Oct 11, 2023     Not much to report - Vans Laser Cut Parts Debacle - (1 hour)       Category: Wings

Not much to add right now. There is some work that can be done but not much. I have 93 affected parts from my wing kit that either Vans says are unairworthy or I am deeming un-airworthy on my own. Most of those parts Vans is claiming are serviceable but I am calling BS. There are too many builders reporting cracking after dimpling laser cut holes in these parts. I am lucky, all I have to do is get new parts and then move on. There are many, many builders who are in far worse shape than myself.

I finally got around today to inventorying my kit for the affected laser cut parts today. In all I will need about 70 new parts from Vans before I can continue building. Vans for now is saying they will only cover the cost on 6 of those parts and that I will be able to purchase the remainder at a reduced price. No mention of who gets to pay for shipping back here to Ohio. No mention from Vans yet as to what the discount will be and how long it will be until new parts arrive. I am not holding my breath, I don't expect to see replacement parts this year. I did the math via a test order through Vans website, if I wanted to pay full price and replace all those parts on my own dime, I'd be looking at more than $1300 to do that. That's on top of the nearly $600 that Vans forgot to charge me in sales tax for the wing kit a year ago that they are now requesting.

So no updates forthcoming until this is all sorted out and no one knows when that will be or what it will ultimately look like.

The dream is in a holding pattern right now with no EFC......

  Aug 12, 2023     It's been a while! - (6.25 hours)       Category: Wings

Time to check in finally! Not a lot of progress to share. Been busy flying at work, Oshkosh 23' came and went and just not a lot of time to work on it. Then the laser cut parts issue reared its head....

As for the progress, still countersinking and installing nutplates on the right side spar. It's just about done. I need to C/S and install the smaller nutplates that hold the leading edges of the access panels. Once that's done, the right spar prep will be basically finished. Don't expect much progress in the next month as we have a family vacation, then a week at home of normal flying followed by a week long European trip. Did I mention I just got home from 6 days in South America! The pilot shortage is both good and bad!

As for the Vans laser cut parts saga..... I received an email from them the week before Oshkosh. The email said that certain parts contained in my wing kit are not airworthy and that others in the kit may also not be airworthy. Long story short, a sub-contractor they used to make parts did a really poor job with their laser cutting of the holes, so much so that some of the parts are completely scrap. Mostly the flap and aileron spars but also ribs in the wing kit. Vans is testing the affected parts to see exactly which ones are still usable and which ones are not. I have affected parts, that much I know for certain. How many will have to be replaced is TBD at this point. I'm awaiting (along with everyone else affected) Vans to tell me how to proceed.

What this ultimately means for me is that I will most likely end up having to wait on new parts from Vans. I'm lucky, I don't already have things like the flaps, ailerons, wings, empennage parts, etc. already constructed. There are some (rightfully so) really pissed off builders right now that are looking at having to rebuild large parts of their build. Glad I'm not in their boat so a delay waiting on new parts is nothing compared to what some people are facing.

So with that in mind, the building may have to slow way down (not like I'm flying as is) until the parts situation gets sorted out. For now I can finish the spar prep and get them mounted on their jigs. Fall is approaching and with it, the days of being able to work with ProSeal for the year are numbered. I'm considering just buying a finished set of fuel tanks if possible. That alone would save me probably 6 months worth of work. We'll see.

As for the pics below, just making consistent countersunk holes with the CS bit, measuring them with a caliper to make sure they are in spec (spec comes from a drawing out of the RV-14 plans). Nutplates installed with pneumatic squeezer which is easy to do. Once nutplates are installed then the actual #8 screw holes can be countersunk using the nutplate itself as a secondary pilot hole, works great!

So the pics are a bit out of order but the order is this, countersink the rivet attach holes to the proper depth, rivet the nutplates into place. Then countersink the screw holes using the nutplate as a guide. Spot prime those screw holes after you are finished. That's it, that's the process, not much to it. Rinse and repeat.

Next is to countersink the rivet attach holes and the screw holes for the #6 screws. Just need to find the right depth for the CS bit.

  Jul 14, 2023     Prep work on right hand spar continues - (3.5 hours)       Category: Wings

Time to attach all of the platenuts/nutplates to the spar web. Nothing too difficult, just repetitive. Start by upsizing the predrilled holes for the nutplates to #40 to accept the AN3 screws. Simple enough and glad I taped off all the openings as it generates a ton of shavings. With the holes opened up, you need to countersink each one to accept an AN426 3-3.5 rivet. Key is to get the depth just right, not too deep but not too shallow. The skins from the fuel tank will sit on top of the spar web in this area and any rivet head sticking up will make the skin not want to sit flush. After practicing a few holes on a scrap piece I had the countersink dialed in and again just a matter of making good countersink holes down the length of the spar web. Again this generates a lot of shavings so I vacuumed up the shavings quite often as it makes a mess. With the countersinking done, you can add the K1100-8 nutplates to the bottom side of the spar web flange and secure each on with a single cleco. This lets you line up the other attach hole and put a 3-3.5 rivet in it. I used the pneumatic squeezer to set each rivet in place. With that done the clecos can be removed and the nutplates are held in place. Now it's time to countersink the larger screw hole.

