Riveted rudder frame

Posted on by Neal

Tonight I riveted together the pieces I had clecoed to the rudder spar. This took a little longer than I had planned, as I needed to test my squeezer on a few of the longer length rivets. I also took the chance to review plans and decided I should dimple in a couple of spots that would be hard to reach later.

I was able to squeeze all of the rivets except for one where I needed a double offset piece and my heaviest bucking bar. After a few runs at it, I had a good looking rivet. Somehow I ended up with a little smily face, but I was just happy to set it set correctly. These are seriously long rivets, 9/16 of an inch long, and 10/16th for the nutplate rivets. You can’t tell from the pictures below, but there are 4 layers of aluminum that these rivets are holding together, including the rudder horn which is around 3/16 thick.

The one remaining hole is to secure a cable tie attach point, which I’ll pop rivet on tomorrow.

Here’s the whole piece as it currently stands. This really is a big rudder!

Finished Vertical Stabilizer

Posted on by Neal

I set the last few rivets in the Vertical Stabilizer tonight, then clecoed together the rudder spar, plates, shims, and a couple of ribs. They are ready to be riveted next.

I ended up bucking most of the rivets in the trailing edge of the VS, and they all came out ok. A couple of the shop heads are right at the max allowable dimensions. I contemplated drilling them out and redoing, but the reality is that the removal process will likely cause more harm than good. Since they are still acceptable by my measurements, they are staying as-is.

The last 3 rivets are pop-rivets since the back side of the rivet is completely enclosed. I practiced a couple of pop rivets then set these without any issues. Here is the final rivet before being set:

Here’s the finished product:

I picked up some more tools from Cleveland Aircraft:

I think the trailing edge tool will be a huge help in the near future as I get to forming the trailing edge of the rudder.

I clecoed together the rudder spar and the various pieces that are called out in the plans.

After this is riveted, some brackets are attached, the stiffeners are back-riveted onto the skins, the trailing edge is shaped, then the whole thing is riveted together.

Primed Rudder Parts

Posted on by Neal

I primed all of the rudder components today, starting with cleaning, then etching, then priming. Because it takes a while, and parts of it are time sensitive, it’s easier to do on a weekend day than in the late evening during the week. The job was much easier the second time through, and I was really happy with the end result. I have a nice light but complete coating on all parts except the skins. I decided not to paint the skins, because every part that touches the skins will be primed. If I end up scratching the skins, I may prime parts of them later. I am clear to start construction of the rudder frame now.

With the painting done, I squeezed a couple more rivets in the Vertical Stabilizer. Unfortunately one ended up sitting a bit proud of the skin, so I had to drill it out. It turned out to be a real pain, but eventually I got it out, without enlarging the hole.

I going to have to buck the last remaining rivets in the back of the Vertical Stabilizer skin, as I just can’t get a squeezer in to a few spots due the universal head rivets that hold the doubler to the spar.

Vertical Stabilizer Skin

Posted on by Neal

Today I riveted the vertical stabilizer skin to the forward spar and ribs, clecoed on the rear spar, and started riveting the skin to the rear spar. It was getting late and I was tired, so I decided to stop before I started making mistakes.

First, each family member signed one of the inside skins, leaving a few secret messages.

Then I started with some more experimenting with my adjustable squeezer set, and with some practice parts to get my rivet bucking skills somewhat current. I set up a cradle of cardboard and clean rags to keep the VS on it’s edge, which seemed like the best approach for bucking rivets.

Overall, I was happy with the way everything turned out. I had to drill out two rivets, both times the bucking bar slipped off the rivet. I was able to remove both without enlarging the hole, so replaced with the same sized rivet. The second rivet was annoying, as I somehow put a minor dent in the rib and skin when the bar slipped. I’m not sure how it happened, but the result is a slight bump in the skin near the rivet. The main thing is that the rivet set well the second time. You can see how the light is slightly distorted around the middle rivet in the picture below.

I was able to squeeze rivets along the edges of the skins, even the most forward holes on the top rib.

I can see why the plans recommend setting the manufactured heads aft on the rear spar. There is very little room to get at the skins rivets along the rear spar. I did the easy rivets with the squeezer, but I didn’t want to tackle those with less clearance tonight. I’ll try to finish up the remaining rivets on this piece tomorrow.

