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Clecos (and Cleco Pliers) are the first things to master when building a metal airplane.  Cleco is a brand name for a clamp that fits in a small hole.

Clecos come in many sizes.  Most holes in the RV-series aircraft are either #40 (just larger than 3/32"), #30 (just larger than 1/8"), or #12 (just larger than 3/16").

#40 clecos are silver colored

#30 clecos are bronze colored

#12 are tarnished gold colored (not shown)

When drilling holes, a cleco is used to keep the holes aligned without having to insert a permanent fastener.  After some practice, it gets pretty easy.  Drill, insert a cleco in the hole. Drill, cleco, drill, cleco, drill, cleco, etc.

The cleco has an internal spring that draws back the "outer" fingers.  As they pull back, they are spread apart by the inner finger.  This causes them to fill up the hole and hold the two pieces of material together.

The plane soon looks like a porcupine with all of those clecos installed.

 

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Last updated: April 03, 2004.
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