Before doing that, I needed to get the larger countersink set up to make the proper depth of cut. The platenut will host a #8 screw which is placed through a dimpled skin from the fuel tank. So you will have a dimple sitting inside a countersunk hole that leads into a platenut. Somewhat important to get the depth of the countersink correct to make sure everything nests inside themselves properly. To do that I tried countersinking a few holes in the scrap material. Unfortunately the C/S bit would immediately start chattering back and forth slightly in the hole as the pilot of the C/S bit had nothing to hold it steady. So I tried making a guide out of another piece of scrap and even that really didn't help. So it wasn't feeling very optimistic at first. Then I decided to actually just use a platenut and practice on that. After setting it up, I was able to drill a very nice countersunk hole, indeed as the Vans instructions indicate, the opening in the platenut will act a guide for the countersink bit pilot and allow you to make a nice hole without the chattering. I kept experimenting with the depth and a #8 screw until I had it where I wanted. I double checked the cut dimensions using a caliper and referencing the dimensions given in the RV-14 plans. Everything was in limits and this should result in good holes once I drill them into the spar web.

As I was experimenting with the practice platenut, I noticed that if the AN426 rivet heads sat a little high in their countersunk holes, this had a tendency to make the skin not sit completely flush with the part. So I ended up checking all those nutplates that I just riveted and decided to drill out the rivets on a good portion of them. I then went back and used the #40 countersink to increase the depth of those holes just slightly so that the rivet will sit absolutely flush to the spar web flange. The AN426-3 rivets are easy to remove fortunately. Replaced the rivets that were sitting slightly proud and called it a night.

Also in this series of work I started setting up the process to make the spacers used on the tie down supports. The spacers are made from a 1/4" aluminum bar that comes with the wing kit. I marked and center punched the locations for the holes to be cutout and will use a hole saw on my drill press to cut them out when I get to that point.

  Jul 09, 2023     Organizing the wing hardware - (2.0 hours)       Category: Wings

Needed to get the wing kit hardware organized and I got a good chunk of that done this evening in a few hours of work. Still have some more to sort and store away. Also spent some time yesterday researching and gathering reference material for the beginning of all the countersinking on the spar that is the next step.

HINT: There is a page from the RV-14 plans that gives you exact dimensions for the holes you will need to countersink into the spar. See picture below. These are meant for the 14 but are the same for the RV-8. This will allow you to physically measure the depth and radius of the countersunk holes to make sure you are not going to deep or making them too wide.

  Jun 29, 2023     Starting on wings - (1.0 hour)       Category: Wings

Just a quick start on the wing spars by inspecting them for damage, labeling them for orientation and taping off all the little crack and crevices that may hold metal shavings as I get ready to drill about a thousand holes and countersink them.

  Jan 29, 2023     Wing Kit Inventory - (3.0 hours)       Category: Wings

Time to get the parts out and inventory the wing kit. Way more parts than the empennage kit! Only managed to get through the parts, still have to inventory all the hardware bags which takes forever. So far just a couple missing pieces of hardware, no biggie. Should wrap this up tomorrow and then I will need to put most of it back in the crates for now until I can build some larger shelves downstairs to hold everything.

  Jan 23, 2023     Wing Kit Arrival - (.5 hour)       Category: Wings

My first official entry for the wings! ABF delivered the two crates right on time this morning. Fortunately for me, they brought a smaller truck and were able to back up right into the driveway which made offloading the two crates a piece of cake. I enjoyed a short conversation with the ABF drivers about the project and thanked them for the great service. Glad to have the crates safely home. Doesn't appear to be any damage.

14 months from order to delivery....... Vans gives you 30 days to inventory the kit, so that will be the next step with them and then they will stay crated up until I can finish the rest of the empennage.

  Aug 30, 2022     More delays for the wings       Category: Wings

Well bad news from Vans last week, the wing kit will be further delayed by another 4-6 months.... Very frustrating but they are having issues with their suppliers and especially the company that they sub-contract out the work for the main wing spars to. What are you going to do? Gotta have the spars to even begin construction of the wings. So this really throws the planning off. I thought I would begin on the wings this fall. Now it's going to be after the first of the year, at the earliest. Building in the heart of the winter isn't easy and I'm not sure how much I can accomplish for those few months assuming there are no further delays to the delivery schedule.

At this point (Sept 2022) standard wing kits are running 14-18 months for delivery, fuse kits for the 8 about the same. Quickbuild kits are even worse running 2+ years right now to get.

Good times!