Squeezed Vertical Stabilizer rivets

Posted on by Neal

Tonight I received my adjustable set for the pneumatic squeezer, along with some scrap aluminum. I spent an hour drilling, counter-sinking and riveting some practice pieces, and documenting the settings needed for each length rivet. Then I re-squeezed all of the rivets on the VS spars and ribs, and they all came out great. The hardest three rivets are where the root ribs meet the front spar. There isn’t much room, and the ribs aren’t square to the spar. I had to switch to my rivet gun with a double offset piece to finally get those done.

With the rivets done, I can finally complete the Vertical Stabilizer. I clecoed the frame to one side of the skin in preparation for riveting. But it’s a bit late in the evening now to start riveting. I’ll try to knock it out tomorrow.

Rudder counter weight

Posted on by Neal

Tonight I covered just a couple of steps in the plans, fitting the rudder counterweight into the rib that will hold the weight. This was a quick process of final and match drilling a couple of #12 holes (drill size), deburring, dimpling (for a #10 screw), then counter sinking the lead weight to fit. I used the drill press to get nice straight holes, and it came out perfectly.

My adjustable set for my pneumatic squeezer should arrive on Thursday, which will allow me to finish the Vertical Stabilizer. I’m also about ready to prime the rudder components, as I have done as much as I can before I need to start assembling parts.

Rudder Prep

Posted on by Neal

I had my initial tech counselor meeting tonight, which was very helpful. Everything looks good, except my 1/8 rivets are slightly under-done. While they are all 1.5x the diameter by the calipers, the rivet gauge shows them slightly under “ideal”. I will fix it easily by squeezing them all slightly more. I ordered an adjustable squeezer piston from Plane Tools, which will allow me to fine tune the squeeze, rather then having to use the washers as spacers which is slightly less accurate.

I then spent some time deburring rudder skins, and final drilling the rudder counterweight support ribs at the top of the spar. Despite the plans indicating otherwise, I found that the top two holes where the spar attaches to the top rib were already final size.

Rudder prep

Posted on by Neal

I spent time today deburring rudder parts, fluting ribs, radiusing leading edges of ribs, reading plans, and some other tasks such as drilling out a couple of holes in the rudder skins. I realized I needed a few more tools, including a pop rivet dimple die with 120 degree head (vs 100 degree for solid rivets). I ordered the new parts from Cleveland Aircraft tools, as they have been super helpful in the past (as have all other companies I’ve worked with so far), and also picked up some 3M tape for the trailing edge.

Forward spar riveted

Posted on by Neal

My dad helped me again today and we spent several hours in the garage working this afternoon. We started by riveting together the ribs and forward spar for the Vertical Stabilizer. The 8 rivets ended up taking longer than I expected, as we tried to ensure the rib flanges were tight against the spar. With the use of some small clamps we were able to hand squeeze the bottom rib rivets, which came out great. The rest of the rivets were good except for the last one on the top rib, where a gap formed between the rib and the spar flange. Not really sure how it happened, but there’s not much clearance in there and it lifted just a fraction. I’ll check with my tech counselor tomorrow, my guess is it’s ok. Shouldn’t be hard to drill it out if needed and redo. It was a huge help having my dad to help hold parts and double check alignment, etc.

I’m going to leave the Vertical Stabilizer here and wait for my tech councilor visit before proceeding. So we moved onto the Rudder, and started by separating and deburring the various skin stiffeners and flanges. We wrapped up after final drilling #30 holes in the rudder spar for the shims and doublers.

Riveting Vertical Stabilizer

Posted on by Neal

With the primer coat looking ok, I proceeded to start riveting parts together. First up was the doubler plate on the front spar, then the rear spar doubler and hinge attach brackets. For the front spar plate I used the pneumatic squeezer. For the rear spar, the pneumatic squeezer wasn’t viable. The -6 and -7 rivets were too long for the pneumatic squeezer with the yokes I have, and the squeezer couldn’t develop enough power to squeeze the rivets. I need a yoke with a wider throat to allow me to use it with those longer rivets. So I used the hand squeezer to do all the rear spar rivets. It came out looking good.