In Part 15, I completed riveting the Bottom Inboard and Outboard Wings Skins on the Right Wing. Now, I’m moving on to the Left Wing. As with the previous post, this will also be an all encompassing post for the 12 works sessions it took to complete riveting the Bottom Skins on the Left Wing.
Friday, November 16th: 66 Rivets
When I was counersinking the Fuel Tank Attach screw holes in Section 13, I accidentally let one of the holes get bigger than it was supposed to be. So, after lots of colorful adjectives, I decided to take a deep breath and fix it LATER. Well, LATER is now. The countersunk hole essentially provides a “cavity”, if you will, for the corresponding dimpled Tank Skin to sit in when it is screwed into place. Because the hole is presently too big, when the screw is installed it would “pull” the Tank Skin into the cavity and deform the Tank Skin.....can’t be having that! Since I removed to much material (aluminum), I have to ADD some material. After consulting several A&P’s and previous RV builders, I decided to use Hysol as a filler. Hysol is used as a structural glue on many different certified aircraft models. So, I figured it was the best fix for my “problem”.
First, I drilled out the two rivets that held on the nutplate (as shown below) and put a piece of metal tape on the underside of the Spar Flange under the hole in question. Once the Hysol was properly mixed and cured, I filled the hole and let it dry. After the Hysol was dry, I sanded the area with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the Hysol to the Spar Flange. Lastly, I sprayed on some new primer to make it look “pretty”. NOTE: the primer is NOT on the Flange in the picture below.....its not pretty!
Next, I used clecos to hold the nutplate in position on the OUTSIDE of the Main Spar Flange. I then used the nutplate as a guide to drive the screw hole through the Hysol. Lastly, I used a hand deburring tool to make the appropriate countersink in the Hysol for the dimpled Tank Skin. To hold the nutplate in place to re-install the rivets, I partially installed one of the Tank Attach screws as shown below. Once the nutplate was back into place, the “repair” was acceptable.....build on!!!
Here are the first rivets that were installed on the Inboard Bottom Wing Skin.
Saturday, November 17th: 8 Rivets
Wednesday, November 21st: 89 Rivets
Friday, November 23rd: 74 Rivets
Saturday, November 24th: 45 Rivets
I’m not really sure why I did this, but I decided it would be a good idea to rivet the angle bracket for the Pitot Tube base plate on the Wing Rib.....shouldn’t have done that. The lip of the base plate goes UNDER the Main Spar Flange and OVER the angle bracket. Let’s just say....IT DON’T WORK when trying the rivet the on the Wing Skin.
This is the opposite angle of the Pitot Tube Mount from the picture above.
The inboard edge.....
.....and the outboard edge. You can see the two manufactured heads of the rivets used to attach the Angle Bracket to the Wing Rib.....
.....and the associated shop heads. I eventually had to drill out these rivets and remove the Angle Bracket. This allowed the Pitot Tube Mast to be easily installed through the Access Panel. The Angle Bracket will be installed within the next few work sessions after the Skin in riveted on the Wing.
Sunday, November 25th: 32 Rivets
Wednesday, November 28th: 33 Rivets
Friday, November 30th: 91 Rivets
Saturday, December 1st: 100 Rivets
Sunday, December 2nd: 146 Rivets
Now that all the rivets have been set for the Bottom Wing Skins, it’s time to install the Pitot Tube Mast. It’s a whole lot easier now since I removed the Angle Bracket....which will be riveted to the Pitot Tube Mast base plate and Bottom Skin where the orange tape is located. Since this is a “custom” install, I had to insert several different AN426AD3 rivets to get the proper length rivet because of the thickness of the Pitot Mast base plate.
The Skins are now riveted to the Pitot Tube Mast base plate.
Another view of the Pitot Tube Mast.
Monday, December 3rd: 3 Rivets
Lastly, the Angle Bracket was re-installed to the Wing Rib and Pitot Tube Mount base plate as shown in the picture below. I decided to make a modification to the Angle Bracket. Originally, the Angle Bracket that attaches to the base plate touched the welding bead around the base plate and Pitot Tube Mast. I didn’t like this, so I trimmed the Angle Bracket away from the welding bead. I also considered doing the same thing where the Angle Bracket gets riveted to the Wing Rib. You can see a slight “gap” between the Angle Bracket and Wing Rib lightening hole in the picture below. In order to trim this part of the Angle Bracket flush with the web of the Wing Rib (and lightening hole), it would be to close to the rivet for the proper edge distance. I decided to leave it the way it was. Like I said in a previous post, the Dynon Pitot Tube Mast is not designed for the RV-14, so I had to make a few modifications.....such as in Parts 11 and 12.
The completed installation of the Pitot Tube Mast.
Section Complete