Project: Bovine-RV14A   -  
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Builder Name:Jeff Lawson   -  
Project:   Vans - RV-14A   -   VIEW REPORTS
Total Hours:595.5
Total Flight Time:
Start/Last Date:Jan 28, 2022 - No Finish Date
Engine:Lycoming YIO-390-EXP119 non-cert
Propeller:Hartzell G2YR/N7605W-2X 74 in. dia composite 2-blade
Panel:Dynon Skyview
 
Friendly URL: https://eaabuilderslog.org?s=Bovine-RV14A

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Mar 10, 2024     Fuselage rotisserie - (1.0 hour)       Category: Workshop
In other news, a few weeks ago I picked up an engine stand from my co-worker Phillip in Houston that he had once used as a fuselage rotisserie for his RV-8 taildragger. Since his aircraft could be supported by the tail wheel he only needed one stand and support the other end on a table. However, I would need a second one to support it on both ends, so I bought up another nearly identical engine stand from Harbor Freight, though seemingly a newer revision that now includes a longer handle, a grease fitting, and a snap-ring to hold the shaft in place.

Phillip had also mentioned that his engine stand had been intentionally mis-assembled to remove most of the shaft angle. I compared the new and the old engine stands and replicated his modification into the new one, which involved omitting the extra wheel tube, flipping the horizontal support tube upside-down, and drilling a hole in that tube to directly accept a single caster wheel. Although I'm still far from actually needing to use it, I have it ready for when I do.


 
Mar 05, 2024     Finishing kit delivery - (3.0 hours)       Category: Workshop
Due to the uncertainty of the laser-cut parts and the bankruptcy reorganization of Vans, I had decided to put all work on pause until the dust had settled. Things seem to be stabilizing and this past Tuesday I received my finishing kit delivered directly to my hangar at the airport.

I had ordered this kit in Jan 2023 and the original delivery date then was projected to be in March 2024, so I actually got received it on time despite all of the business chaos. I did end up having to accept a price increase due to the bankruptcy settlement, and the wheels/brakes ended up getting separated into a new subkit that you have to now pay extra for. (I already have that Grove wheel/brake subkit and the firewall forward subkit ordered and they will apparently be coming together in a couple more months.)

In any case, I opted to have this kit delivered to my hangar since I knew it contained some very large pieces, such as the fiberglass engine cowling halves and the large plexiglass canopy windows. Since I planned to do the final assembly of these large pieces at the hangar, rather than my small garage it would be easier to directly ship there and avoid having to transport them again later in my car.

The kit also contained all of the replacements for the laser-cut parts (from my previously received wings, empennage, and fuselage kits) that I had requested on the Vans portal website. I had opted to request all of the "red" parts (those recommended for replacement), but none of the laser-cut parts that were deemed by Vans to be less important or structurally insignificant. I also did not order any of the "gold" parts (those adjacent to parts that might be damaged during replacement), since I hadn't damaged anything yet. I've been informed I'll be able to order those "gold" parts in the future at no cost (including shipping) should I need them.

I've started the inventory process of all of these parts, though it will take a few more nights for me to finish that process up. I've also been recycling all of the packing paper and cardboard, as well as dismantling the wooden shipping crate. I'll also need to see if I can get rid of the growing number of wooden shipping pallets that have been accumulating at the hangar.


 
Oct 21, 2023     Drilling out the rudder spar - (5.0 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
I've been taking a significant break in building due in part to the laser cut parts issues from Vans Aircraft, and basically running out of components that I could start assembling without eventually hitting a part I would be blocked on.

One of the pieces that I'll need to replace is the spar in the rudder. Fortunately, I decided not to make the final rounded bends in the leading edge of the rudder skins, since that have made the spar removal significantly harder. There were quite a few rivets that needed to be drilled out, but I think I managed to remove them all without negatively impacting any of the skins or ribs that are being kept. This took longer than I expected, and I ended up doing this operation over several days just to take a break from the task.

There are just a few more large rivets heads that are stuck in the rudder horn, but I'm considering just ordering a new one also since trying to remove the rest of the rivets is likely going to introduce some unintended damage to it.


 
Sep 26, 2023     Propeller and spinner delivered - (1.0 hour)       Category: Propeller
I had placed my order for the Hartzell composite 2-blade propeller (along with the engine) back in spring, to take advantage of the Van's Aircraft promotion during the Sun N Fun event. About a month ago I was asked to make the final payment for the propeller, and today this ~70 pound package was delivered by FedEx. I spent a little bit of time opening and inspecting the contents but I haven't fully removed the propeller from the box since that seems like the best way to protect it until I'm ready for it.


 
Sep 23, 2023     Cutting elevator foam blocks - (1.5 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
The trailing edges of the elevator uses foam blocks that are cut to shape and glued in place. To create these foam blocks I had to cut out paper templates and use spray adhesive to hold them onto the rectangular foam chunks. Once the adhesive had dried overnight I could use the bandsaw to roughly cut the foam pieces, and then the bench-top sander to trim the pieces closely to the lines on my paper templates. This all worked out quite well. Unfortunately, one piece of foam tipped over and out of my hand during sanding and is very slightly misshapen on one side, but I don't think it is significant enough to be a concern since the glue that will be later used (tank sealant) is quite viscous and can fill that slight void easily.

Next was to take two of the elevator skins and trim off an excess corner that was the result of the manufacturing process. I marked the line using a ruler and then cut the bulk of it using sheet metal snips, and then refined the line using the bench-top grinder again.


 
Sep 17, 2023     Starting Elevator prep - (2.5 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
I've started working on the Elevator by gathering all of the punched parts and looking at what steps I could accomplish while I wait for the necessary replacements for the laser-cut ones. Hopefully the promised ordering form will become available later this week, though I'm sure it will be weeks/months before I receive all of the replacement parts.

After some blue film removal, I cut the trailing ribs apart on the bandsaw and then smoothed all of their edges with the Scotchbrite wheel on the benchtop grinder. There was also some deburring of the existing rivet holes with my hand deburring tool. Then I clecoed all of the rib halves together as instructed, which also keeps them together and minimizes the chances of getting lost.

Then I marked the Shear Clips with a pen and cut them apart on the bandsaw as well, followed by edge smoothing.

What's next? Looks like cutting some pieces of foam for the trailing edges.


 
Sep 14, 2023     Laser cut parts inventory - (2.0 hours)       Category: Research
I spent a little more time identifying and separating the laser-cut parts that were indicated on the spreadsheet published by Vans, in preparation of the ordering form that will be available soon. Unfortunately, I have a fairly high percentage of laser cut parts in my empennage and fuselage kits, so a lot of my progress will be limited until I'm able to get the replacement parts.


 
Sep 11, 2023     Finishing last rivets of HS - (1.0 hour)       Category: Tail Feathers
The only thing remaining on the Horizontal Stabilizer was to finish squeezing the last rivets on the flange of the rear spar that connects it to the skins. These were all the same length rivets so it made things go very quickly with the hand squeezer.

What's next? There are several laser-cut parts in all of the remaining sections of the empennage kit, so I may be starting to run low on new sections that I can start. Hopefully Vans announces the LCP replacement ordering page this week, though I'm sure it will probably be weeks or even months before I will receive all of those replacements.


 
Sep 10, 2023     Beginning to rivet HS rear spar - (0.5 hour)       Category: Tail Feathers
This was just a brief session to start installing some of the larger rivets that hold the Horizontal Stabilizer rear spar together. On each end of the HS there were 3 solid round-head rivets that needed to be installed with my hand squeezer. Then along each of the internal ribs, 3 more blind rivets needed to be installed using the hand rivet puller. Finally, along the two inner edges of both sides of the HS there were 3 more solid round-head rivets that needed to be squeezed.

What's next? Start squeezing all of the flush rivets that hold the skin to the rear spar.


 
Sep 08, 2023     Riveting lower skin of HS - (3.0 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
In this session, I went about finishing the riveting of the fluish rivets on the lower skin of the Horizontal Stabilizer. These all involved positioning the bucking bar inside the skin with one hand and holding the air rivet gun in the other on the outside of the skin. As with the previous session, there were 4 different length rivets that I had to keep track of and ensure they went into the right holes.

After that was done, I moved the rear spar assembly out of storage, positioned it between the skins, and then clecoed it into place.

What's next? Squeeze all of the final rivets on the rear spar, and some blind rivets for the ribs.


 
Sep 05, 2023     Riveting top skin of HS - (4.5 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
Progress continued on the Horizontal Stabilizer with me working on flush riveting the top skin. This work was actually done over several days as I had a spare moment, so this log entry is all of them combined. There's something like four different length rivets that I had to use, so it was important to keep track of which ones went where. I tried to stick with one size of rivet for as long as possible before moving on to the next size.

I've also been spending some time auditing which laser-cut parts I will need to consider re-ordering once Van's Aircraft opens up the new page. It looks like I may be pretty limited on what I can work on next, since most of the remaining assemblies have at least a few LCP that would prevent me from completing them.

What's next? Time to flush rivet the bottom skin, and then to attach the rear spar.


 
Sep 01, 2023     Offset riveting the HS spar - (2.5 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
After preparing myself as much as possible for the challenge, I started using the double-offset rivet set to drive these rivets that attach the inboard ribs to the forward spar of the Horizontal Stablizer. This type of riveting is always challenging for me and I usually end up having the attempt some of the rivets multiple times before I'm satisfied with the result.

After those spar rivets were done, I started using the hand squeezer on the AD3-3.5 rivets along the inboard edges and tips of the HS. These all proceeded without any issues, other than some clearance limitations in a few places where the lightnening holes in the ribs.

What's next? I'll have to use the air rivet gun to drive all of the remaining flush rivets in the skin, and then I'll join the rear spar assembly on.


 
Aug 30, 2023     Nose ribs and HS assembly - (2.0 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
This session started by repeating the work that I did yesterday on the other side of the Horizontal Stabilizer, by riveting the two nose ribs onto the other half of the skin section. This work seemed to go a little more quickly than it did yesterday, probably because I had fresh riveting practice.

