This blog was created to memorialize the building process of my Van's Aircraft RV-14 and to satisfy the requirements for certification in the Experimental Amateur Built Aircraft category. It will also serve as a central location for ME to reference in the future on processes and techniques I used during the build. Additionally, it will allow my family, friends, and other interested builders the opportunity to follow along during my build…..and might be helpful to someone along the way.
According to the plans, now is the time to start riveting all the pieces of the Horizontal together. So, its time to Alumiprep, Alodine, and Akzo prime. Most of the parts were small enough to "dunk" in the bins. In my time lapse video below, you can see the expedited process. I completed the Alumiprep and Alodine process today. I will allow all the pieces to dry overnight and Akzo prime them tomorrow. Here is a few pictures of the parts after Alodining.
After a few days off, I continued work on the Horizontal. I used the DRDT-2 to dimple the 3/32 (#40) holes in the HS-00901-1 Skins. I used the pneumatic squeezer for a few of the holes on the Skin edges near the leading edge bend. I'm just very cautious about manipulating the bend in the leading edges of the Skins. There were a few holes I had to use the 3/32 Close Quarters Die Set.Hereis a video from Mike at Cleaveland Aircraft Tool demonstrating how to use the Die Set.
Below is the outside of the leading edge of the Skin with the male side of the Close Quarters Dimple Die Set installed. You can see the copper mandrel inserted through the Die. As the video shows, you insert the copper mandrel into the pop rivet tool to make the dimple in the Skin. Cleaveland very clearly states this tool will not make the same quality of dimple as the standard Dimple Die Set....and isn't supposed to.
Here's the inside of the leading edge. You can see the female side of the Close Quarters Dimple Die Set and the head of the copper mandrel.
After all the dimpling was completed, the next step was to machine countersink the #40 holes in the Flanges of the Front Spar, Rear Spar, and Stringers. I clamped the Spars to the workbench and drilled away. Here's a picture of the Rear Spar being prepared.....
Covered ALOT of ground today. I primed the Front Spar, Spar Doubler, and Spar Caps that were prepared yesterday. As usual, I used Akzo Epoxy Primer and the Preval Spray System to apply it to the parts. The Preval Spray System does not apply the primer as nicely as an HVLP spray gun would.....and isn't expected to. However, for the purpose of applying the primer to internal parts, it works great.
After the primer dried, I started riveting the Front Spar, Front Spar Doubler, and Front Spar caps using a combination of AN426AD4-6, AN426AD4-7, AN470AD4-5, AN470AD4-6, and AN470AD4-7 rivets. I used the pneumatic squeezer to install all the rivets listed above. There were a total of 18 AN426AD3-4.5 rivets that were installed in the Front Spar flanges through the Spar Caps. I used the Tatco hand squeezer to set those rivets because I had a little more control with the smaller rivets. Here is a picture of the back side of the Spar assembly after all the rivets are installed.
Below is the opposite side of the Front Spar assembly. As the plans stated, you can see the holes that were taped over to prevent me from accidentally riveting them.
Yesterday, I had to modify two of the HS-1004 Inboard Inspar Ribs by using a hand seamer to bend the aft flange of the Rib open by 10 degrees and forward flange closed by 12.5 degrees. Two of the HS-905 Nose Rib aft flanges also need to be modified with a outward 10 degree bend by the hand seamer. The modified Nose and Inspar Ribs were clecoed to the Front Spar and need a couple of holes Match-Drilled. They also needed a few holes marked to prevent accidental dimpling. Finally, all the #40 holes on all the Nose Ribs, Inspar Ribs, and Inboard Inspar Ribs flanges were dimpled with Substructure Dimple Dies and the pneumatic squeezer.
After all the Ribs were prepared, I moved on in the plans to the Horizontal Stabilizer Skins. As with all the other parts in the kit, I had to remove the plastic protective film installed from the factory. The film has been rather easy for me to remove; however, I've heard horror stories about the difficulties other builder's have experienced (mostly after its been on the piece for an extended period of time prior to removal).
I deburred both of the Skins edges and marked several holes that will not get dimpled. Those holes will be prepared later in the build and correspond to the screw holes for the Empennage and Tip Fairings. Next up.....dimpling ALL the holes in the two Horizontal Stabilizer Skins.
