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.
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.
Tonight, I back riveted the seven R-00915-A thru G Stiffeners to the Left Rudder Skin using a Back Rivet Set and Back Rivet Plate. Below are a couple of pictures of the Left Skin with all the Stiffeners riveted with AN426AD3-3 rivets. Additionally, you can see the trailing edge of the Skin has not been primed (as suggested by the plans). This is where the Trailing Edge Wedge will be attached to the Left Skin.....the Right Skin will be prepared in the same fashion. You can also see the finished product after I primed the Skin and Stiffeners yesterday with Akzo.
I did, however, make a mistake while riveting one of the Stiffeners. I did not FULLY have the back rivet plate under the rivet head and jacked up the rivet.....here is the evidence. I drilled the rivet out with a #41 drill bit and successfully installed a new one.
Back riveting the Stiffeners to the Left Rudder Skin. My phone's battery died and I didn't capture the last few stiffeners being attached.
As I wrote yesterday, the only piece I have left to prepare before priming and assembly is the Trailing Edge Wedge. Today, I Machine Countersunk the #40 holes in the Wedge using the Trailing Edge Wedge Jig, Threaded Micro Stop Countersink, and 3/32 Countersink Cutter. Prior to using the tools on the actual Wedge, I had to setup the Micro Stop and 3/32 Cutter for the right depth. Below are the three countersunk holes I made, but it took about 7 adjustments to get to the correct depth on the left. I used excess wedge material as the test piece. Since the wedge is not on the jig in the picture below, it makes the holes look "not round". They are.....it's just the angle I took the photo.
After all the adjustment were made to the tools, I used a clamp to hold the Jig and the Wedge tight to the workbench while I countersunk the holes. Below, you can see I've countersunk the three small holes on the right.
After all the #40 holes were countersunk.....on both sides.
After completing the work on the Trailing Edge Wedge, I moved on to the Rudder Skins. Just like on the Skin of the Vertical Stablilizer, I used Alumiprep 33 (acid etch) and Alodine 1201 (corrosion resistance) prior to priming. Below are the Skins hanging up to dry after being treated with the Alodine.
I allowed the Skins to dry for a few hours and then primed them with Akzo Epoxy Primer. The video shows the preparation of the Trailing Edge Wedge.
I dimpled all the holes in the Left and Right Skins yesterday. Today, I dimpled the corresponding holes in the flanges of the R-00915 Stiffeners, R-00902-1 Spar, R-903, R-912, and R-00915-1 Ribs, R-00918 Attach Strips, and R-00910 Horn Brace. I was able to use the DRDT-2 to dimple the holes in the Stiffners, but due to clearance issues, I had to use the Pneumatic Squeezer for all the other parts.
The last piece I need to prepare before final assembly is the R-916-1 Trailing Edge Wedge. Tomorrow, I will machine countersink both sides of the Wedge to accept the 3/32 dimples in the Skins.
Here I am dimpling the Stiffeners, Spar, Ribs, Attach Strips and Horn Brace.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
