Empennage, Rudder (Part 9)

I continued plugging along with deburring the remaining parts of the Rudder today.  Fortunately, I was able to finish it all and moved on to dimpling.  I started with the Right Skin first.  I never really thought to much about ALL the holes in the Skins until it was time to dimple ALL the holes in the Skins (almost all the holes).  The holes just kept coming.....and kept coming (ALL 500 of them.....250 each Skin)!!!!  Guess I'm going to have to get used to it.  Anyway, not hard work with the DRDT-2 just tedious.  

When I purchased the DRDT-2, it came with plans for building support tables.  I followed those plans for the tables, but I did not join the two platforms together.  Instead, I decided to have two small tables that could be moved independently from each other.  Below are a few pictures of my setup....

 

 

 

 

 

I think it is much easier to support your material with moveable tables.  I also move my large worktables around as necesary to accommodate the size of material.  It's worked pretty well so far....try it out.  

I was able to complete the dimpling on both the Left and Right Skins tonight.  Tomorrow, I will start on all of the Rudder skeleton pieces.....Stiffeners, Spar, Ribs, Attach Strips, and Horn Brace.

This video shows the completion of all the skeleton disassembling and deburring.

And now ALL the dimpling of the Left and Right Skins.

Empennage, Rudder (Part 8)

I finished all the final drilling last night.  As I found out in the plans, and from reading several discussions in the VAF Forums, the RV-14 Rudder Skins do not get final drilled.  The reason is the pre-punched holes come from Van's already punched to their final size.  So, I continued with the plans and removed the Left/Right Skins from the Rudder Skeleton along with the Trailing Edge Wedge.  Once the skins were removed, I scuffed the areas that make contact with the Trailing Edge Wedge with a grey Scotchbrite and put a slight break (Lap Joint) on the the trailing edges with my Edge Forming Tool.  Next was to disassemble the remainder of the Rudder Skeleton.

I started the deburring process and was able to complete the Right Skin before I stopped for the night.  I will continue deburring tomorrow. 

Empennage, Rudder (Part 7)

Had to take a little break to cover some work related tasks.  Anyway, I'm back at it.  Tonight, I final drilled #40 all the holes common to the Left/Right Skins and the Trailing Edge.  The plans have you start drilling in the middle of the span and work toward the ends.  The holes common to the Skins and flanges of the R-903 Tip Rib and R-912 Counterbalance Rib were then final drilled to #40.  Lastly, I match drilled the hole in the forward flange of the R-00901-L-1 Skin into the R-00901-R-1 Skin.  It doesn't sound like a lot of work, but foward progress was achieved. 

Empennage, Rudder (Part 6)

Yesterday, the Reinforcement Plates, Counterbalance Rib, Bottom Rib, Shim, and Rudder Horn were all clecoed to the Spar.  Today, I was able to make significant progress on the Rudder.  I riveted those pieces together with the appropriate rivets called for in the plans.  Additionally, the K1000-6 Nut Plates were riveted to the Spar and the Reinforcement Plates.  Below is the upper Reinforcement Plate and the Nut Plate.

 

 

This is the lower section of the Spar assembly.  The Reinforcement Plate is on the opposite side and you can't see it from this angle.  You can, however, see there is a missing rivet in the two pictures below.  The plastic Tie-Wrap Clip will be riveted in this location with an LP4-5 rivet.

 

The opposite side with the Reinforcement Plate in view.

 

This is a forward looking view of the Spar.  From this view, you can see a couple of the Stiffener Shear Clips and the Bottom Rib attached to the Spar.

 

After riveting the Spar assembly together, I moved on to attaching the Stiffener Shear Clips and the Stiffeners with clecos.  Below, you can see the seven sets of Stiffeners between the Rudder Tip and Bottom Ribs.

 

The Trailing Edge Wedge came in a length that was about a foot to long.  So, it had to be clecoed to the Right Skin and cut to length.  This picture was taken after I cut the wedge.

