RV-14 Build – Page 39 – Building a Vans RV-14

The move

Posted on September 30, 2021 by Neal

Sometime in June, Stuart Transport arrived and picked up my wings and fuselage, shipping them back to Vans. With those out of the garage, the remaining parts were relatively easy to pack and stow into a 20 foot U-Haul.

Aft fuse and all the boxes of hardware and some tools enroute to San Diego

I built a wooden crate with shelving for the tail feathers. I lined it with blankets, and used shrink-wrap to secure the parts to the racks. That worked out well, and I am going to put wheels on it and keep it as a storage rack in the new garage. hardware and small parts were wrapped and stored in cardboard boxes. The horizontal stabilizer went into my wing cart, and was strapped firmly against the cart, and the cart against the wall of the truck. I temporarily installed the forward-most bulkhead in the aft fuse, using clecos to secure it in place. Then I set the aft sure on the dolly I had built for my Quickbuild fuselage. I cut some foam strips which ran on the dolly lengthwise to help support the curvature of the bottom of the fuselage. Then I used shrinkwrap to secure the aft fuse to the dolly.

After a 12 hour drive, we arrived at the new house, and everything was still very secure. Unloading was uneventful, but space was limited due to the ongoing construction happening on the house.

A few weeks later my new fuselage arrived from Vans, which prompted some cleanup and rearranging in the garage. It’s good to have the new fuse now, it looks great and primer is definitely heavier and looks more like I would have expected.

As far as I can tell, all my parts and tools have made it with no noticeable damage.

Moving Time

Posted on June 6, 2021 by Neal

We are in the process of moving from The Bay Area south to San Diego county. With everything going on, I’ve not been making much progress on the build. The goal is to be moved by August, although it might be a bit later if the house isn’t ready on time.

In parallel I’ve been talking to Vans about my Quickbuild kit. It’s been found to have defective primer, which isn’t a big surprise as I’ve noticed it runs off easily and I found some corrosion on the wings. Because I’m moving, and because my kit was perhaps the first one impacted, I have priority in the queue. I decided it would be best to replace the kits, and to coincide with my move.

So most of the work I’ve been able to do in the last 6 weeks has been removing systems and components from the wings. This was a bit demoralizing at first, but I quickly started thinking about how to do everything better the second time.

I removed the bottom skin I had previously installed. Here I have removed the manufactured heads of a bunch of rivets. The skin came off quite easily in the end

Countersinking wing root fairing attach points

Posted on June 6, 2021 by Neal

I found some posts regarding countersinking several holes where the wing root fairing attaches to the wing. The plans are a little vague, but the consensus online (and endorsed by Vans) is to countersink several holes in the top skin and the fuel tank attach point. The tricky part is that the quick builders have already put the nutplates on, so the countersink pilot is too wide to fit into the threaded nutplates. The trick is to use a different size (#30) which fits inside the threaded nutplate and cuts just the same.

I tried this on a couple of holes. The single-fluted cutter does a nice job.

It seems like dimpling all of these holes would have been better, but that’s not an option with the Quickbuild. I’m hoping all these knife-edges won’t crack over time.

This hole looks wallowed, but the camera wasn’t square with the hole.

Pushrod round 2

Posted on April 12, 2021 by Neal

Tonight I cut my next pushrod to the correct length, and then spent time modifying my tools to build a better clamp for the drill press.

I trimmed some material off my pipe clamp, and then mounted it on a block of wood. I found a bushing that I can use to keep the drill bit centered, and then clamped everything down firmly onto the drill press tray. I tested with some scrap, and the hole was straight and true. I always end up coming back to the same rule; clamp your work.

Much more secure setup for drilling holes in the small diameter tubing of the pushrods

Pushrod fail

Posted on April 11, 2021 by Neal

Well, my pushrod didn’t work out. Tonight I spent time locating and riveting the threaded ends onto the pushrod I made lay night. The rivets are tricky to set because they are so long, and not fully supported inside the tube. They have a tendency to tip over, and the advice Vans gives it to use a hand squeezer and go slow. My first rivet didn’t work, so I drilled it out and tried again. The second attempt was better, but I realized that the holes I had drilled were not precise enough, and not exactly through the center of the tube. The result was a rivet shop head that wasn’t uniform in it’s distance from the tubing. It was essentially set on an angle. I pressed on, and set the next rivet, and noticed my imprecise hole alignment again. But the real show-stopper came at the other end where for some reason, the fitting had rotated slightly between drill holes, and the holes just didn’t line up well enough. So, now it’s time to make another one and put this one on the “experience” pile.

Not-so-great rivets. This one goes on the scrap pile

Squeezing the first rivet

Wing Wiring and Aileron pushrods

Posted on April 10, 2021May 21, 2022 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 April 7, 2021 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 March 29, 2021March 30, 2021 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

Primed pushrods and bulkhead

Posted on March 28, 2021March 30, 2021 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.

Bulkhead test-fit

Posted on March 4, 2021 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