I only spent a couple of hours working on the plane today. I Alumipred and Alodined the Front Spar, the two Spar Caps, and the Rear Spar assembly. I did this outside, so I did not film the process. This is a picture of the Front Spar, Rear Spar, Spar Doubler, and Spar Caps after being prepared. I'm going to prime these parts tomorrow and start the assembly/riveting process.
I wasn't really motivated to work with chemicals (Alumiprep, Alodine, Akzo Primer) tonight. So, just like last night, I continued working on the Horizontal Stabilizer. I started out by deburring the edges of all the HS-905 Nose Ribs (x8), HS-1004 Inspar Ribs (x6), and HS-904 Inspar Ribs (x6). To begin, I had to remove all the plastic protective coating from the pieces. Here is an example of a few pieces that still have the plastic on them.
I used a 1" ScotchBrite Wheel in the hand die grinder and the process went pretty quickly and easily. Here are all the completed parts.....ready for the next step.
After cleaning all the edges of the eight Nose Ribs, the forward ends also need to be radiused to prevent the flanges from making small dents in the Skins after installation. Below is an excerpt from the plans and the finished Nose Ribs.
The plans have you fabricate four cradles to hold the Horizontal Stabilizer during construction. They specifically tell you not to waste time making the cradles perfect because they have no bearing on the alignment of the Stabilizer. I used leftover wood from the shipping crate I received from Vans's when the Empennage Kit was delivered. This is not my best work, but they said don't make them perfect.....
I took a break from the Rudder tonight because I'm not 100% confident in the process I'm going to use to rivet the trailing edge. I've read the directions in the plans several times and have seen a few different methods on other build sites. I just need to do a little more research to determine exactly how I want to complete the task. So, in the meantime, I started working on the Horizontal Stabilizer again.
All of tonight's work was deburring the holes on the Spar, Spar Doubler, and the two Spar Caps. So, there isn't much to show here. The pieces are now ready for Alumiprep, Alodine, and Primer.
I showed up at the hangar tonight with the intention of riveting together the Trailing Edge of the Rudder. After some staring, more staring, and internal debate (and some outloud to myself), I decided I wasn't happy with the way it looked while clecoed together. The gap between the Skins and the Trailing Edge Wedge was larger than I was willing to accept, so I decided to make it "mo betta". Structurally, it would have been just fine, but cosmetically it bothered me.
I determined the 3/32 dimple in the Skins and the 3/32 countersink in the Trailing Edge Wedge wasn't allowing the three pieces to fully nest together. I'm sure you've heard the analogy of trying to put two cups of the same size into one another.....they don't fit. So, I decided to make the countersinks in the Trailing Edge Wedge just a tad bit deeper. Due to the thickness of the aft portion of the Wedge, I didn't go crazy. Looking at the hole, you would think to yourself....that's just a little to deep. Once that was done, the Skins and Trailing Edge Wedge fit tightly together and the result made me happier. Here is a picture of the trailing edge ready to be riveted.
Tonight was a short work night, but I got one step closer to finishing the Rudder. Besides the fairings, all I have left is to rivet the Trailing Edge and roll the Leading Edge and rivet. I picked up from Sunday's work by riveting the Top Rib to the Skins. The two pictures below show the aft (first picture) and forward (second picture) areas of the Top Rib completed with all the rivets installed. If you recall from the previous post, the Rudder Counterweight is installed under the Top Rib in the forward area. In the second picture, it is located under the two prepunched holes in the Rib.
The picture below shows the opposite side of the Top Rib with the manufactured heads of the rivets. The last three rivets (MK-319-BS) were installed per the plans instead of 426 flush rivets. There isn't enough clearance for the yoke of the pneumatic squeezer or a bucking bar to use the rivet gun on regular 426 flush rivets.
The picture below shows the completed Horn Brace. The Horn Brace uses a combination of AN470AD4-6, LP4-3, and AN426AD3-4 rivets.
The plans call for the Left Rudder Skin to overlap the Right Rudder Skin as shown below. A lap joint (slight bend) is made in the Left Skin in the area the arrow is pointing. This helps the skins remain tight together after the rivets are installed.