Once those two final nose ribs were riveted, I positioned both skins on the cradles and then positioned the forward spar assembly into place. This was then followed by loading up several dozen clecos to hold everything in alignment and it was very satisfying to see such a huge assembly coming together.

Finally, I installed the dozen blind rivets that hold the spar assembly to the nose ribs in the skin with my hand riveter tool. This was challenging due to the limited space within the skin and the placement of the ribs, but I managed to get it done.

What's next? Some double-offset riveting near the center of the spar.


 
Aug 29, 2023     Riveting nose ribs into HS skins - (1.0 hour)       Category: Tail Feathers
In this session I started using the airgun to rivet two of the nose ribs into the Horizontal Stablizer skin. Riveting nose ribs is always a bit of a challenge because the surface isn't flat so you have to be very careful about the angle of the rivet gun and the bucking bar. Additionally, with very limited space inside of the skin I'm not even able to hold the bucking bar in an orientation that would put all of its mass in-line with the riveting action. I did end up having to drill out maybe 4 rivets and try setting them a second time before I was satisified with them.

What's next? Two more nose ribs in the other skin, and then I can begin attaching the leading spar to these pieces.


 
Aug 28, 2023     Priming the HS skins - (1.0 hour)       Category: Tail Feathers
This was a quick session to spray some primer on the interiors of the Horizontal Stabilizer skins to provide some extra corrosion protection (beyond the Al-cladding provided from the factory). As with other skins that I've already done, I'm choosing to save weight/waste by only priming the areas of the skin that will be in contact with other internal components, since those are the areas where moisture will tend to accumulate and promote corrosion.

I started by scuffing the contact areas with a Scotch-brite pad to roughen up the surfaces and provide slightly better primer adhesion. Then a quick wipe-down of the surfaces with acetone to clean off the scuffing debris and any oils. Finally, a quick spray of self-etching primer and then resting until dry.

What's next? Time to start air riveting the nose ribs into the fronts of the skins.


 
Aug 27, 2023     Riveting the HS ribs and stringers to the spar - (2.5 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
Now that all of the ribs and stringers of the Horizontal Stabilizer were primed, I could begin riveting these internal parts together into a basic assembly. The primary parts were the two modified inner ribs and the stringer web, and then bracing their sides with the two longer stringers. All of these parts were riveted together with round universal head rivets and squeezed with my hand squeezer.

Once those five pieces were joined, they could be connected to the forward spar, again with more universal head rivets using my hand squeezer. Some of the rivets were specified as using longer rivets where the spar doubler was penetrated, so I had to be sure to put those in the right places. After that, I riveted on more ribs along the outer sections of the forward spar, as well as just the two outermost nose ribs. (The remaining nose ribs will apparently be first riveted onto the skin and then blind riveted onto the forward spar later.)

I also spent some time treating all of the countersunk rivet holes in both spars with my alodine pen to minimize future corrosion risk in those holes.

What's next? I'm going to do some quick priming on the interior of the skins and then start air riveting the nose ribs.


 
Aug 26, 2023     Counter-sinking HS stringers and priming parts - (2.5 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
The last parts in the Horizontal Stabilizer that needed to be machine-countersunk were the stringers. As before, I used my micro-stop drill tool to make these countersunk to allow the dimpled skin to later fit into these rivet holes. This countersinking had to be repeated for the two stringers.

Once that was done, I took the ribs and stringers and used a scotchbrite pad to scuff up the surfaces and then clean them with acetone. Then I sprayed a quick coat of self-etching primer and allowed these pieces to dry.

What's next? Time to start riveting together some of these internal parts.


 
Aug 24, 2023     Counter-sinking the HS spars - (2.0 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
In this session I used the microstop machine-countersinking tool to prepare the flanges on both sides of both spars. Since these spars will eventually be riveted to a dimpled skin, they have to be countersunk for the backside of the dimple.

What's next? There's a couple of more pieces that need to be countersunk, and then I think I may need to spray some more primer prior to more riveting.


 
Aug 22, 2023     Finish dimpling HS skin - (1.0 hour)       Category: Tail Feathers
This session was a repeat of last night's session but for the other skin of the Horizontal Stabilizer. As before, I did most of the dimpling on the DRDT2 table, and then finished up the dozen inaccessible holes with the hand-riveter with close-quarters dies.

What's next? Making lots of metal chips by machine countersinking the flanges in both spars


 
Aug 21, 2023     Starting dimpling of H-stab skin - (1.5 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
I set out both skins for the Horizontal Stabilizer and used a sharpie to mark the rivet holes that shouldn't be dimpled. Then I took one skin over to the DRDT2 table and dimpled as many of the rivet holes that I could reach in the first skin. About a dozen or so rivet holes had to be dimpled with the pop-riveter die set.

What's next? Dimple the other skin, then machine-countersink the spars.


 
Aug 20, 2023     Dimpling h-stab ribs - (2.0 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
This brief work session focused on preparing the ribs for the Horizontal Stabilizer. The first step was to match-drill some new rivet holes in the nose ribs and the inner ribs, using the spar as a template. The instructions specifically say to match-drill those two parts (nose and inner rib) individually, however I didn't see that note and attempted to drill them while they were both clecoed to the spar together. This unfortunately resulted in not having the HS-1004 inner ribs clecoed flush when match drilling, so their single center holes got slightly offset and then oblong-shaped when I tried to properly re-drill them.

While contemplating my options and whether I needed to order two replacement HS-1004 ribs, I realized that I could simply swap those badly drilled ribs for the other positions where the HS-1004 is used since they don't need the center hole there. I marked these bad holes with a "X" on their flanges, as seen in the right stack in the photo.

After puzzling over the intentions of the instructions for a while, I carefully marked all of the holes that didn't need dimpling and used the hand-squeezer to dimple the holes that needed it.

In other good news, I was able to borrow the H-stab cradles from Tyson, another RV-14 builder from my local EAA chapter, saving me probably a couple of hours of effort to manufacturing those single-use jigs.

What's next? Start preparing the skin for dimpling.


 
Aug 09, 2023     Deburring H-stab ribs - (1.0 hour)       Category: Tail Feathers
I had some time to get back on the project, so I started by beginning some of the preparation of the ribs that will go in the Horizontal Stabilizer. The edges of all of these parts are still sharp from the factory punching process, so I used the Scotch-Brite wheel on the bench grinder to smooth the outer flat edges. All interior lightening holes were deburred with the hand deburring tool and then smoothed over with a Scotch-Brite pad. Then I used the bench grinder again to contour the leading edge facets of the nose ribs to prevent protrusions through the skin later.

What's next? Dry fitting, match driling of these ribs, and probably some priming.


 
Aug 05, 2023     Riveting the H-stab spar - (2.0 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
With the Horizontal Stablizer spar assembled to its doubler and two spar caps with clecos, I could now begin riveting them together. This involved both universal head and flush head rivets of multiple lengths, so it was important to keep track of which ones went in which hole. Fortunately I was able to squeeze all of them with my hand riveter. I did notice that some of the rivets in one of my jars were mixed up with rivets that were slightly too short, so I had to spend a little time hand-sorting them into the correct jars.

What's next? Time to start preparing the ribs to be assembled together.


 
Aug 04, 2023     Priming H-stab spar - (0.5 hour)       Category: Tail Feathers
I sprayed the Horizontal Stablizer spar parts with a quick coat of self-etching primer. Once they were dry, i moved them back inside to the workshop and clecoed them together.

In other news, I received word today that my Hartzell propeller was ready for final payment prior to shipping, so that means I'll be receiving it soon--even though I requested that my engine be scheduled for delivery at the end of next year.

What's next? Time to start some riveting.


 
Aug 03, 2023     Drilling, countersinking, deburring, scuffing H-stab spar - (2.0 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
In this session, I clecoed the spar doubler plate to the spar and final drilled all of the matching holes. A couple of the larger 1/4" holes were called out to be final drilled using a drill press, so I did that too. Next, a dozen holes on the spar doubler and a bunch more on the spar flange had to be machine countersunk to allow flush rivets to be later installed.

Then I unclecoed all of the parts and begun a final deburring of all of the new holes, and then a quick scuff of all of the surfaces with a scotchbrite pad and a wipedown with acetone to prepare for priming.

What's next? Time to prime these parts and then begin riveting these spar parts together.


 
Aug 02, 2023     Match drilling second spar cap for H-stab finished - (1.5 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
This session involved repeating what I did last night and match drilling the remaining other spar car for the Horizontal Stabilizer. This was again done in two phases, with the drilling of the part that nests against the spar cap webbing first, and then deburring both surfaces, and match drilling the spar flange.

What's next? Match drilling the spar doubler against the spar.


 
Aug 01, 2023     Match drilling first spar cap for H-stab - (1.5 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
Tonight's task was to clamp one of the spar cap (stiffeners) to the inner flange of the forward spar of the horizontal stabilizer, and then match drill all of the holes. The holes on the spar web were #30, while the holes on the spar flange were #40, and there was a bunch of deburring of the holes in between the two operations to ensure that there was a completely tight match between the surfaces. I was initially concerned about the amount of bowing/bend that was in these spar caps as they had been delivered from the factory (the instructions mention that there would be some bend), but they clamped quite flat against the spar just fine.

What's next? Repeat the same steps for the other spar cap.


 
Jul 30, 2023     Cutting spar caps for H-stab - (1.0 hour)       Category: Tail Feathers
Resuming work on my Horizontal Stabilizer meant trimming the corners off 4 pieces of spar caps (bent stiffeners) by using the bandsaw to extend a line through notches that had been made by the factory. After cutting off the excess, I used the bench sander to even up the cut, and then the scotchbrite wheel on the bench grinder to deburr and smooth all edges.

What's next? Match drilling these spar cars.


