Sep 29, 2023     23-10 - Bellcrank-to-Aileron Pushrod Installation - (3.3 hours)       Category: 23 Pushrods

9/22/23 – 2.1h
9/29/23 – 1.2h
The bellcrank-to-aileron pushrod installation is the final step in the aileron control system. The installation includes the final aileron rigging step to ensure the pushrod is the correct length to set the aileron to the neutral position when the bellcrank is in the neutral position. The pushrod is initially set to 25 1/4" between the center of the bearings at each end of the rod. That distance is adjustable by simply threading the rod end bearings in or out on the threaded rod ends. Once the distance to correctly align the aileron is dialed in, the jam nut is tightened against the rod end to hold everything in place.

Van's updated the plans in December 2020 with a new method of aligning the aileron. Previously, Van's supplied a template piece (W-00026 Alignment Template) that was placed over the outboard aileron rib to align the aileron with the wing skin. That method was improved in the RV-10, and the improvement was incorporated into the RV-14. Essentially, the W-00026 Alignment Template is no longer used to align the aileron, but don't throw it away since it is used several times later in the build! The new method uses the W-730 bellcrank alignment jig to set the neutral position of the bellcrank. Then, the flap is placed in its full up position and the aileron trailing edge is aligned with the flap trailing edge. I found that the initial 25 1/4" length set on each of the pushrods was slightly long, and ended up shortening each rod by 2-3 full turns of the bearing ends.

Finally, after all of the internal systems in the wings were installed, I final-torqued everything in preparation for installation of the bottom wing skins.
[Torque Wrench (in-lbs), 1/4" and 3/8” Sockets]

  Sep 20, 2023     23-03 - Bellcrank-to-Aileron Pushrod Fabrication - (12.8 hours)       Category: 23 Pushrods

Initial Prep (Debur, Trim, Drill, and Cut)
7/23/23 - 0.3h
7/24/23 - 0.2h
7/28/23 - 0.3h
7/29/23 - 0.5h
8/9/23 - 3.3h
8/10/23 - 0.3h
8/16/23 - 2.0h
8/29/23 - 1.3h
9/18/23 – 2.4h
The Bellcrank-to-Aileron pushrods are made from 1/2” outside diameter powder-coated steel tubing with threaded rod ends riveted to each end. I measured and cut the rods to length just like the larger pushrods in the previous step with a tube cutter. I deburred the cut ends, and then used a bench grinder with a Scotch Brite wheel to get the rod ends to fit.

Drilling the rivet holes in the rods, and match drilling the holes in the rod ends was extremely difficult. I went through three sets of rods before I finally got an acceptable result with the drilling. The first issue is finding the absolute dead center of the rod, and then drilling perpendicular through that spot. The other issue is the slippery finish of the powder coat and the hard steel tube to drill through.

My plan on the first attempt was to use a drill press to drill each of the pilot holes individually, insert the threaded rod ends, and then final drill the holes as specified in the plans. The problem here was the pilot holes were not exactly aligned, so when the holes were match drilled the exit hole didn't hit the pilot hole on the opposite side. Time to trash two sets of rods and ends, and order new parts.

I used a much higher quality drill press on the second attempt, and planned to drill the pilot holes all the way through the tube to keep the holes on the opposite sides perfectly aligned. I failed to consider, however, that the drill bit will go off course due to the small diameter hard steel rod with a slippery powder-coated finish. I went wrong by trying to eyeball the center of the tube, and the very slight misalignment in this attempt meant the rivet holes did not go straight across the axis of the rod, but veered off to the sides. Time to trash two more sets of rods, and order new parts.