Here we go.....riveted the Rudder Skins to the R-912 Counterbalance Rib using AN426AD3-3 flush rivets and the pneumatic squeezer. The E-614-020 Conterweight was then installed on the Counterbalance Rib using MS21042-3 nuts, NAS1149F0363P washers, and AN509-10R16 bolts. The Counterweight had to be trimmed slightly to allow clearance for the shop heads of the forward most rivets on the Counterbalance Rib.
Next, the Rudder Skins were riveted to the Spar using AN426AD3-3.5 flush rivets. I had to shoot these rivetes using the Rivet Gun and Bucking Bar because the distance was to great for the squeezer yoke due to the forward part of the Skins. This part of the Skins will be rolled and riveted together in a future step to form the leading edge of the Rudder. You can see the area I'm talking about in the picture below.....it's the part of the Skin that has the six empty holes.
I Final-Drilled #33 the six aft most holes of the R-903 Top Rib to allow these holes to accept MK-319-BS flush pop rivets. The Top Rib was clecoed to the Spar and Rudder Skins and is ready to be riveted together during the next session.
My buddy's Jeff and Frank were able to help me out today, so I shifted attention back to the Rudder. Picking up where I left off, I needed to connect the Right and Left Rudder Skins together. The plans were pretty straight forward and easy to follow. The first step is to use adhesive to adhere the R-916-1 Trailing Edge to the R-00901-R-1 Skin. Based on Van's recommendation from the plans, I used 3M F9460PC Adhesive Transfer Tape and attached the Skins together as shown below.
The Skins are connected by riveting the middle of the Stiffeners together and the aft end of the Stiffeners to the Shear Clips using LP4-3 Pop Rivets. The Skins and Trailing Edge were also clecoed together as the assembly came together.
The Spar assembly was next inserted into the Skin assembly. The Bottom Ribs were riveted with LP4-3 rivets, the Spar assembly was riveted to the Shear Clips with LP4-3 rivets, and the second Attach Strip was riveted with AN426AD3-3.5 flush rivets. Lastly, the Horn Brace was riveted with a combination of LP4-3 and AN470AD4-6 rivets.
Started tonight's work by removing the Spar Cap from the Spar and deburring all the common holes Match-Drilled #30 during the last session. After deburring, the two pieces were clecoed together again. I clamped the Spar Cap to the Spar Flanges and Match-Drilled #40 the Flanges into the Spar Caps. I left the hole open between the cleco and the row of clamps (for drill clearance), drilled the hole, clecoed the hole, and move the next clamp to the end of the row. I repeated this process until all the holes are drilled.
This picture shows all the holes Match-Drilled on both sides of the Spar Flanges (all the silver #40 clecos).
The middle nine holes on each side of the Spar Flanges were countersunk #40 for AN426AD3 Flush rivets.
The next step was to cleco the HS-00907-1 Front Spar Doubler to the Front Spar. With the exception of a few holes, all the common holes were Final-Drilled to #30.
Four of the holes were Final-Drilled to #12, two were Final-Drilled to 1/4", and 12 holes were machine countersunk for AN426AD4 flush rivets. Below is the Front Spar assembly with all the completed and prepared holes.
I continued plugging away on the Horizontal Stabilizer. The Front Spar Caps are nested inside the flanges of the Front Spar. The get the alignment right, you have to make a mark 3/16" from one of the ends of the Spar Cap. The mark is then centered on the 28th flange hole from the end. Conversely, the opposite end of the Spar Cap should be in the same spot 28 flange holes from the other end. Once the alignenment is correct, numerous clamps are used to keep the Spar Cap and Spar in the correct position. The Spar Cap was #30 Match-Drilled through the Spar web holes into the Spar Cap.
The picture below shows a portion of the assembly clecoed together following Match-Drilling. Here you can see the Front Spar and the Front Spar Caps in their correct position.
This is one end of the assembly. The trimmed flange of the Spar Cap (prepared last night) is positioned against the Spar web as shown below.
This is the opposite side of the assembly showing numerous clecos installed in the Spar.