 
Jul 29, 2023     Mounting TV in workshop - (2.0 hours)       Category: Workshop
This was just a minor improvement to my workshop, but I spent a couple of hours mounting a wall-mount bracket in the corner of my workshop so that I could hang an old TV that used to be in another room. I also had to install a new wall power outlet behind the TV to keep the power cords hidden and out of sight. This TV should keep me entertained a little more while I'm working on the plane build. I could even watch some of the other RV youtube build videos while I'm working.


 
Jul 28, 2023     Oshkosh recap       Category: Research
I'm back from Oshkosh and the company status presentation from Vans about the current situation with the laser cut holes was very informative and timely. It sounds like even in their worst-case scenario testing the cracking in the dimpled holes is not the weakest part, and that (surprisingly) the inherent dimpled surface is still the weakest part. I later met up with Greg Hughes from Vans at one of the builder bash events and he personally answered some laser cutting questions for me as well.

It was fun meeting up with other builders as well. I learned that Kent who I had met through the Cherokees2Osh group was also building an RV-14. I got an awesome new RV-14 shirt from Josh with the Slack group info on it. Also met up with the VeArds and attended their session. I attended a couple of forum sessions about fiberglassing in RVs, which I'll need to eventually need to deal with in the later sections. I also won a giveaway from the Plane Lady of a new Tungsten bucking bar and a deburring tool, both of which I already had similar but different shaped versions of.


 
Jul 15, 2023     H-stab spar - (4.0 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
I started this session by stripping off the blue vinyl from all of the Horizontal Stabilizer parts, and then deburring the holes and edges of the spar and its doubler plate. A number of holes in the doubler had to be match drilled and final drilled against the spar. A couple holes needed to be machine-countersunk to allow flush rivets to later be installed there. Then a final scuffing of both of these parts with a scotch-brite pad, wipedown with alcohol, and then a quick coat of spray self-etching primer.

Next, the powder-coated hinge brackets had to be clecoed and final-drilled against the spar as well. The instructions recommended doing a scuffing of the hinge brackets if you plan to eventually paint them, so I did that as well. Then I could begin riveting the doubler plate and these hinge brackets to the spar using solid rivets and my hand squeezer.

Finally, another pair of power-coated brackets needed to be final drilled with a bearing that would be installed between them. After a quick debur, these brackets could be riveted to the bearing with the hand squeezer as well. Then the assembled bracket needed to be bolted to the spar using some AN-bolts, washers, and nuts.

What's next? I need to final torque the bolts on that last bracket, and then begin working on prepping more parts for the H-stab. I probably need to start packeting for my Oshkosh trip this week as well.


 
Jul 13, 2023     Pausing rudder and auditing h-stab - (3.0 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
Over the last week there has been a growing amount of online drama around the quality of parts produced by Vans using laser cutting processes. Although preliminary guidance has been given, I've decided to wait on performing the final few steps of closing up the rudder since those would make further inspections or repairs more difficult if needed. I will probably wait at least until after Oshkosh before I get back to working on the rudder, and there will hopefully be more finalized official guidance by then.

However, I have already looked very carefully under magnification at the rudder spar (the part of highest priority concern) and haven't been able to observe any cracking around the dimpled holes there yet. Unfortunately, I don't have photos to confirm whether or not the rudder spar originally came with blue vinyl plastic or not (which would indicate whether it was punched press and not laser cut). I'll also need to look more carefully at the other parts I've already built and moved to the hangar (wings, fuel tanks, ailerons, flaps, vertical stabilizer) to identify whether any of them have cracking.

I did use my 3D printer to produce bending templates that will eventually be used when I do finally curl the leading edges of the rudder in the future. The designs for these templates were available in the VAF forum and I just had to convert to STL and re-scale due to inches/millimeters differences.

The next part that I could work on will be horizontal stabilizer, so I got to work identifying all of the parts from my storage shelves and setting them out. Fortunately all of the h-stab parts except for one (HS-00916, stringer web) appear to be manufactured on punch press and not laser cut. That one laser-cut part does have some minor hole roughness, but I think I can clean it up with my deburring tool, plus it appears to be a part that is currently classified as a "third-priority concern" part.

What's next? Start prepping these h-stab parts, and maybe auditing some of the other parts that are on my shelves for laser-cut concerns. I will also need to begin packing for my trip to Oshkosh next week.


 
Jul 06, 2023     Rudder counterweight and top rib - (3.0 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
I started this session by doing some final test fitting of the lead counterweight that will need to be installed inside the top of the rudder. I needed to countersink the two screwholes in the weight in order to allow dimpled holes to fit into them, but I found using the hand-operated hole deburring tool easier than setting up the machine-countersink. I also needed to remove a little material on the sides to allow the existing rivet shopheads to not contact, but a round file was good for that. Once I was happy with the fit, I mixed up a small batch of tank sealant and applied it to the bottom of the counterweight (based on some thread discussions on VAF) and then screwed the weight into place with its backing plate.

With the counterweight installed, I could now cleco in and then rivet the top rib of the rudder. Six of the rivet holes needed to be upsized slightly to accommodate blind rivets, but the rest of the holes with just simple flush rivets that I could install with my hand squeezer.

Finally, I installed the several dozen flush rivets along both flanges of the rudder spar that attach the skin to it. As I was installing these rivets I was inspecting carefully to see if there was anything of concern based on the recent laser-cut hole drama that was particularly affecting the spars of various parts, but I didn't notice anything unusual.

What's next? I just need to squeeze the double-flush rivets on the trailing edge, and then curl the leading rounded edges and then I'll be done with the rudder.


 
Jul 04, 2023     Riveting together the rudder - (5.0 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
This was a pretty long and productive session, starting with using blind rivets to attach the two halves of the rudder skins and reaching in between them to access the mating holes. I also cleaned the trailing edge with isopropyl alcolohol and then applied VHB tape to secure the trailing edge extrusion onto one side of the skins, holding it in place with clecos.

Once the two skins were riveted together, I inserted the rudder skeleton into the skin and started clecoing it together too. The splice strips and rudder horn at the bottom rudder needed to riveted with a combination of blind and solid rivets, the latter of which sometimes required me to switch to different yokes multiple times in order to access all of them. Fortunately I was able to use my hand squeezer on all of the solid rivets without any major problems.

The next task was to rivet in the counter-weight rib on the top edge of the rudder. At this point I realized that I had missed dimpling the handful of rivet holes that are forward face of the rudder where the two narrow strips of the rudder skins overlap with each other. Luckly, I was able to dimple these two skins together in place using my hand squeezer, and then finish riveting this counterweight rib in.

What's next? The lead counter-weight needs to be installed permanently, and then last few rivets (mostly along the spar flange and the trailing edge) need to be squeezed.


 
Jul 03, 2023     Back-riveting the ribs onto the rudder skins - (3.0 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
The first task for today was to use my micro-stop drilling jig to machine countersink all of the holes on both sides of the trailing edge extrusion. This will allow the dimpled skins to nest into this extrusion for a flush surface on the trailing edge of the rudder.

After that, I started preparing to back-rivet the ribs onto both halves of the rudder skins. After loading up the rudder skins with flush rivets, I taped them in place with some blue painters tape and then flipped the skins over onto my bucking plate. The ribs could then be easily positioned onto the tail ends of the rivets and back-riveted quite easily. The one trick that I did this time was to use a small refrigerator magnet to monitor where the edge of my bucking plate was, to avoid accidentally riveting beyond the edge of the plate (which would easily dent/destroy the skin).

What's next? Time to start assembling the skin halves together and putting them onto the rudder skeleton.


 
Jul 02, 2023     Nutplates and dimpling the rudder - (3.0 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
The last of the backordered parts for the empennage kit finally arrived, so I now have the nutplates and the VA-140 trailing edge extrusion. I started by fitting the trailing edge into place, marking the needed length, and then cutting it on the bandsaw. Next, I partially disassembled the rudder so that I could cleco the 3 nutplates into place and then squeezed the rivets into place with my hand squeezer.

Now, I could cleco the skins back onto the rudder and do some final drilling of the holes in the trailing edge. The rest of the skin holes appeared to already be final sized, but I did do some light deburring on holes that seemed to need it. Then I disassembled the skins and took them over the DRDT2 dimpling table to dimple all of the holes that will receive flush rivets later.

What's next? I need to machine-countersink the holes in the trailing edge extrusion, and then maybe start some back-riveting of the stiffeners onto the skins.


 
Jun 26, 2023     Starting to assemble rudder ribs - (2.5 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
I started tonight's session by assembling the doubler plates onto the rudder spar and riveting them in place with the hand squeezer. A few of the rivets were a little challenging to get due to the flange or the rib getting in the way, but they got riveted in the end.

Unfortunately, I realized that the nutplates that I need to be riveting onto some of the doubler plates were still in the back-ordered items for this empennage kit. I'm also still missing the VA-140 trailing edge extrusion that I'll also need for later in this rudder section. So I'm moving on and will try to skip around the steps that are missing parts, but hopefully not advance too far ahead that will complicate installing the missing parts when they finally arrive. The Vans Aircraft kit status page says that a backorder shipment is being prepared for me, so maybe these parts will arrive soon.

The next thing I could do was start to cleco together the reset of the ribs to ensure I have all of the pieces in the right places. This was pretty satisfying seeing the shape the rudder start to form, and it also helps to understand which pieces still need to be dimpled.

What's next? I need to finish dimpling a few more pieces, and then I might be able to start dimpling the rudder skins too.


 
Jun 24, 2023     Priming rudder parts - (2.0 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
This was a quick work session to prime the internal rudder parts since the next steps in the instructions would start to require parts to be riveted together. As usual, I started by roughing up all of the surfaces with scotch-brite pads and then wiping down with some acetone. After a quick spray with some self-etching primer on both sides of the parts, they were all ready for the next steps.

What's next? Start final assembly and riveting of the rudder parts to its spar.