 

The plans are very clear that the holes in the Trailing Edge Wedge need to be drilled perpendicular to the chord line.  So, to make sure I didn't mess it up, I got this Trailing Edge Drill Jig from Cleaveland Aircraft Tool.  It's machined to accept the Training Edge Wedge and assures the holes are drilled (and later machine countersunk) perpendicular as described in the plans.  This is the jig and the jig with the Trailing Edge Wedge in it.  Well worth the money in my opinion!

 

 

After drilling the #40 holes in the Trailing Edge Wedge, I aligned the Right Skin and Trailing Edge Wedge to the Rudder skeleton assembly and clecoed the upper and lower corners.

 

Then, the entire Right Skin. In this view, you can also see the Rudder Horn Brace and Attach Strips.  I did the same thing for the Left Skin.

 

Riveting the Spar

Clecoing the Left and Right Skins to the Rudder skeleton assembly.

Empennage, Rudder (Part 5)

I primed the few remaining parts and began the Rudder assembly.  Pictured below is the Horn Brace and several of the Rudder Stiffeners after they were primed with Akzo.  Since there was only a small number of pieces to prime, I used the Preval Spray System again.  It's very easy to use, quick, and cleans up quickly.

 

This is the middle reinforcement plate clecoed to the Spar.  

 

Below you can see the upper reinforcement plate and the Counterbalance Rib clecoed to the Spar.

 

At the bottom of the assembly is the lower reinforcement plate (on the opposite side of the Spar), the Shim, the Bottom Rib, and the Rudder Horn.  

 

Here is a portion of the Rudder skeleton (minus the Top Rib and Stiffeners) all clecoed together and ready for riveting. 

  

Empennage, Rudder (Part 4)

After completing the Vertical Stabilizer (see previous post), I resumed work on the Rudder.  In Part 3, I began the Alumiprep and Alodine process of a few of the parts and pieces that would fit into the bins.  Today, I used spray bottles and a foam brush to prep a few of the bigger parts.  I began by spraying the Alumiprep on the piece and scuffing it with grey Scotch Brite, rinsed with water, and sparayed on the Alodine.  I used the foam brush to make sure all areas were covered on the pieces.  Tomorrow, I will prime and begin assembling the Rudder skeleton.

Empennage, Vertical Stabilizer (Part 14)

**********MILESTONE #1**********

Today, my buddy Jeff and I shot the final four rivets to complete the Vertical Stabilizer.  It feels very satisfying to see the first REAL part of the airplane completed.

 

Section Complete

Empennage, Vertical Stabilizer (Part 13)

Today I riveted the Rear Spar to the Vertical Stabilizer assembly.  However, I was not able to finished before I had to go to work.  I have only four more rivets and then the Vertical Stabilizer will be done.  The Tip Rib was attached to the Rear Spar using AN470AD4-4 rivets, the Root Rib was attached using AN470AD4-6 rivets, the Rib was attached with LP4-3 rivets and the remaining Rear Spar was attached to the Skin using AN426AD3-3.5 rivets.

I will shoot the four remaining rivets attaching the upper leading edge of the Skin to the Tip Rib.  I will attach some "finished" pictures with my post tomorrow.

Empennage, Vertical Stabilizer (Part 12)

My buddy Jeff had some time to help me rivet the Vertical Stabilizer together.  So, tonight I shifted back to the Vertical Stabilizer.  Following the plans, we started riveting the Skin at the intersection of the VS-702 Front Spar and the VS-707 Rib with a AN426AD3-4 rivet.  We then riveted toward the Tip and then toward the Root using AN426AD3-3.5 rivets.  The Skin was then riveted to the VS-704 Root Rib, VS-705 Nose Rib, and the VS-706 Tip Rib also using AN426AD3-3.5 rivets. 

 

Vertical Stabilizer being riveted together.

Moving along with the plans, next was to cleco the Rear Spar Assembly to the Vertical Stabilizer.  Once that was completed, I closed up shop and went home.  I will rivet on the Rear Spar and finish the Vertical Stabilizer tomorrow.

 

Clecoing the Rear Spar to the Vertical Stabilizer assembly.