Another one of those....lots of work days, with not much visual progress. I started by trimming excess material from the HS-00913 Front Spar Caps (x2) and HS-00914 Stringers (x2). My buddy Jeff help me out and used his die grinder to cut off the largest part of the excess material. Below is the excess material removed from one of the Spar Caps.....
.....and one of the Stringers.
And here is a finished Front Spar Cap and Stringer after cleanup work on the bench grinder.
Lastly, I deburred the edges of the HS-00902-1 Front Spar. I used my 2" Scotchbrite Wheel in the die grinder to debur all the Spar edges and the 1" Scotchbrite Wheel to debur the Spar's lightening holes. No video for this session. I mistakenly turned on the regular video recording function instead of Time Lapse.....MY BAD!
Well, I took a few days off from working on the airplane to go to Sun-N-Fun 2017 at Lakeland Linder Regional Airport in Lakeland, Florida. I flew over Friday morning with my buddy Jeff in a friend of our's RV-7. Several additional friend's and airplanes meet up with us at the airport and we camped with our airplanes. Incredible weather and great friends!!!!! While at the show, I got to eyeball several RV's and visit the Van's tent to see Mitch's RV-14A. We all packed up and sadly left this morning. When is Airventure again?????
After being exposed to ALL the motivation, I eagerly started working on the plane this afternoon. I resumed work where I left off on the Horizontal Stabilizer. I got started by riveting the HS-906 Rear Spar Doubler to the HS-00903-1 Rear Spar with AN470AD4-6 rivets. As the plans directed, I marked the 12 holes (clecos actually) that do not recieve rivets at this time. You can also see the two AN426AD4-6 rivets in the center of the Spar.
The HS-912 Hinge Brackets (x8) were then riveted to the Spar using AN470AD4-5 rivets. Here is one of the finished products.....
The VA-146 Flange Bearing was then clecoed between the two HS-911 Inboard Hinge Brackets. The holes common to all the parts were Final-Drilled to #30, the Flanges were Final-Drilled to #12, and then all the parts were disassembled and deburred. The Brackets were also scuffed in preparation for painting in the future.
After preparing the three pieces, they were riveted together using AN470AD4-6 rivets. Here is the finished product.....
.....and installed on the Rear Spar with AN3-5A bolts, NAS1149F0363P washers, and MS21042-3 nuts. The Self Locking Nuts were torqued to 28 in lbs as indicated in the plans.
I'm at a point in the Rudder construction that I need the assistance of a second set of hands. So, in order to maintain forward momentum, I started on the Horizontal Stabilizer.
Lots of work was accomplished today, but as I mentioned in previous posts, sometimes it doesn't appear that way. I started by deburring the HS-00903-1 Rear Spar and HS-906 Rear Spar Doubler and then clecoing the two pieces together.
Once the two pieces were clecoed together, I final-drilled #30 all the 1/8 holes common to the Spar and Spar Doubler, four holes were match-drilled #30, and two holes were machine countersunk to accept AN426AD4 flush rivets. I used the Threaded Micro Stop Countersink and a #30 Countersink Cutter to prepare the last two holes.
The HS-912 Hinge Brackets were clecoed into place on the Rear Spar as shown below. There are a total of five Hinge Brackets that attach to the Rear Spar.....four of the Brackets (HS-912) are attached now and the fifth Bracket (HS-911) will be attached later in the plans. Once clecoed into place, they were final-drilled #30 to the Rear Spar. All four of the Hinge Brackets and the Rear Spar Doubler were then removed from the Rear Spar. The single 3/16 hole in each of the Hinge Brackets were final-drilled #12. NOW, all the prepared holes needed to be deburred.....yeah!
Yesterday, I riveted the Stiffeners to the Left Rudder Skin, so this afternoon I worked on the Right Skin. In the picture below, you can see the completed Right Skin and the R-00904B-1 Bottom Rib and R-00918 Attach Strip riveted to the bottom of the Skin.
The next step in the plans was to rivet the R-00914 Shear Clips to the Stiffeners with LP4-3 rivets. Here are two different angles showing the riveted Shear Clips.
During the next work session, I will work on attaching the Trailing Edge Wedge and joining the two skins together. The video shows the work on the Right Rudder Skin.