 
Jun 24, 2023     Moving the wings to the hangar - (3.0 hours)       Category: Wings
Today was an exciting day because I had Grayson, a coworker/friend, help me move my assembled wings from my dining room and into the hangar using his truck. We ended up borrowing a glider trailer from Alton at the airport, though there was jerry-rigging needed right from the beginning in order to get the trailer lights connected.

I decided that transporting the wings while they were on the wing cart would probably be the safest option. We had to first unload the wings from the cart and set them on my lawn in order to fit the wing cart through the front door of my house. With the cart relocated inside the trailer and secured with ratchet straps, we loaded the wings and secured them with straps as well. Using some pieces of split foam pipe insulation was a great way to protect the trailing edges of the wings from being bent.

In the end, both wings and the wing cart made it safely to the airport and are now sitting in my hangar, along with the aileron, flaps, pushrods, and vertical stabilizer. My plan is to try to fill some avgas into both of the fuel tanks and check for any leaks before I do any further assembly of the wings, since any further work will make accessing the fuel tanks harder in the future. Many thanks to Grayson and Alton for helping with the move!


 
Jun 22, 2023     Autopilot pushrods and servo wiring - (2.5 hours)       Category: Controls
Some Dynon autopilot parts that I had been waiting for recently came in so I wanted to try to make a little bit of progress on that tonight. The autopilot pushrods come as a single piece of aluminum tubing stock that has to be measured and cut into two identical length. Then the center bore had to drilled to enlarge it to a #3 drill and then tapped for a threaded rod that would be installed in both ends.

Next, I needed to trim the wires on the autopilot roll servo and crimp on some Molex pins. It took a bit of manual cutting of the pins since they were apparently designed for an automated machine to install them, but the intro chapter in the instructions provided a good amount of detail about what needed to be done. After crimping all of the servo wires, I inserted them into the Molex plug according to the wiring diagram.

I also took some time to take the pitch servo bracket to the bench grinder to smooth some of the rough edges using the scotchbrite wheel. Then I roughed up all of the surfaces with a scotchbrite pad, cleaned with some acetone, and sprayed a light coating of self-etching primer.

I'm going to hold off on installing any more of the delicate autopilot components until after the wings are transported to the hangar, which should hopefully be happening this weekend.


 
Jun 22, 2023     Skinwork and Drilling the rudder counterweight - (0.5 hour)       Category: Tail Feathers
This was just a very brief session that started by pulling out the two rudder skins. The instructions calls for removing a narrow strip of excess material from each of them, so I used simple sheet metal shears to cut that and then smoothed off the edge with a file and scotchbrite pad.

The next step was to begin fitting the two ribs that are next to the lead counterweight inside the rudder. After clecoing the ribs and checking that they were already drilled to final size, I needed to prepare the lead weight itself to be eventually mounted. The supporting rib comes with only one of the two holes pre-drilled, so I had to use the lead weight to match drill the other hole in the rib. Both holes were final sized and then dimpled to allow a countersunk screw to go through the rib and the weight.


 
Jun 21, 2023     Prepping internal rudder parts - (2.5 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
Work continues on preparing the internal stiffeners, doublers, ribs, and other parts for the rudder. Many of these parts come joined to each other as a result of the manufacturing process, and I need to use the bandsaw to separate them and then grind down the rough edges. A few of the curved ribs needed fluting to allow them to rest flat. Additionally, some of the corners of ribs and the rudder horn needed to be ground down to make them less sharp.

Once the parts were all separated and smoothed, I started assembling a few of the pieces together with clecos to allow their shared holes to be match-drilled, though it seems all of the holes were already final sized from the factory.

What's next? The rudder skins need some additional prep work, then probably some dimpling.


 
Jun 19, 2023     Starting on the rudder - (1.5 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
This was a brief session to start the work on the rudder. A lot of the time was spent just looking through my shelves to find all of the parts needed for the rudder and setting them aside.

After that, I started by using the bandsaw to cut apart a few of the pieces that were delivered as combined parts. The freshly cut edges needed to be deburred and the new parts re-labelled with sharpie. One of the bracket pieces required using my Dremel tool to cut off the excess triangular corners since the bandsaw couldn't reach one side at a time.

What's next? There's still some more prep work to do to the rest of these parts before I can start seeing how they all fit together.


 
Jun 18, 2023     Skinning the vertical stablizer - (3.5 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
I started this session by clecoing on the vertical stablizer's skin, but I started to realize that it would be impossible to access all of the interior rivets with the rear spar already attached. That's when I figured out that I shouldn't have riveted the rear spar on yet, so I drilled out the 5 rivets holding it on and started the skin assembly as intended.

I found it easiest to re-use the wooden wing cradles to support the vertical stabilizer upright, even though they were intended for much a wider part. Then I could stand on a step stool to reach down inside of the vertical stabilizer as I bucked each of the interior flush rivets. I was able to use my hand squeezer for the flush rivets along the exterior seams, though it helped to have a narrow-nose squeezer yoke in some places.

Once the skin was fully riveted to the ribs, I could then cleco on the rear spar and rivet that in place too. This was just a matter of reinstalling the 5 rivets that I previously removed (3 of which were blind rivets), and then installing the two rows of flush rivets along the rear spar flange. I was able to install almost all of the flush rivets on those flanges with the hand squeezer, however the few that were very close to the white brackets had reduced clearance around them so I had to buck them with the air rivet gun. These bucked rivets came out less than perfect due to the narrow space available, even when using the angled foot bucketing bar, but I didn't feel that I could improve them further after making a few attempts.

What's next? Time to start on the rudder.


 
Jun 16, 2023     Riveting together VS spars and ribs - (2.0 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
In this session I started riveting together the components of the vertical stabilizer rear spar. The rear spar has 3 pairs of brackets, plus a fork-shaped doubler, which must all be riveted together with -4 solid rivets that I used my hand squeezer on.

Then I started assembling the ribs with the front and rear spars with the called out solid rivets. I didn't know it at the time, but I didn't read the instructions carefully enough as I wasn't supposed to rivet the rear spar onto the ribs quite yet.

What's next? Start riveting on the skin of the vertical stabilizer.


 
Jun 14, 2023     Vertical stab scuffing and priming - (2.5 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
I started the session by doing some final dimpling and machine countersinking of the spar doublers of the vertical stabilizer. This required some careful reading and research since I wanted to be sure that I was doing these operations on the correct side. The VS skin and the flanges of the ribs also required dimpling of its surface for flush rivets, which I used either the hand squeezer, the DRDT2 table dimpler, or the close-quarters pop rivet dimpler as appropriate.

Next was to finish scuffing all of the surfaces with Scotch-Brite pads, wipe down the parts with acetone, and then spray a coat of self-etching primer on them.

What's next? Cleco all of these parts back together and start riveting them.


 
Jun 13, 2023     Vertical stab match drilling, deburring, and scuffing - (2.0 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
This session involved clecoing together all of the parts of the vertical stablizer to make sure they are all fitting properly. Once together, I could use my reamer to final drill all of the holes to their final matched dimensions. Once all final drilled, I disassembled the parts again and started deburring all of the holes and edges. The heavy doubler fork I took to the benchtop grinder to smooth the edges on the Scotch-Brite wheel, though the interior edges I had to use a hand-file and sandpaper to access. Then I started scuffing a few of the parts with Scotch-Brite pads.

What's next? Finish scuffing all parts, then dimple and countersink, and prime the parts.


 
Jun 12, 2023     Starting work on vertical stabilizer - (2.0 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers
I decided it was time to focus on the empennage kit so that I could keep the progress happening since I want to move the wings before doing anything else with them. The first new section was to work on the vertical stabilizer, and the first step was to identify all of the pieces, remove the blue vinyl plastic, and label the parts with a marker.

I had to cleco a doubler onto the front spar, then match-drill the remaining holes, and then trim off the bottom couple inches from this front spar. Then the temporary locating-portion of the doubler could also be cut off and discarded.

The next few power-coated pieces needed to be final-drilled and match-drilled while being clecoed against another fork-shaped doubler and another piece of the rear spar. I also retrieved the vertical stab skin out of the garage and stripped its protective vinyl coating.

What's next? Dimpling and maybe priming these parts before starting to rivet them together.


 
Jun 09, 2023     Prime and wrap up pushrods - (3.0 hours)       Category: Controls
Representing a little bit of time over multiple days, I have wrapped up the aileron pushrods and bellcranks for both wings. I had to prime the insides and outs of the tubes that weren't power-coated from the factory. I also had to drill the last set of holes in the torque-tubes that required a specific angle between the two arms by using a carefully measured spacer block.

The aileron bellcrank pushrods required very long rivets to be squeezed to secure the threaded rod ends. These rivets are described in the instructions as being difficult to squeeze straight, and that was indeed the case. I didn't get them squeezed with a normal looking shophead and I ended up needing to form two facets on each, but I feel they are all performing their intended purpose of securely holding in the rod ends. I may choose to redo these later if they annoy me enough.

Once all of the holes were drilled and deburred, I installed as much of the final bolts, washers, and spacers that were specified, though I didn't install any of the rods into the wings. I'll leave them out for now, since I intend to transport the wings to the hangar and do final wing assembly there.

What's next? I think I'm done with tasks that I can do on the wings for now, so I'll switch to the empennage next.


 
May 30, 2023     Drilling pushrods and torque tubes - (3.0 hours)       Category: Controls
Tonight's task was to drill the holes in more of the bellcrank pushrods and the torque tubes. This was mostly straight forward, with measuring and marking approximate hole locations using a ruler. That was followed by drilling using a V-block that I had 3d-printed from a design downloaded from Thingiverse.

What's next? The insides of these 4 tubes need to be painted with primer.