I ordered material for two complete sets of rods for my third (and potentially fourth) attempt at this step. Once again, I cut the rods to length, deburred everything, and went back to the drill press. The drill press I used was actually a milling machine with the table connected to a computer that could provide measurements to the 1/10,000th of an inch in the X, Y, and Z directions. The owner of the mill and I had never tried the computer function before, but with parts for 2 tries it was worth an experiment to see if we could make it work. I used a wobble bit in the drill to find one edge of the rod, and set that Z location to zero. I then repeated the process on the other side of the rod to find the width of the rod. Finally, I divided the number on the screen in half, and cranked the Z control to that location. Bingo! Now I'm on the dead-center of the rod! I had previously marked the X distances (6/32” and 13/32”) from the end of each rod for the hole center, so it was a simple matter of aligning the drill with those markings to make the holes. I started drilling the #40 pilot holes by lightly touching the bit to the rod to remove the powder coat finish. I then went slowly through both sides of the rod to get straight holes aligned with each other down the axis of the rod. The next step was to swap out the drill bit for a #30 bit without moving the rod, inserting a threaded rod end and holding it tight in place, and then final drilling the rod and threaded rod end. The result was a clean, straight hole aligned with the axis, that I could immediately drop a rivet into without any resistance. I left the rivet (unset) in the first hole to keep the threaded rod end aligned, rotated the rod 90 degrees, aligned the bit with the new X-location, and drilled the second hole on the first rod end. I repeated the process for the other three rod ends (two rods with two ends each), with good results on each. The computer-aided center measurement on the milling machine made all the difference!

After getting all of the holes drilled, I deburred the holes in the rod and the threaded rod ends to complete the initial parts preparation.
[Hole and Edge Deburring Tools, Tubing Cutter, Ruler, Bench Grinder, 6” Scotch Brite Wheel, #40 Drill, #30 Drill, Drill Press, Computer-Aided Milling Machine]

Prime
9/19/23 – 1.0h
I primed the insides of each of the rods similar to the process for the previous set of control rods. I also primed the threaded rod ends where I had re-sized them to fit in the rods and removed the alodined finish in the process.
[Grey Scotchbrite Pads, Bon-Ami Cleanser, Dupli-Color Degreaser, Rust-Oleum Automotive Self Etching Primer (Green – Rattle Can)]

Assemble
9/20/23 – 1.2h
The trick to final assembly was working with the very long rivets used to attach the threaded rod ends to the pushrods. The plans not that, “These rivets can be difficult to set without them leaning over. Use a hand squeezer to squeeze them a little at a time. If the rivet begins to lean over, adjust the position of the rivet in the squeezer dies to oppose the leaning tendency.” I found the note to be very helpful as the long rivets do tend to lean while they are being squeezed. I went slow with a hand squeezer, adjusted as needed, and came out with decent and acceptable (not perfect) rivets. I did have one rivet that got away from me when my clamping system failed and the part moved dramatically in mid squeeze. I had to drill that one out and set a new rivet, which was successful.

The final step was to thread the rod end bearings and jam nuts onto the threaded rod ends to arrive at the 25 1/4" length between the centers of the bearings. I will wait to tighten the jam nuts until after the aileron rigging is complete so that I can adjust the lengths as needed to establish the neutral position for all of the push rods in the aileron control system.
[Hand Rivet Squeezer, 3/8” Cupped Squeezer Die]

  Aug 16, 2023     23-09 - Torque Tube-to-Bellcrank Pushrod Installation - (3.2 hours)       Category: 23 Pushrods

8/14/23 - 0.7h
8/15/23 - 2.3h
8/16/23 - 0.2h
The objective of this section is to install the aileron control system from the torque tube in each wing root to the aileron bellcrank attached to the main spar about mid-span down the wing (directly above the tie-down location). All of the parts are prepared in the previous sections, including installation of the bellcranks and torque tubes. This step fine-tunes the length of the pushrods using a supplied template to determine the neutral position of the bellcranks and torque tubes.

