Wing Wiring and Aileron pushrods

Posted on by Neal

Today I visited my friend Mike who is also building an RV-14. Mike is about a year ahead of me, and is about to mount his engine. It was great to see his plane on it’s gear, and to look at how Mike did things.

I borrowed a rotisserie that Mike had finished using, which will be helpful in the near future.

Tonight I worked on cleaning up the wiring around the autopilot servo. Following Mike’s example, I drilled and stepped up a new systems hole that allows me to route the wiring in a more direct path.

I couldn’t finish that job as I’m waiting on some longer AN3 bolts, and some Adel clamps.

Next I worked on the aileron pushrods. Using some spare nuts, I installed the rod end fittings in the drill press and sanding them down slightly until they fit snugly in the steel tubing. Then I drilled and primed the tubes. I only did this one one, as I’m waiting on replacement parts for the other one.

Wiring in it’s original location. I am moving the servo wiring down close to the spar. Will do an “after” photo later

Pushrod with end fittings temporarily attached.

Post-script… I did receive the bolts and re-routed the wiring, the result was a much cleaner install and wiring routing.

Servo wires are now routed along the spar, and secured with an adel clamp. There is a service loop to the left, just out of the picture. This is a much better setup.

Tech Councilor Visit

Posted on by Neal

Tonight Jason came over to check out my wings before I close them up. He had some great advice as always, and noted a few things I could improve.

“Visit before wing closing to evaluate work and talk about next steps. Pointed out a few places where wires could contact moving components or could chafe against aircraft structure. Talked about strategies to secure wire bundles and reduce vibration. Talked over various next steps in construction. Overall, work is very high quality and there were no obvious defects noted. Keep up the great work!” -Jason

Note to self; Jotform is the app Jason uses to record comments.

Nutplates

Posted on by Neal

Tonight I installed the nut plates onto the bulkhead parts that make up the aft wall of the baggage compartment. It was trivial, but a little tight around the flanges. I managed ok with my hand squeezer in the vice.

With the hand squeezer in the bench vice, I was able to squeeze all the rivets for these nutplates
Nutplates installed

Primed pushrods and bulkhead

Posted on by Neal

I’ve been busy with work and family stuff, and have had several weeks without any airplane time. Today was warm and dry, so I took the chance to prime a few parts. I made a custom stand for the pushrods since they are cylindrical and had openings at each end that I didn’t want to prime (they are already primed). Everything came out looking ok.

Bulkhead and pushrods cleaned and etched
The threads are plugged with silicone plugs I bought when powder coating the pitot mast. Nails through a block of 2×4 at each end allow the rods to stay up off the bench, and they can rotate freely.
Painted parts

Bulkhead test-fit

Posted on by Neal

Today I dimpled, drilled, and test fit the baggage compartment aft wall bulkhead. Dimpling was tricky in places due to the flange shapes, but I managed with my hand squeezer and narrow dimple dies. I step drilled a systems hole, and then started test fitting the bulkhead. I’ll need to flute the flanges, but ran out of time tonight to finish.

Dimpling the bulkhead flanges
Checking the left side of the bulkhead for fit. Some fluting will be needed

Bulkhead

Posted on by Neal

I’ve done about as much as I can on the wings before I have a tech inspection, so I started on the fuselage tonight. There are a few rivets I need to set, but I went out of order and started work deburring the bulkhead that forms the back of the baggage area. I decided to get these parts ready to prime, so I can prime the aileron pushrods and these parts together. Not much to report; I finished deburring two of the three parts.

Aileron push-rods

Posted on by Neal

Tonight I pop riveted on the rod ends for the longer two aileron pushrods, and cut and drilled pilot holes for the shorter two. I also primed the threads of the rod ends for the longer pushrods. I didn’t get started until 10:30pm, as I’m quite busy at work this week.

Pop riveting the ends was straightforward. I needed to sand down the primer inside the tubes for two of the 4 ends, but they eventually all fit nicely.

With that done, I cut the two shorter pushrods from the supplied powder-coated steel rods. Then I marked and drilled the holes for the rod ends on these shorter two rods. I was getting quite tired, so I decided to finish by priming the threads on the rod ends.

Pop riveted rod ends
Marking and then cutting the shorter two pushrods

Torque Tube-to-bellcrank pushrods

Posted on by Neal

After a week away, I came back to the garage tonight. I drilled the first set of aileron pushrods, and deburred the ends. None of the rod ends needed sanding, they all fit easily into the ends of the tubes.

To my surprise, I found that the template Vans supplied for drilling the holes was not to scale. I made my own out of some graph paper. I also used an off it to practice drilling using my pipe clamp on the drill press. It all worked ok, so I moved onto the real parts.

My own template
Practicing with the clamp and drill press
Finished drilling and deburring the tubes. Next step will be match drilling into the threaded rod ends, then priming inside and outside of the whole assembly

Aileron fitting and actuation

Posted on by Neal

Tonight I added the flap hinge bearings, hung the right wing aileron, and marked the long aileron torque tubes for cutting. It was getting to late to attempt a cut tonight. I’m tired, and it will be quite noisy.

The plans have you squeeze the flap bearings in using a c-clamp, with a small socket set. The socket set allows you to squeeze the bearing through and have it protrude evenly on either side of the mount.

Squeezing the flap bearings

Hanging the aileron was not too difficult, just annoying trying to get all the washers and bearings on at the right place and time. A little patience and it was done. The aileron has a counterweight in the leading edge, so it rests against the stop in a full upwards deflection.

Quick-built aileron
Right wing aileron installed

The torque tubes that run through from the wing root to the aileron bell-crank are 64.25 inches long. I marked the cuts I need on the two 6 foot lengths of tube.

Left aileron with the two tubes ready to be cut to length

Riveting bottom left outboard skin

Posted on by Neal

Another riveting session tonight. I am almost done with this step, which is the top half of the skin. I decided to stop where I am, so I can have my tech councilor come over and review my wiring runs and everything else on the wing before I close it up completely. It was easier than I expected to get these rivets in, and they all set well with no need to replace any of them.

Red highlights indicate the rivets I have set so far

I think the bottom half of the skin may prove tougher to rivet, as I’ll have less ability to flex the skin as I get further towards the bottom.

Given I’m going to wait for my tech visit, I’m going to move on to the next section which is flap installation, then aileron install and actuation.