 
May 25, 2023     More pushrod and torque tube cutting - (2.0 hours)       Category: Controls
Based on the feedback from Vans, I took the brass bearings from the bellcrank brackets and carefully shortened their length on the bench grinder so that they were narrow enough to fit between the wing brackets and have their prescribed freeplay, and then further shortened the tube on the bellcrank bracket so that they were also shorter than the brass bearings by the amount in the instructions. Both the left and right bellcrank now fit nicely into the wing brackets.

I also spent a couple minutes to feed another piece of fishing line through the right wing, for future wire-pulling ease, and then taped the ends down against ribs. The rod-end bearings and jam nuts were also threaded into the ends of the two pushrod tubes that I had primed last night, and then stacked these tubes in the corner of the workshop for later use.

Then I started cutting the two smaller diameter bellcrank pushrods to the lengths in the instructions with the hacksaw. Attempting to insert the rod ends into this tubing was difficult, but I had expected that based on the experience of other people in the Slack channel. I used some rolled sandpaper to remove the excess powdercoating paint that might have accumulated inside of the tubes by chucking the pushrod itself into my power drill. I then also used my powerdrill to chuck the rod ends and spun them against the benchtop sander to remove some of the outer diameter so that these 4 rod ends could actually fit inside the pushrod tubes.

Since I was in a tube-cutting groove, I pulled out the black steel tubing for the torque tube and also cut two pieces to the lengths required in the instructions. A little deburring and cleanup of the ends and I could check their fit into the corresponding brackets.

What's next? I need to use a drilling jig to drill the holes in these new tubes, then prime and rivet/bolt these parts too.


 
May 24, 2023     Riveting and priming aileron pushrods - (2.0 hours)       Category: Controls
Continuing from last time, I started by trying to rivet in the endcaps for the aileron pushrods. However, I quickly realized that I had not final drilled the holes to the correct size so I first upsized them to the correct size and did another quick debur of the holes. The manual hand riveter was painless and sufficient for these blind rivets.

Then a quick scuffing of the exterior of these two assembled pushrods, a cleaning with acetone, and then a quick spray with self-etching primer.

Van's support replied to my question about the tightness of the bellcrank brackets and the answer was actually not to attempt to bend the support brackets but to sand down the brass bearing (and the bellcrank brackets, if necessary) to achieve the necessary clearance. So I started by using a punch to knock the bearings out of the bellcrank brackets so that I could work further on them. This would also give me a chance to slightly reduce their outer diameter so that they don't fit so tightly in the brackets, which I had not sufficiently done the first time. Inserting the bushing into the chuck of an electric drill and letting it spin inside some sandpaper for a few seconds was enough to make the fit better.

I also ran some fishing line through the empty wiring grommets (plastic snap bushings) of the left wing, to make it easier if I ever needed to pull new wiring through those holes after the wings are closed up.

What's next? I need to finish refining the length of the brass bearings, run fishing wire through the right wing, and then work on the next set of pushrods.


 
May 23, 2023     Cutting and drilling pushrods for end caps - (1.5 hours)       Category: Controls
Tonight's session was starting to prepare the two pushrods that will actuate the ailerons. The two rods had to be measured and cut from longer aluminum tubes using a hacksaw. I then deburred and sanded the cut tube. A paper template from the instructions was then cut out and taped to the ends of the tubes to allow the holes to be punched and drilled. Then the endcaps could be inserted, match-drilled, and deburred.

Then I took the tubes and endcaps outside for their first pass at priming. I sprayed nearly a full can of self-etching primer down the middle of the two tubes, rotating during the process to ensure full coverage.

What's next? I need to finish priming the outside of these tubes and then move onto installing the rivets that hold the endcaps in.


 
May 21, 2023     Assembling pushrod bellcrank brackets - (2.0 hours)       Category: Controls
I decided to start working on a new section and begin working on the pushrods that control the aileron actuation. I started by measuring, final-drilling, and deburring. The right aileron bracket needed a nutplate to be riveted on with the squeezer, which will be used for the autopilot servo. Both brackets needed to have brass bearings installed into them for their pivot points. I probably should have made a greater effort to sand down the outer diameter of these bushings a little more than I did, since they were still quite difficult to push into the brackets and probably will be challenging to ever replace.

Unfortunately, it looks like one of the AN4-32A bolts that Vans shipped for the pivot points of these brackets has a bend in it. The bend was enough to make it impossible to easily insert into the bushing, so I'll have to order a replacement for one.

I'll also need to research why the mounting brackets already attached to the wing spar might be bent too close to allow this aileron bracket to easily pivot. I suspect I just need to slightly bend the angles apart slightly, but I want to verify.

The next 4 brackets needed to have pushrod-end caps inserted and then match-drilled using existing holes in the brackets. After a little more deburring, I pulled some blind-rivets to hold the ends in place.


 
May 18, 2023     Prepping and priming right wing lower skins - (2.0 hours)       Category: Wings
With the lower skins for the left wing completed, it was now time to do the same for the right wing. I started by scuffing the contact areas on the inside of the skins. Then I used the circular sanding disk portion of my bench grinder to thin the material on the overlapping leading-edge corner of the two skins. I also used the edge rolling tool to put a slight bend in the leading edges of both skins. The DRDT2 dimpler was then used to dimple all of the flush rivet holes in both parts, A quick cleaning with acetone and I then some self-etching primer was applied to the skins.

I had a little more time while the primer was drying, so I used the countersinking tool to recess the skin-facing holes in the pitot tube mount. The three holes that mount the pitot tube to the spar flange don't need to be recessed because they match against the flat portion of the spar.


 
May 16, 2023     Dimpling and priming left lower skins - (3.0 hours)       Category: Wings
This session started by scuffing the contact areas of the left wing's lower skins with a scotch-brite wheel in my powerdrill. Then I used my bench grinder to thin out the material in the overlapping corner where the two skins meet, and rolled the leading edges with the edge-rolling tool. After that, I took the skins over to the DRDT2 table to dimple all of the rivet holes. A quick wipe-down with acetone and was then followed by a quick spray of self-etching primer.


 
May 15, 2023     Cutting wing skin for pitot tube - (1.5 hours)       Category: Wings
Since I had decided to substitute the Dynon pitot tube in the same general area as where Vans recommends for their pitot tube, I went ahead with cutting of the hole in the skin for it. Using the paper template, I punched the centers of the holes and then used a step drill to enlarge the larger radius of the main oval hole. Then I drilled a number of smaller holes along the inside lines of the main oval hole, then used a wire snip to break out the middle, and a rounded file to refine the shape to my traced line. After a few more refinements with the file, I got the opening just large enough to allow the pitot tube to fit in.

I used cleco clamps to hold the pitot tube together with the skin and started match drilling the three pre-existing holes in the skin. Then I used my center-punched markers to drill all of new holes that surround the pitot tube. A test fitting of the skin and pitot tube on the wing confirmed that it fit perfectly.

What's next? Time to scuff, dimple, and prime these bottom wing skins.


 
May 14, 2023     Assembling the ADAHRS mounting tray - (2.0 hours)       Category: Wings
Tonight's project was to assemble the mounting tray that will go inside the left wing for the ADAHRS sensor. This tray is made of several smaller pieces that must be match drilled, deburred, and riveted together. A few of the parts came joined together and also had to be cut apart on the band saw and edges sanded smooth. Some of the attachment holes needed to be match drilled through the J-channel stiffener for that wing also. I opted not to prime this part at all since it wasn't a significant structural component.

I also spent a little time continuing to plan where I would be mounting the pitot tube. I think I've decided to just keep it in the same general location that Vans originally suggests, since there have been a few other online builders that seem to have put theirs in the same location without problems.


 
May 10, 2023     Right aileron gap seal installed, wiring fixed - (2.5 hours)       Category: Wings
I finished the last of the gap seals on both wings tonight by installing the aileron gap seal on the right wing. This also went without any unexpected hitches using the hand squeezer, though I did have to make a couple of slits on the gap seal to accommodate the thickness from the extra doubler that I had added on the right rear spar.

The single rivet role on each of the left+right wing aileron gap seals closest to the inboard aileron hinge bracket was filled with a blind rivet on the advice of an old VAF message thread.

I also spent some time fixing the two wires that had pulled out of their connections. One of the wires was for the left fuel tank sender and had pulled out of its Molex pin, but I was able to remove the pin, widen the crimp, reinsert the wire, re-crimp, and add a dab of solder for good measure. The other disconnected wire was the shielding ground leading to a solder sleeve on one of the autopilot servo connections. I cut off the old solder sleeve, manually resoldered the wire onto the shielding and slipped some new heat shrink over it. All of the wire bundles were then zip-tied together in the midspan of each rib-bay to keep them from moving around as much.

What's next? I need to continue researching which brackets and wiring harnesses I'll need for the autopilot servo. I probably can also start working on the ADHRS bracket and pitot tube mount.


 
May 08, 2023     Right flap gap seal installed - (2.0 hours)       Category: Wings
In this session, I installed the right wing's flap gap seal using my hand squeezer. Nothing unusual this time, since it was pretty much a repeat of the left side.

What's next? Aileron gap seal for the right wing.


 
May 06, 2023     Building another worktable - (4.0 hours)       Category: Workshop
I convinced Yang, one of my non-aviation friends, that he needed a bench for his garage and that we should build a pair of EAA Standard Worktables together so that he could have one and I could take the other to my hangar. So we spent Saturday assembling two from the plans, one for him and the other for me. After finishing mine, we moved it to my hangar so I'll have space to work when I eventually move my build there.


 
May 05, 2023     Attaching gap seals on left wing - (2.5 hours)       Category: Wings
In this session, I made progress by attaching the aileron and flap gap seals onto the left wing. Almost all of the rivets (except for one) could be installed by using the squeezer. The one rivet closest to the SB aileron hinge bracket didn't have clearance to use the squeezer, so I tried using a blind rivet. Unfortunately that ended up not setting properly, so I think I will need to drill that one out later and try that one rivet again.


 
May 03, 2023     Priming gap seals - (1.0 hour)       Category: Wings
This was just a quick session to clean and then spray some primer on the aileron and flap gap seals, and the J-channel stiffeners for one of the wings.