The aileron control system installation starts by temporarily attaching the pushrod to the bellcrank and torque tube in each wing. The W-730 Bellcrank Jig (aka neutral template) is also temporarily attached to the bellcrank to lock it into its neutral position. When the pushrod is attached at each end, both the bellcrank and torque tube should be in the neutral position. If the torque tube is not at neutral, the pushrod gets lengthened or shortened as needed by twisting the rod end bearings in or out until the torque tube is neutral. Once the pushrod is adjusted to the correct length, the jam nuts can be tightened against the rod ends to keep the rod end bearings in the correct position.

I waited to do the final torquing of the nuts and bolts for the aileron control system until the entire system was complete and installed. I wasn't sure if I would have to remove the push rods to make other areas accessible, but I wanted the option just in case. As it turns out, I disconnected and reconnected the push rod several times. The plans details for proper installation of the bolts, washers, bushings, and nuts can be a bit confusing. I didn't get it quite right the first time, which is another reason to delay the final application of the torque wrench. The note in the plans to install one washer inside the torque tube clevis arm along with the pushrod rod end bearing and to install the other washer under the nut refers to the two NAS1149F0363P washers on the bolt that attaches the pushrod to the torque tube in the wing root. There are also two NAS1149F0363P washers on the bolt at the bellcrank, but they are both on the outside of the bellcrank under the nut. The other potential area of confusion is the location of the large AN-970-3 washer, which is placed on the bolt between the bushing and the pushrod end.
[Torque Wrench (in-lbs), 1/4" and 3/8” Sockets, Short 1/4" Wooden Dowel]

  Aug 14, 2023     23-08 - Torque Tube Assembly and Installation - (0.9 hour)       Category: 23 Pushrods

8/13/23 - 0.7h
8/14/23 - 0.2h
I'm counting this step as complete even though I still need to go back and properly torque all of the nuts on the left and right aileron torque tubes. I decided to leave things finger-tight until the aileron rigging is complete. I will probably have to assemble and disassemble the aileron control system a few times while I finish up various wing systems like the autopilot servo bracket and the aileron trim system.

This step in the plans is straight-forward, but it does take a little patience. Essentially, the aileron torque tubes are installed through the large hole in the wing spar, and the ends of the torque tubes go into the flanged bearings that were attached to the inboard ribs at the start of the wing build. In order to install the torque tubes, the forward and aft torque tube assemblies need to collapse toward each other on the torque tube collar. The forward torque tube assembly and torque tube collar go in first, and then the aft torque tube assembly goes on the collar after it is routed through the wing spar. I pushed the aft torque tube assembly on the collar beyond the bolt holes to get clearance to align the torque tube with the flanged bearings attached to the inboard wing ribs. The torque tubes need about an inch of clearance, which means the collar has to go about an inch further into the forward and/or aft torque tube assemblies. Once I had the forward and aft torque tube assemblies on the torque tube collar and aligned with the flanged bearings, I could extend the total assembly to align the bolt holes and re-insert the torque tube assembly bolts.

Both the left and right torque tubes had just a little play fore and aft, which was remedied with a washer on each end between the torque tube and the flanged bearing. I had to remove the torque tube bolts one more time to collapse the assembly to allow me to slip in the washers. In my case, one NAS1149F0463 washer on the aft end and one NAS1149F0432 washer on the forward end resulted in a really good fit of the torque tube extended to full length and bolted (finger tight) together. The movement of the torque tube is silky smooth with negligible friction, no binding, and no out-of-plane rotation. The only issue I noticed was the aft torque tube assembly may rub against the wire harness connected at the root rib, so I'm going to try to pull those wires away from the torque tube arm with some wire lacing anchored to the ground wire next to the bottom wing skin.

The final task in this step is to find the “neutral position” of the forward torque tube subassemblies. The plans specify a distance of 2 17/32” from the center of the torque tube clevis arm (note the language here - it'll come up again in the next step! :-) ) to the fuel tank. I set up a small square to that distance, that I can clamp to the clevis arm to easily measure the distance. The next step will set the neutral position of the bellcrank, which is when the torque tube clevis arm neutral position measurement will also come into play. For now, I'm happy to have a quick and repeatable way to measure the distance.

