yeah, says me, a guy who hasn't pressure tested his work yet...). Spread some goop on the skin, over the rivets, etc., and then push the stiffener into place really hard. It seeps out...rivet that sucker!
Now here's where it hit me...you can't exactly use a rivet gauge very easily once you've riveted and sealed...so get it right! I mean, you could gunk up your gauge and waste time and test every rivet, and then have to clean it in between every shot, but that ain't for me. At this point in the project you should be pretty good visually with shot/squeezed rivets, so use that skill. Just one man's opinion. The FAA might scream at me if they heard that, but let's be realistic here.
After you've riveted a stiffener on, yep, follow the instructions and just scrape along the edges with a popsicle stick or whatever, and make nice fillets. Dab gunk on each rivet head...in fact, my method was to completely envelop the head...which I assume is best.
That's all there is to it. An MEK-soaked rag cleans this crap up very easily, so don't worry too much about making a mess. Here's a shot of some of the stiffeners after I cleaned up and pulled up the electrical tape. Not bad for my first plunge, I think.
Here's a shot which shows the drain riveted in place. That process was actually much messier than the stiffeners, since you squeeze those rivets (at least I did). The color of the ProSeal looks really gray in this shot, but it's darker than it looks...more like in the above picture.
Here's a shot of the drain on the outside, after much cleaning with MEK.
And here's the outside look at the stiffeners' rivets. Cleans up nicely (gunk seeps around and out of the rivet heads while you're working with it).
Phew! This ain't that bad. Tomorrow Jen and I might seal and shoot some ribs. We'll see.