 
May 01, 2023     Attach left OBLE and fuel tank. Wiring. Gap seals. - (4.5 hours)       Category: Wings
My friend Chuck came over this morning to help me finish riveting the last row of flush rivets that attach the Outboard Leading Edge to the left wing spar. We used the same techniques as before, with the root-half of the wing clamped and cantilevered on one worktable, with the OBLE hanging down off the unsupported side while we riveted.

After those were riveted, we rolled the wing on its side and now supported it by two worktables while we screwed on the fuel tank. With that done, we carried the left wing over to the wing cart for storage. With both sides of the wing cart now occupied, this unfortunately means my cats won't be able to sleep in the empty side anymore.

I also spent a little more than an hour installing the wiring harnesses for the wing tip lighting, landing lights, ADHRS, and autopilot servo. Unfortunately I discovered that one of the wires pulled out of its solder sleeve, and another pulled out of the crimped pin, so I'll have to look into fixing those wires later after I order the necessary parts (new pins and maybe a new solder sleeve).

Then I spent another couple of hours scuffing, deburring, and dimpling the aileron and flap gap seals, and the J-channel stiffener for one of the wings. The flap gap seals have an extra angle stiffener that had to also be cut, deburred, and dimpled. I had to look up some other online builder photos to confirm which direction those stiffeners had to oriented and dimpled since the pictures in the instructions were not entirely clear to me, but I think I have that figured out.

What's next: Clean and prime these gap seals, and then rivet them onto both wings.


 
Apr 28, 2023     Engine and prop ordered - (1.0 hour) Category: Engine
After spending enough time considering my options, I decided to go ahead and place my order for the engine and prop today before the April (Sun n Fun) sale from Vans expired. I'll be getting the non-certified Lycoming YIO-390-EXP119 with Dual Pmags, and Hartzell G2YR/N7605W-2X composite 2-bladed propeller with spinner.

I decided to get the regular non-certified and not get the Thunderbolt edition of the engine and save the extra $5k. Additionally, I didn't really want the ported exhausts because removing metal reduces wall thickness, probably reducing longevity, and makes eventual cylinder replacement more difficult to match later. I also don't care for custom paint colors nor chromed parts. Furthermore, I don't really feel that full assembly by a single person is a actually better thing than the assembly-line shift of workers doing single tasks.

As a side effect, the engine delivery timeframe will be much shorter (supposedly 6 months vs 18 months), though I'm not actually in any hurry to get the engine at this point. I'll have two years of warranty from when it's delivered or first runup in the plane anyways.
 
Apr 27, 2023     Attaching left OBLE - (2.5 hours)       Category: Wings
Tonight I started the steps to attach the left Outboard Leading Edge to the left wing. The first step was to cleco it into place and verify it was fitting properly, and like the right side I found that the 2nd rib needed its notches to be trimmed a little more to fit around the steps of the main spar better. So I used a Dremel cutoff wheel and some needle files to widen the notch. The instructions provided by Vans for this trimming dimension might possibly need to be increased--or perhaps I was just too conservative in how much I was removing during that step.

After verifying everything was fitting together correctly, I installed the blind rivets that hold the OBLE ribs to the spar web, and then squeezed the flush rivets that hold the OBLE skin to the spar flanges. Then I pulled out the pneumatic rivet gun and installed the handful of solid rivets that hold the innermost OBLE rib flange to the spar web--a couple of these rivets challenged me and required more than one attempt to set properly, but I prevailed here.

The only rivets remaining for the OBLE are the ones on the top-side skin, which will again require another person to help me set. So I started test fitting the Dynon pitot tube to try to decide where I wanted to install it. The rib bay closest to where Vans recommends their pitot tube be installed looks like it would work, though a few other Vans builders seem to also like putting in further outboard, to avoid putting too much in the same rib bay where the aileron pushrod brackets go. More investigation will be required before I commit to a location, it seems.

What's next? I think I'll definitely be ordering the engine and prop next. I also need to get a riveting buddy to help me finish this OBLE.


 
Apr 26, 2023     Right OBLE and fuel tank assembled - (2.0 hours)       Category: Wings
My friend Chuck came over to help me finish riveting the row of flush rivets on the Right Outboard Leading Edge that I couldn't reach by myself. That went quite smoothly, despite it being his first time riveting. Then he helped me attach the fuel tank with screws and move the assembled wing onto my storage cart.

He then helped me move the partially completed left wing off the wing cart and onto my worktables so that I could begin assembling the left OBLE onto the spar as well.

What's next? I'll need to pull all of the bind rivets that hold on the left OBLE, hand squeeze the flush rivets on the lower side, and then as many on the top side that I can reach before calling Chuck back to help me finish up this wing.

I think I may also be placing my order for the engine and prop tomorrow, since the April sale at Vans is close to expiring.


 
Apr 10, 2023     Joining OBLE to right wing - (2.0 hours)       Category: Wings
With some time to get back to building, I decided to finally start attaching the Outboard Leading Edge section to the right wing. I had been delaying this step as long as possible because the wing becomes much more difficult to move and store once it can no longer rest on its spar.

After trial fitting the OBLE a couple of times onto the wing and trying to cleco through the spar and into the OBLE ribs, I realized that I needed to enlarge the notches of the 2nd-most inboard rib a little more to fit around the steps in the spar. The instructions advised you long ago to remove a certain amount from this rib prior to assembly, but I apparently didn't remove enough so I got out the dremel and files and removed another couple of millimeters from those ribs.

With that done, I could cleco the OBLE back onto the wing and then begin installing all of the blind rivets that go through the spar webbing and into the OBLE ribs. This went pretty smoothly, though I did have to use a piece of trailing-edge wedge to set a couple of the blind rivets that were too close to the edge to fit my rivet puller straight on.

Then I squeezed all of the flush rivets that hold the underside of the OBLE skin to the wing spar flange, since these were easy to do with my hand squeezer.

What's next? I'll need to get out the air rivet gun and buck the rivets for the innermost rib, and then see if I can do any of the flush rivets on the other side of the skin (I suspect I may need assistance from another person to help rivet).


 
Apr 07, 2023     Finished fuselage inventory - (1.5 hours) Category: Fuselage
I finished inventory of the hardware box that came with the fuselage kit, ensuring that all of the bags indicated on the manifest sheet were actually included. I didn't actually open all of the bags and count all of the parts that were in most of them, though I did check a few of them. I did open and redistribute the contents of bags that contained rivets or nutplates that I already had jars/drawers for.

The shipping crate for the fuselage kit disappeared quickly after I listed it as scrap wood in the Craiglist free section.

I also joined in on the Vans Slack video conference on Zoom and enjoyed some discussions with other builders.
 
Apr 04, 2023     Fuselage kit delivered and inventory started - (4.0 hours)       Category: Fuselage
Last week I accepted delivery of the Fuselage kit, though I didn't't had time to unpack or inventory this new kit until now. It is now fully unpacked and everything put onto my crowded shelving units in the garage. I also managed to get all of the packing paper into the recycling bin before garbage day, though I still have to get rid of the empty wooden crate. So far I've still only been working on the Wing kit and still haven't started work on the Empennage kit yet.


 
Mar 22, 2023     Final bracket and holes in right wing - (1.5 hours)       Category: Wings
After yesterday's successful riveting session on the top wing skins, i now had to finish out the last few steps in this section. The first thing that I needed to do was rivet on the outboard aileron hinge bracket to the outer-most rib. After clecoing the bracket in place, I had to match-drill 3 more holes and then disassemble and debur. Riveting the bracket in place was doable entirely with a long-reach yoke on my hand squeezer, though I had to do some slight modifications to my yoke.

The long-reach yoke I used came with my Numatix squeezer, but the hole for the squeezing piston was just barely too small for my Main Squeeze hand squeezer. The hole was supposedly 3/8" but perhaps just slightly under. I ended up using the 3/8" ream (that I use for the main spar holes) to slightly enlarge the hole in the yoke a little more and that worked to allow the yoke to fit.

Next, I had to countersink the holes on the inner-most rib to allow flush #8 screws to be eventually be installed there. These holes were relatively deep, but used the same test jig that I had used for the fuel tank screwholes so this wasn't too difficult.

What's next? I think I need to get back to testing the fuel tanks for leaks, since I'll need to soon start joining the fuel tanks and leading edges to the wings.


 
Mar 21, 2023     Rivet party to finish right top-skin - (4.0 hours)       Category: Wings
I invited three of my friends over for some pizza party, and to learn about riveting by helping me finish the top skins of the right wing. Ivo quickly mastered the technique of driving rivets with the rivet gun and I held the bucking bar. We got a rhythm going and were able to fully set all of the rivets, including the J-channel stiffeners, in one session.

What's next? Just a little more work to attach the outboard aileron hinge bracket and


 
Mar 20, 2023     Starting to rivet right wingwalk - (3.0 hours)       Category: Wings
I started flush riveting the wingwalk area of the right wing tonight. The wing spar was clamped down to my worktables and I stood on top of a stepstool, reaching down over the aft of the wing to buck with one hand and holding the rivet gun in the other. For the wingwalk areas closest to the inboard edge of the wing, I could stand on the floor and reach around from the side. There was one rivet in the wingwalk that refused to go in straight, even after upsizing to an oops rivet, so I ended up just installing a flush CS4-4 blind rivet there. Most of the others in the wingwalk went in without too many problems.

However, there are limits to how far this position can work due to arm length, and so I was left the rivets that are closest to the spar mostly unriveted for now. Although I was able to rivet the left wing by myself a few months ago by rotating the wing on its side and reaching around the spar, that was some challenging work, so I will be inviting some friends over tomorrow to introduce them to team riveting.


 
Mar 19, 2023     Cutting the wingtip lens covers with heat - (0.2 hour)       Category: Lighting
Harbor Freight had a sale over the weekend so I picked up their hot knife cutting tool for $20 to see how well it performs on cutting the plastic of the wingtip lens covers. The idea is that using a hot knife would not have the risk of cracking as a saw might.