  Aug 13, 2023     23-07 - Torque Tube Final Preparation - (1.7 hours)       Category: 23 Pushrods

8/12/23 - 1.0h
8/13/23 - 0.7h
A couple of simple jigs really help this step move along. The first one is the 1 1/64” spacer block described in the plans that will be used to clock the aft torque tube assembly to the correct angle. The second one isn't specified in the plans, but it is very helpful to set the length of the torque tube assembly. I started with a small wood block clamped to the end of my flat surface, and then clamped a second block 17 3/4" away from the first. If the spacing between the blocks is correct, you can simply place the torque tube assembly between them and extend the assembly to the stop blocks. Definitely take an extra measurement directly from the torque tube assembly to ensure the length is right!

Drilling the aft torque tube holes is identical to the process with the forward torque tube holes. I drilled the first hole with the torque tube extended to the stop blocks, the forward torque tube arm clamped flat to the workbench, and the aft torque tube arm clocked with the spacer block. The initial #30 holes are relatively easy to drill since the steel torque tube is pre-drilled. After drilling and clecoing the first hole, I removed the assembly from my flat surface so I could rotate it and drill the next hole. I found that clamping the assembly in a “V” tube holder at the corner of the work bench worked well to provide a stable drilling surface while allowing the protruding parts of the assembly to hang over the corner edges of the table.

The final drilling step was to upsize the holes to #12. This took a bit more drilling effort to drill both the steel torque tube and the aluminum torque tube collar. With two opposite holes cleco'd, the two other opposite holes are open to drill. I drilled one side, then flipped the assembly to drill the other side. I inserted a temporary bolt in the two upsized holes to hold things in place, which allowed me to remove the clecos and drill the remaining two holes. I removed the bolts from the aft torque tube assembly after drilling, slide the aft torque tube assembly off the torque tube collar, and deburred the holes
[#30 Drill, #12 Drill, Hole Deburring Tools, White Lithium Grease]

  Aug 10, 2023     23-06 - Torque-Tube Initial Assembly - (5.7 hours)       Category: 23 Pushrods

Initial Prep (Debur, Trim, Drill, and Cut)
7/28/23 - 0.3h
7/29/23 - 0.7h
8/2/23 - 0.2h
8/5/23 - 2.5h
The torque tube assemblies are each built from 3 main sections plus caps on each end. The completed torque tubes will be installed in the wing root, and connect the pushrod system from the control stick to the pushrod system for the ailerons. Initial prep includes match and final drilling holes to assemble the parts, cutting the center tube to length, and preparing the parts for priming.

The torque tubes, end bearings, and torque tube collars all need minor adjustments / deburring to ensure a tight, but manageable fit. Most of the adjustments happened on the torque tube collar, which is 7 5/16” piece of tube that connects the forward and aft torque tube assemblies. I discovered during the deburring and cleaning process, that I could wrap a clean cloth around a dowel rod, and insert the cloth / dowel into the tube with enough force to hold the torque tube collar. I then attached a drill to the dowel to spin the torque tube collar against a piece of sand paper and a Scotch Brite pad to adjust the diameter of the torque tube collar to fit in the torque tube ends. This turned out to be very effective, and made it easy to fine-tune the torque tube collars for a good fit.
[Hole and Edge Deburring Tools, #40 Drill, #30 Drill, Drill Press, Electric Drill, Wooden Dowel Rod]

Prime
8/5/23 - 0.6h
8/9/23 - 0.3h
The parts for the torque tube assemblies are relatively short, and the rattle can primer spray works well to prime the inside of the tubes as well as the inside and outside of the torque tube collars. The bearing ends are already riveted in the forward and aft torque tube assemblies, so they are essentially primed in place.
[Rust-Oleum Automotive Self Etching Primer (Green – Rattle Can)]

Assemble
8/4/23 - 0.8h
8/10/23 - 0.3h
The torque tube end bearings are attached to the forward and aft torque tube assemblies with two pulled rivets each (8 total). Pulled rivets are also used to plug two unused holes on each of the aft torque tube assemblies. I was actually short 2 rivets, so I had to “borrow” some from my fuselage kit. I'll order more rivets later if needed for the fuselage.