Empennage, Rudder (Part 3)

I've reached the point in the Rudder build that requires parts to be riveted together.  So, in preparation of the riveting process, I began to Alumiprep and Alodine the parts this evening.  I did the smaller parts in medium sized bins as described in previous posts and I will finish up the larger parts with the foam brush tomorrow.  Once all the parts have had their Alumiprep and Alodine treatments, they will be epoxy primed with Akzo.

Empennage, Rudder (Part 2)

I made some pretty steady progress on the Rudder today.  Started with removing the sharp edge on the top flange of the R-405PD Rudder Horn, then radiused the four corners. 

Clecoed the R-606PP, R-607PP, R-608PP Reinforcement Plates, R-00904A-1 Bottom Rib, R-00917 Shim, and R-405PD Rudder Horn to the R-00902-1 Spar.  Once clecoed, all the common holes were final drilled to #30.  Then, all the parts were separated and deburred.  

 

Radiused the forward corners and fluted the R-912 Counterbalance Rib and R-903 Top Rib flanges.

 

The rudder has two Skins, R-00901-R-1 and R-00901-L-1.  Both Skins needed slight trimming on the top forward flange.  Then, the top aft-most hole on both Skins was final drilled to #30 and dimpled to accept a CS4 flush rivet.  

 

The left Skin flange also needed a lap joint (slight bend) to assist in making a tighter fit when the Skins are riveted to the rudder skeleton.  I used the Edge Forming Tool (pictured below) from Cleaveland Aircraft Tool to make the appropriate bend.  Here is the company video on how to use the tool.

 

Next, the Counterbalance Rib and Top Rib were clecoed to the Spar to be final drilled to #30.  Then, disassembled and deburred.  Finally, the E-614-020 Counterweight and Counterbalance Rib were final drilled to #12 and deburred. 

 

Empennage, Rudder (Part 1)

I worked the graveyard shift on the airplane last night.....left the hangar around 0130 this morning.  I'm waiting on my buddy to help me rivet the Vertical Stabilizer together (difficult one man job), so I decided to begin work on the Rudder.  

I started with separating the Stiffener Shear Clips into seven individual clips.  Then, separated the Attach Strips and Shim.

Next was the task of separating all the Stiffeners into individual left and right sections.  

 

 

The Horn Brace was the next piece to get some work.

 

Lastly, the Bottom Rib was separated to create two individual parts.....R-00904A-1 and R-00904B-1.

 

The work on these parts was not very difficult, but was definitely tedious and time consuming.  I used a small hand hack saw to separate the individual parts, then the Scotch Brite wheel on the bench grinder to deburr and prepare the parts.  I also used tin snips to cut off some of the larger pieces before going to the Scotch Brite wheel.

Empennage, Vertical Stabilizer (Part 11)

I had to make a few minor corrections to previous work on the Vertical Stabilizer.  In the picture below you can see six pieces of orange tape around the bottom of the assembly (there are also six pieces of tape on the opposite side of the assembly in corresponding locations).  The tape covers hole locations in the Skin that DO NOT get dimpled or riveted during this portion of the build.  Per the instructions, I did nothing to these 12 holes (six on either side).  

 

Over the past few days, I started to wonder about the 12 corresponding holes in the Ribs (five in each side of the Root Rib and one in each side of the Nose Rib).  In Part 6, I dimpled these holes with Substructure Dimple Die when I completed the dimpling of all the other pieces.  Since I am about to permanently rivet the Skin onto the Vertical Stabilizer skeleton, I wanted to verify how these holes should be.

I emailed Van's Aircraft at support@vansaircraft.com to inquire.  Sterling responded very quickly and informed me that I shouldn't have dimpled the 12 holes in the Ribs.  However, it wasn't a big deal.  He suggested I flatten the dimples out the best I could with flush sets in my squeezer and build on.  He also stated these holes would be drilled out to larger sized holes later in the build and it would eliminate 90% of the dimple anyway. 

 (*****I found in Section 12 what Sterling was talking about.  Those 12 holes will be drilled out to #27 in order to attach the empennage fairing*****)  So, I flattened out the 12 dimples as Sterling suggested and will rivet the Skin to the Vertical Stabilizer skeleton tomorrow.