I only attempted to cut the plastic lens in half and didn't try to refine it further to the final dimensions. I'm not sure that this method is necessarily the best option, since it leaves a large plastic ridge at the edge, though I suspect that this should be easily removable with a file or sandpaper. I may need to do some more tests on other sacrificial pieces of plexiglass to see how that goes.


 
Mar 18, 2023     Priming, reassembling, riveting - (2.5 hours)       Category: Wings
I had some time to finally get around to cleaning and priming these right wing skin parts, then move them back inside and reassemble them with clecos.

Since the inboard edge was so easy to access with a squeezer I spent a few minutes to quickly install those rivets and nutplates too.


 
Mar 16, 2023     Dimpling and scuffing - (2.0 hours)       Category: Wings
A little more prep work of the right wing skin and J-channel stiffeners by dimpling and scuffing them.


 
Mar 10, 2023     Dimpling the wing skins - (1.5 hours)       Category: Wings
A little more time spent on using the DRDT2 to dimple the large pieces of wing skin, as well as the two wing walk reinforcement plates. Also peeling off the blue protective film that shipped on these large wing skins.


 
Mar 09, 2023     Match drilling top wing skin - (2.0 hours)       Category: Wings
After getting the top skins and wingwalk doublers for the right wing clecoed in place, I started the process of match-drilling and final-drilling all of the rivet holes. A few of the holes on the inboard edge needed to be larger to accommodate the screws that would later go through them. Then they were all un-clecoed and the freshly drilled holes were deburred.

The one leading-edge corner of the inboard skin needed to be thinned out so that when the outboard top skin overlaps it, there won't be as much protrusion. I attempted to use my air-powered angle grinder but I guess I didn't have the right sanding disks to really make a difference. So I used my bench grinder to lightly remove some of that material to get down to the thinner thickness.

Next, I used the edge-roller tool to gently add a bend on the leading edge of the inboard top skin, so there will be less air disturbance near that transition on the wing.

What's next? I have to clear some room around my DRDT2 dimpler so that I can start dimpling these skins and then start on that process.


 
Mar 07, 2023     Riveting the right rear spar - (3.0 hours)       Category: Wings
I started out tonight's session by moving the right wing's rear spar to my drill press and doing a final size ream of the bolt hole in the attach bracket, with some Boe Lube for lubrication. A little deburring around the hole surface on both sides, and then I was ready to cleco it back onto the wing assembly and start riveting.

All of the remaining rear spar rivets that I needed to set were all doable with just my hand squeezer and the longeron yoke. Since there were several different length rivets that needed to be installed, I did have to readjust the squeezer depth multiple times.

After the squeezing was done, I pulled out the top skins and the wing walk skins and clecoed them in place to prepare for the next day's work.

What's next? There's some match drilling required of this top skin and wing walk area, and then probably a lot of dimpling.


 
Mar 05, 2023     Assembling the right rear spar - (3.0 hours)       Category: Wings
I started riveting together the various parts onto the right rear spar tonight. The tricky part that the instructions tells you is to skip the rivets where the spars will later attach, as well as the row across the entire spar where the gap seals will later go.

Almost all of the rivets could be installed with the hand squeezer, however some of the long rivets through the aileron hinge bracket needed to be driven with the rivet gun. Unfortunately, those rivets were still very hard to set because of the close proximity to the hinge bracket, which made me try to use the double-offset rivet set but that just ended up in frustration and many drilled out rivets. I ended up just installing those troublesome rivets with the factory head on the other side of the rear spar, with the shop head on the exposed side. This is just a cosmetic difference and not a functional one, and actually it's preferable to have the factory head on the thinner material (which is the rear spar)

What's next? Time to ream the rear spar attachment bolt hole, and then begin riveting the rear spar assembly to the rest of the wing.


 
Mar 03, 2023     Priming rear spar and parts - (2.0 hours)       Category: Wings
Tonight's session started with some final deburring and scuffing of the right wing's rear spar with a Scotch-Brite pad to roughen up the surfaces for priming. Then after a quick wipedown with acetone, I started spraying the self-etching primer. In all, the parts I primed were the rear spar, the spar attach double, spar attach fork, and the three doublers for the aileron and flap hinge brackets.

What's next? Time to start riveting the rear spar to these pieces.


 
Mar 01, 2023     Countersinking and dimpling rear spar - (1.5 hours)       Category: Wings
The rear spar of the right wing needed all of the holes in both its upper and lower flanges countersunk or dimpled, depending on whether they were next to the flange of a doubler plate. I also had to ream to final size all of the rivet holes that match up with the attachment fork, and match-drill 6 holes that fork that didn't go through pre-existing rib holes. Finally, two rows of rivets on the attach bracket needed to also be countersunk.

What's next? Some final deburring and scuffing needs to be done on these rear spar parts, then I can prime them.


 
Feb 27, 2023     Rear spar doublers - (3.0 hours)       Category: Wings
I started out the session by using my torque wrench to set the final tightness of the bolts and nuts that hold the inboard-most ribs to the right main spar. I applied orange torque seal to these nuts after they were torqued as well.

Then I applied final torque to the bols holding the two pushrod brackets in the middle of the spar, and added some safety wire for extra security. The instructions don't say to use safety wire here, but I thought it was a prudent thing to do here so I had ordered my own pre-drilled bolts so that I could.

Next, I used cleco clamps to hold the three doubler blanks to the appropriate places on the rear spar and started match drilling them, inserting more clecos as I went along. The middle doubler also needs a large oval hole to be cut out of it to later allow pushrods to go through it. The hole is already made in the rear spar, so it's just necessary to match the same shape onto the doubler by making smaller holes and enlarging it with metal files. With those holes all made, I unclecoed them, deburred the holes and scuffed them for eventual priming.


 
Feb 24, 2023     Riveting the ribs to the main spar - (3.5 hours)       Category: Wings
This time I worked on driving all of the rivets that hold the ribs to the main spar. I initially tried using the same technique as I used for the left wing, which was to rest the main spar flat with the ribs pointing up, and also using a double-offset rivet set. This again ended up being quite challenging to reliably drive good rivets, so I tried setting the spar on its edge and also just using a straight rivet set while bending the ribs slightly to allow the rivet gun straight access. This method ended up being quite successful.

I did have to de-rivet the torque tube assembly from the inner-most rib since it was in the way for my rivet gun to reach. I remember that I had this problem with the left wing too, but forgot to delay attaching it until after the rib was riveted to the spar, which is something the instructions should really be updated to change the sequence of. In any case, after the inner-most rib was riveted to the spar, I then squeezed most of the rivets of the torque tube assembly back on, and used the rivet gun for a couple that I couldn't easily reach with the squeezer.

With that big task done, I pulled out the rear spar from storage and clecoed it in place just to stabilize the ribs

What's next? I still need to do a final torque of the nuts, and safety wire the pushrod bracket. Then I'll start working on the rear spar preperation.


 
Feb 23, 2023     Assembling inboard aileon bracket - (1.0 hour)       Category: Wings
Since I still needed to finish the inboard aileron bracket using the service bulletin design, I got to work by deburring its holes, smoothing the edges, and scuffing all of the surfaces. Then I wiped down the parts with some alcohol and sprayed them with some primer. After the primer had dried long enough, I used the hand squeezer to rivet the bracket together.

Next, I pulled out all of the appropriate length bolts and inserted them into the holes in the ribs that also go through the main spar. Each of these holes have a different length bolt depending on the thickness of the spar in the location. None of these nuts were tightened to final torque spec since I knew I would need to temporarily loosen some of them for the riveting process.

What's next? Time to rivet the ribs to the spar.


 
Feb 21, 2023     Assembling rib brackets - (2.0 hours)       Category: Wings
I got out the hand squeezer and set the rivets for a few of the brackets for the right wing tonight. I started with the two ribs that have flap hinge brackets attached to them using 16 rivets each through the web. These were all easily reachable with the "longeron yoke".

Next, I assembled the pieces for the torque tube assembly, which included riveting a bearing that is sandwhiched between other pieces of the assembly. Once the assembly was together, I could rivet it to the rib itself using my hand squeezer. I seem to remember this part being difficult before, but that may have been because I didn't own this longeron yoke yet.

Since I was on a roll with these brackets and already had the primed parts ready, I skipped ahead to the next section and started assembling the outboard aileron hinge bracket. I just had to countersink a few rivet holes to accommodate flush rivets, touch up the primer on the exposed countersinks, and then
pressing a bearing into place with my vice and two wrench sockets as cups. Hand squeezing a few more rivets around the perimeter of this stack of bracket pieces.

Next, I started looking at the parts for the inboard aileron hinge bracket (the one affected by the service bulletin). I started by deburring the edges of these bracket parts on the Scotch-brite wheel, and using the bandsaw to trim one corner of the angle aluminum to match the bracket edge.

What's next? I need to finish a little more prep on the inboard aileron hinge bracket, like countersinking, scuffing, priming, and then riveting. I'll also probably start riveting these ribs to the spar soon.


 
Feb 20, 2023     Installing snap bushings on the ribs - (1.0 hour)       Category: Wings
Tonight's work session was a short one to just get the plastic snap bushings installed in the right wing ribs. These bushings will later protect the electrical wiring harnesses that power the wing tip lights and landing lights. All of the holes for these snap bushings had to be enlarged with a step drill bit, and in some cases a new hole had to be made as well. (It would be so much nicer if Van's could just pre-punch a small hole in all the wing ribs, and then people can just ignore them or use them, as appropriate.)

A couple of the ribs needed a little touch-up of primer because they got smeared while the primer was still wet. I clecoed all of these ribs back into their correct places, and clecoed the ribs that had extras (flap hinge brackets or the torque tube assembly).