The torque tube collars are also attached to the forward torque tube assemblies with AN-3 bolts, washers, and nuts. I used a white lithium spray-on grease on the torque tube collars before inserting them into the forward torque tube assemblies. The grease minimizes binding between the parts and provides additional corrosion protection to the primed parts as they rub together during assembly. The nuts are only hand-tight for now in case the assembly needs to come apart when it is installed in the wing.
[Rivet Puller, White Lithium Grease]

  Aug 03, 2023     23-03 - Torque Tube-to-Bellcrank Pushrod Fabrication - (6.5 hours)       Category: 23 Pushrods

Initial Prep (Debur, Trim, Drill, and Cut)
7/20/23 - 0.8h
7/21/23 - 1.7h
7/29/23 - 0.9h
7/30/23 - 0.4h
The torque tube-to-bellcrank pushrods are made from 1 1/8” O.D. aluminum tubing that has to be cut to length. I tried a couple different methods to measure the length of the tube, and eventually settled on my 40” aluminum ruler and a couple of blocks clamped at strategic locations on the work bench. One block was clamped to the end of the bench as a backstop, and the second was clamped 24 1/4" from the first block as a stop for the 40” ruler. The result was the end of the tube placed against the end backstop lined up with the end of the ruler placed against the other block for a total length of 64 1/4" as specified in the plans. This setup made accurate measurements very easy. After marking the distance on the tube, I used a tubing cutter to make a straight, clean cut at the distance mark.

The next task was to drill the 6 pilot holes in each end of the tubes according to the template provided in the plans. I taped the templates in place, and marked the center of each hole with a center punch. I went to the drill press after marking the hole locations to drill the pilot holes followed by some light deburring to allow the threaded rod ends to slide into the tubes.

The threaded rod ends went into the tubes without any drama or additional sanding to make them fit. After aligning the top of the cylinder section with the end of the tube, it was back to the drill press to final drill each of the holes. I then marked each rod end and tube so I could align the holes the way they were drilled for final assembly, removed the threaded rod ends, and deburred the holes. I found a Dremel with a barrel sanding bit was a good way to debur the inside surface of the holes.
[Hole and Edge Deburring Tools, Tubing Cutter, Ruler, Center Punch, #40 Drill, #30 Drill, Drill Press, Dremel with Barrel Sanding Bit]

Prime
7/30/23 - 1.0h
8/1/23 - 0.1h
8/2/23 - 0.2h
I decided to focus on priming the inside surfaces of the pushrods first, starting with the threaded rod end interiors and exterior cylinder sections. I inserted the rod end bearings to prevent primer from clogging up the threads, which also made a good handle for priming. The surfaces were scuffed lightly with a Scotch Brite pad, cleaned, and degreased. I taped off the rod end bearing and cone portion of the threaded rod ends. The plan was to rivet the threaded rod end into place after priming the interior sections and the interior of the tube, and then prime the completed pushrod exterior.

Priming the tubes is interesting. They are long and narrow, so you can't apply direct spray inside the tubes beyond a few inches. I started by scuffing the inside with a flap wheel that I made from a Scotch Brite pad on the end of a long piece of PVC. I inserted the PVC into a drill, and then ran the Scotch Brite pad through the tubes a few times to scuff the insides for primer. Scuffing was followed up by ramming a clean cloth through each tube a few times to clean out any debris from cutting, drilling, scuffing, and deburring the tubes. I held the tube up to the light and looked down the interior length to confirm it was clean. I degreased the ends a few inches into the tubes to clean up areas that I had touched before spraying.

