Vertical stabilizer assembly

Posted on by Neal

Spent a few more hours this evening working through the next few steps. First, I final drilled all the rear spar holes for the doubler and the rudder hinge attachments.

With that done, I spent most of the next couple hours reading, researching, and doing some rib flange radius’s, and fluting the ribs. By radiusing the leading edges of the rib flanges, I hope to avoid the possibility of skin deformities once I start riveting. Hard to know how much to round the edges, but given the thickness of the material, I think I did a good enough job.

Fluting the ribs straightens out the rib “web”, which can come out bent from the press. I watched a few “hints for home builders” videos tonight, including one of fluting, and was happy to see the results once I got started. The ribs straightened right out with just a small set of flutes down each side. Then it was time to cleco the vertical stabilizer frame together.

I wanted to move to the next step and drill the holes where the ribs and spars mate, but it was too late and I was too tired. Quite while ahead, I figured.

Started on the vertical stabilizer

Posted on by Neal

Spent about 3 hours today going through the first steps in building the vertical stabilizer. The step by step instructions and the diagrams are excellent, it is very clear and easy to follow. I started by final-drilling the forward spar doubler, trimming the bottom of the spar, trimming the doubler, deburring the doubler and the bottom of the spar. Then dimpling the spar and the doubler plate. I held off on riveting, as I want to prime those parts first. Then I started on the aft spar; final drilling the rudder hinge brackets, and clecoing the doubler and brackets together. But before I could cleco these parts I needed to straighten the doubler which was bowed to the point that each end sat about 1.5 inches off the work bench. It took much trial and error to straighten, but ended up with within the 1/16 tolerance.

More inventorying

Posted on by Neal

This evening I spent a few more hours opening all the hardware bags and ensuring I had everything. When all was done, I found I was two washers short, so I emailed Vans to let them know. I also found some damage to one part, and some scratching on several pieces. I expect I can buff out the scratches, but will get a second opinion from my EAA chapter 338 members on Tuesday. I also spent about an hour reviewing the plans and going over the first few steps, getting to know the sequence and details of each step.

Tail Kit Arrives!

Posted on by Neal

Today the big FedEx truck arrived with the tail kit. The window was “1pm-6pm”, and much to my surprise the truck arrived at 1:10pm. That gave me several hours to unpack and start the inventory of parts.

The number and variety of pieces is amazing, intriguing, and intimidating all at once. Eventually the crate was empty, and all the major parts accounted for. I just need to finish going through the hardware bag, which accounts for 3 of the 7 pages of inventory. For now, I’m keeping the long fuse skins and horizontal stabilizer spars in the crate, so I carefully placed them in the box (with paper removed), and screwed the lid back down.

Today was a great day!!

Order placed

Posted on by Neal

I placed my RV-14 Tail Kit order with Vans today, and filled in the required paperwork. The kit is in stock, so should be shipped within a week, and possibly here 2 weeks from now! Time to tidy up the garage and make room!

Practice Kit Part 9

Posted on by Neal

Finished the toolbox today. Unfortunately I made a few mistakes in the final steps. I felt I was rushing a little, and consequently placed the latch attachment off-center by about 1/8th. It closes and locks fine, given the amount of play in the latch, but it looks annoying. Then I slipped while drilling the holes for the handle securing straps. I didn’t center punch the holes, but that was a big mistake. I should have put a block under the lid and then punched the holes to ensure they ended up in the correct location.

Practice Kit Part 8

Posted on by Neal

Tonight I added the lid to the toolbox, and in the process made an annoying mistake. I cut the hinge to size before realizing that I needed to reverse the top part of the hinge to follow the directions precisely. The result was a choice between not being able to close the lid, and having a gap on one side of the hinge on the lid. I chose the latter, and riveted it in place.

Practice Kit Part 7

Posted on by Neal

Today I started on the Toolbox Practice Kit. The first steps are to prep (match drill, debur, dimple) and rivet the sides to the body of the box. I wasn’t able to squeeze every rivet, so I ended up bucking a few along the bottom edge. This is progressing much faster than the previous practice kit.

Practice Kit Part 6

Posted on by Neal

I finished the practice piece tonight! With everything ready to rivet, I got started by squeezing most of the rivets on the ribs on one skin. The last two rivets on the trailing edge of the rib are so tight I couldn’t squeeze then with the pneumatic squeezer. I got one with the hand squeezer, and for the last one I had to shape a thin bucking bar to get it done. Unfortunately I scratched the rib in the process, and the shop head was ugly. I got the second skin done following the same process, and added the trailing edge wedge before closing it up. Back riveting the trailing edge wedge was quite simple in the end, and it came out straight and clean. The last step was bending the leading edges of the skins and pop riveting them together. The first skin went well, with a nice uniform shape achieved. The second skin didn’t go quite as well, and I ended up with a bend that was less uniform. Once shaped, I wasn’t able change the radius of the bend, so I just went ahead and riveted it up to finish the project. Overall I was reasonably happy. I learned some lessons and figured out my tools, although I’d like to start again with a new practice kit and see how much better I could do next time. I would also like some practice priming with my spray gun before jumping into the airplane kit for real.

Practice Kit Part 5

Posted on by Neal

No pictures today, but I worked on counter sinking the trailing edge wedge. I had read about the issues others have had in getting this thin piece shaped correctly. I proceeded very slowly, and was reasonably happy with the result. I’m sure I have a single-fluted counter sink somewhere, which I would have used, but I could not find it tonight. On the trailing edge, I ended up with a knife edge between the two sides of the holes, but it didn’t look like any real enlargement of the hole had happened.