I tried to spray the tubes in a vertical position as much as possible. I went very heavy with the spray from each end, and rotated the tubes between spray blasts to help spread out primer runs. The runs were intentional in this case to help insure coverage toward the middle of the tube. I noticed a cloud of primer exiting the opposite end of the tube I was spraying from, which gave me confidence that primer reached the entire length of the tube from both ends. It was hard to see if the primer coated completely, but I didn't see any shiny areas inside the tube like I did before spraying, so I feel like I got some coverage everywhere.
[Maroon Scotch Brite Pads, Dupli-Color Degreaser, Rust-Oleum Automotive Self Etching Primer (Green – Rattle Can)]

Assemble
7/31/23 - 0.4h
8/1/23 - 0.7h
8/3/23 - 0.3h
The parts for the Torque Tube to Bellcrank Pushrod go together very quickly. Each end cap is secured with six blind rivets, the jam-nuts get threaded onto the rod end bearings, and then the rod end bearings are screwed into the threaded rod ends. The job is finished by adjusting the rod end bearings to a total length of 67 7/16”. That length may need to be fine-tuned later, so I decided not to torque down the jam-nut until after the aileron control is rigged properly.
[Rivet Puller]

  Jul 26, 2023     23-05 - Bellcrank Preparation and Installation - (2.7 hours)       Category: 23 Pushrods

7/24/23 - 1.8h
7/25/23 - 0.7h
7/26/23 - 0.2h
I am jumping around a bit in the plans during this section depending on the tools and parts I have available as well as the work session time. This step is out of order since I need to get to a drill press to prepare the various pushrods.

Installing the aileron bellcranks is very satisfying, since you finally get to see some moving parts attached in their final position. The bellcranks need a little preparation before installation into the wings starting with riveting a nutplate for a future autopilot servo onto the right wing bellcrank. The holes for the nutplate have to be final drilled and countersunk, and then the nutplate is riveted in place. The bellcrank has two sets of nutplate holes, and the drawing in the plan says both sets are to be countersunk even though only one nutplate is installed. I countersunk both sets, primed the countersunk holes to prevent corrosion, and then attached the single nutplate to the bottom arm of the bellcrank.

Each bellcrank rotates around a pivot tube, and the pivot tubes receive brass (I think…) bushings. The length specification for the bushings is between 69.9mm and 70.6mm, and both of my bushings were delivered around 71mm long. A couple light passes with a flat file, fine sanding, and final cleanup with a Scotch Brite pad did a nice job of reducing the length to the specified length. I twisted a 1/4" reamer by hand in each bushing to allow an AN-4 bolt to slip in without binding, and then deburred both the pivot tube and bushing to allow the bushing to easily slide into the pivot tube. The pivot tube must be 0.8mm - 1.6mm shorter than the bushing, and both of my bellcranks met that spec without any additional modification required.

The final step is installing the bellcranks into the wing brackets, and securing the bellcranks with the specified AN-4 hardware. The installation is straight-forward as long as you pay attention to the bellcrank orientation in the plans. Once the bellcranks were in position, I torqued the nuts to the value in Plans Section 5 (85 in-lbs + drag) to complete the installation
[#40 Drill, #21 Drill, 1/4” Reamer, #40 Microstop Countersink Cage, Rivet Squeezer, Flat Squeezer Set, Flat File, Hole and Edge Deburring Tools, Torque Wrench, Rust-Oleum Automotive Self Etching Primer (Green – Rattle Can)]

  Jul 19, 2023     23-02 - Aileron Attachment - (1.2 hours)       Category: 23 Pushrods

7/19/23 - 1.2h
Step one in this section is installing the hardware to attach the ailerons to the wing. This was just a temporary attachment in my case since I plan to remove the ailerons before installing the bottom wing skins. I installed all of the hardware, but just left the nut finger-tight.

The drawings in this section of the plans are very good to show exactly how the hardware is arranged within each of the aileron hinges. The washer closest to the bolt head on both the inboard and outboard hinges has the potential to be installed incorrectly, though. Those washers do not go directly under the bolt heads, rather they go in the very narrow space between the aileron hinge brackets and the wing hinge brackets. I noticed that arrangement after installing the first bolt incorrectly, and it should definitely be inspected for correct installation every time the aileron is removed and installed.

I started each hinge installation by using a thin pick to get all of the washers in place before installing the bolt. The first trick (working from the outside in) was the set of double washers on the outboard hinge. I threaded a strip of wire lacing tape through the washers, and then used the lacing tape to suspend the washers in line with the hinge holes while I inserted the thin pick. The washer just inside the hinge from the bolt head is the next tricky one to deal with since it is tough to get to. I used a small standard (flat blade) screwdriver to hold the washer in place while I threaded the pick through the hinge holes and the washer. Once I had all of the washers and bushings inserted in the right areas on the pick, I slowly pushed the pick out of the holes with the bolt to get the washers on the bolt. The end result is an aileron installation that moves freely with very little length-wise play due to the tight tolerances of the washers. Nice!
[Standard (Flat Blade) Screwdriver, 3/32” Pick, Wire Lacing Tape, Needle-Nosed Pliers]

  Jul 12, 2023     23-01 - Aileron Actuation (Plans) - (1.0 hour)       Category: 23 Pushrods

7/12/23 - 1.0h
I found a12-22-2020 update to the Aileron Actuation plans during my review of the Service Bulletins, Notifications and Letters, and Revisions and Changes for the RV-14 on the Van's website. The revision changes the procedure for aileron alignment. I downloaded the changed section from the website to update my electronic plans, which I purchased in early 2020,

There are a number of “clean-up” items I want to square away in the wings, like the final fit and installation of the pitot tube, final systems routings, and installation of the autopilot servo bracket and magnetometer mount before I install the bottom wing skins. I waited on those items to install the aileron control components to ensure I didn't inadvertently interfere with the bell cranks and push-rods for the controls. The idea was to complete the control systems and all the other miscellaneous tasks with the bottom skins off to make it easy to access the inside of the wing.

The plans start with the installation of the ailerons. I can't do the final installation until the bottom wing skins are done, so that will be added to the list of “clean-up” items for later. I plan to temporarily install the ailerons with some throw-away hardware to set up the actuation system, and then remove the ailerons at the end of this stage of the build.

The large pushrods are made from aluminum tubing that has to be primed inside and out. I've heard other builders say they had problems priming the inside of the large pushrod, and was advised to use “val-oil” instead of priming. Val Oil is not easy to find, so I'll probably give priming a try. The other thing I noticed are several holes that need to be drilled into the pushrods to accept threaded endcaps. I think free-hand drilling the curved tubing would lead to problems and disappointment, and the plans specify use of a drill press on the bellcrank-to-aileron pushrods. I don't have a drill-press to drill those holes, so I'll have to impose on a builder buddy to use his drill press. One other item to note is the hole location dimensions for the bellcrank-to-aileron pushrods is incomplete in the plans. The center of the inboard hole is 13/32” from the end, but the outboard hole distance is not specified. Fortunately, the RV-10 plans have the exact same diagram, with the outboard hole distance specified at 7/32”.

The design of the aileron control system is not overly complex - it starts with a torque tube at the wing root connected to the bellcrank in the center of the wing by a pushrod, and then another pushrod from the bellcrank to the aileron. Actually preparing and assembling the parts, however, is a bit more involved and will require following the instructions and drawings in the plans very closely. I will admit that some of the instructions after simply reading them aren't perfectly clear to me, but they should be crystal clear when I start test-fitting and adjusting the various control system components. The keys to this section appear to be accurate measurements (measure twice, cut once!); identifying parts and marking them adequately for final assembly; test-fitting, aligning, and adjusting parts as needed and/or directed; and ensuring all the hardware is installed and torqued correctly.