What's next? Time to start riveting these things all together, starting with hand-squeezing the hinge brackets and torque tube assembly onto their respective ribs.


 
Feb 18, 2023     Priming the right wing ribs - (1.5 hours)       Category: Wings
This was a busy session of spraying self-etching primer onto both sides of the right wing ribs, plus a few of the brackets that get attached to them. Hunching over to spray so many parts on the floor for so long gets a little painful, so maybe I'll consider setting up a folding picnic table next time.

What's next? I need to use the step drill to make some holes for bushings (which I probably could have done before priming), and then start riveting these ribs into place.


 
Feb 17, 2023     Prepping wing ribs for priming - (1.5 hours)       Category: Wings
This session's goal was to prepare all of the ribs for the right wing to be painted with primer. I had to scuff all of the surfaces with a Scotch-Brite pad so that the paint would adhere to them. Then I mock assembled all of the ribs in their appropriate places on the main right spar with clecos, so that I could be sure the correct parts were all here since the multiple shapes of ribs can be easily mixed up. Then I numbered them to be sure their locations would now be permanent.

Two of the ribs have flap hinges mounted to them, so those have some additional match-drilling done to allow those brackets to be riveted to them. Most of the ribs also have two bolt holes that go through the main spar, and those holes had to be match-drilled by using the main spar as a jig. Finally those newly drilled holes all had to be deburred.

What's next? Time to prime these ribs, plus a few other rib brackets.


 
Feb 15, 2023     Prepping parts for right spar - (1.5 hours)       Category: Wings
I started this session by final drilling, deburring, scuffing, and priming the pushrod brackets that get attached to the center of the spar. Technically one had already been done by me months ago, so I only had to do the lower bracket. After that I screwed the two brackets down onto the spar, but used the drilled-head screws that can accept safety wire--though I'll do the final torque and safety wire later.

Next I did some final drilling, deburring, dimpling and scuffing of some of the other brackets that are needed for the wing. I also checked over all of the wing ribs, since I had already done the straightening, fluting, final drilling, deburing, and dimpling processes back in December.

What's next? I need to scuff all of the ribs since I still intend to prime them. There are also more bracket parts from the aileron hinge bracket SB that I need to do a little more prep work on. Then there will probably be a big paint priming day this weekend.


 
Feb 12, 2023     Finish countersinking right spar holes - (2.0 hours)       Category: Wings
This session started by flipping over the right wing spar so that the top side was up, and then countersinking all of the holes. The fuel tank attach nutplates needed their screwholes countersunk deeply, like the bottom of the spar. Then the two rows of rivet holes along the entire length of the spar needed to also be countersunk for a dimpled skin. Then I treated all of the holes with more Alodine pen solution to prevent corrosion.


 
Feb 08, 2023     Nutplate riveting and countersinking - (2.5 hours)       Category: Wings
This session started by installing the rivets on all of the nutplates for the right wing spar using my hand squeezer. A few of the nutplates near the tip and root of the spar had to bucked using the air gun because they were too far from the edge to use the hand squeezer. Five more universal-head rivets also had to be installed near the root of the spar with the air gun.

Next, I set the spar on its edge and started countersinking the screw-holes of the nutplates so that the countersunk fuel tank skins could be screwed down into them. I re-used the sample piece of a dimpled #8 screw that I had previously made for the left wing spar to ensure that these holes were not countersunk more deeply than necessary. After that, the inspection cover nutplates also required their screwholes to be countersunk in a similar manner with a different sample skin for a dimpled #6 screw. Then, I countersunk all of the remaining skin and rib holes to also accept a dimpled skin for a -3 flush rivet. Once all of these holes on the bottom of the spar were countersunk, I treated them all with my Alodine pen to prevent future corrosion.

What's next? Flip the spar over and countersink all of the holes on the top side.


 
Feb 07, 2023     Nutplate prep for right spar - (2.0 hours)       Category: Wings
Tonight's session started with deburring all of the holes in the J-channel stiffeners that I had drilled last night. I also deburred a couple of the edges, and then labelled these parts and set them aside for now.

Next was to prepare to install all of the nutplates on the right wing spar. First all of the rivet holes for the nutplates had to be countersunk so that a flush rivet could later be installed. My countersinking drill stop cage made preparing all of those holes easy and consistent. I also treated all of the exposed surfaces from the countersinking with an Alodine pen to reduce future corrosion. Then I located the appropriate nutplates and temporarily cleco them in place, since there were several different part numbers needed for all of the spots.

What's next? Tomorrow will be time to start squeezing the rivets for all of these nutplates and countersinking their screwholes.


 
Feb 06, 2023     Cutting and drilling J-channel for right wing - (2.5 hours)       Category: Wings
I had to take a week break due to recent ice storms here that caused loss of power and a lot of tree damage. However, now it's time to resume work on preparing the right wing spar for assembly.

I started by measuring and cutting the sections of J-channel stiffeners that will later be used to add rigidity to the uppper and lower skins of the wing. These cut pieces were then clamped onto the flanges of the wing spar and match drilled. The bottom pieces were only partially drilled, avoiding the nutplate sections, and then flipped onto the top flange to finish match drilling all the way.

What's next? Debur these drilled holes, then on to the nutplates.


 
Jan 31, 2023     Adding mounts for landing lights - (2.5 hours)       Category: Lighting
After some research, I decided that my FlyLEDs landing/taxi lights don't need the angle-adjustment capability of the W-00016B bracket since my plane will be tricycle gear and not tailwheel. Therefore, I just needed to mount the FlyLED circuit boards directly to existing W-00017 mount bracket by adding two nutplates on each side of the hole.

So I started by de-riveting the existing W-00017 mount bracket to make access a little easier. This would also allow me to remove the now unnecessary nutplates on the sides that would have attached the W-00016B bracket. Then I drilled the centers for the screwholes and added the new nutplates on the bracket face, and then re-riveted the brackets into the outboard leading edge wing sections. I'll leave the circuit boards unconnected for now, just to prevent accidental physical damage.


 
Jan 27, 2023     Installing fittings on right tank - (0.5 hour)       Category: Fuel Tanks
This was just a quick session to install the fittings into the fuel tank. I used Permatex #3 on the NPT threaded fittings, and then after it had dried, applied some tank sealant around the exterior seams.


 
Jan 25, 2023     Finishing the right fuel tank - (1.0 hour)       Category: Fuel Tanks
Tonight I removed the remaining clecos from the holes in the skin that were holding the rear baffle in place while the tank sealant was setting. These remaining holes were the ones that the instructions said to leave without countersinking so that the clecos would have maximum holding strength. So these holes were countersunk to allow flush rivets, and those were then hand squeezed in.

What's next? Both fuel tanks just need their fuel senders to be installed permanently with tank sealant and screws.


 
Jan 24, 2023     Closing up the right fuel tank - (3.0 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
Tonight it was time to close up the right fuel tank too. Applied a bead of tank sealant around the edge and then squished down the rear baffle against it. Then lots of clecoing and riveting. The rear baffle brackets were also blind riveted on while I still had this mixed tube of tank sealant in a usable state.

It was getting late so I decided to end the work session there, with the clecos still holding the skin through the holes that had been intentionally left without countersinking... Those can be be finished tomorrow.


 
Jan 20, 2023     Countersinking the attach brackets - (0.5 hour)       Category: Fuel Tanks
This was just a quick session to countersink the 5 holes in the attach bracket of the left and right fuel tanks. These holes must be countersunk to accept a dimpled skin, so they end up being relatively deep. The holes were then touched up with an Alodine pen to prevent future corrosion.

I also spent some time applying Permatex #3 to the plugs and installing them of both fuel return lines in both tanks.


 
Jan 19, 2023     Closing up the left tank - (4.0 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
After putting this task off long enough, I decided to finally close up a fuel tank by installing its rear baffle. This has to be installed with tank sealant to ensure no leaks. Since this has to be done without access to the other side once complete, it must be done "in the blind" and without the ability to touch up any of the beads of sealant on the inside. Additionally, all of the rivets along the sealed areas need to ideally be driven while the sealant is still wet, so you're under a bit of a time pressure once you start.


 
Jan 17, 2023     Install vent line fittings - (0.5 hour)       Category: Fuel Tanks
Just a quick work session to install the bulkhead-style fittings through the inboard ribs of both fuel tanks that are used for the vent lines. These fittings must be installed with tank sealant, but I also applied some more sealant on top of the nut after it was torqued down.

I also took a Scotch-Brite pad to roughen up the mating surfaces where the bulkhead will be installed, since that will soon be important.

What's next? I think it's finally time to seal up the tanks with the final side.


 
Jan 16, 2023     Stall warning installation, tie down hook holes - (1.0 hour)       Category: Wings
Since I had previously identified that the initial opening in the leading edge of the wing wasn't large enough for the stall warning vane, I started by marking out the new dimensions with blue tape and marker. Then I used needle files to carefully enlarge the opening by hand until it reached my desired dimensions. Reinstalling the stall warning assembly with screws now produced the desired placement within the hole. I also visually checked the angle that the stall warning vane made with the nose of the wing and it seemed to correspond with what the instructions were recommending.

Then I use a step drill to enlarge the punched holes in the underside of both the left and right skins to 3/8" for the tiedown hooks. This was followed by a 3/8" reamer and a little bit of deburring around the hole opening on both sides.


 
Jan 14, 2023     FlyLEDs control board and cutting wingtips - (2.0 hours)       Category: Lighting
In this session, I finished the soldering and assembly of the FlyLEDs control board. The assembly instructions supplied with this kit was also pretty easy to follow with no major issues.

After I completed the control board assembly, I did a quick test of the 4 wingtip light boards and 2 landing light boards by supplying 12 VDC to the power connectors on each of those. Fortunately, all 6 of those boards passed with blindingly bright lights.

Next, I printed and cut out the wingtip cutout templates from their website, and traced the shapes out onto the fiberglass wingtips. An oscillating cuting tool made cutting out those wingtip areas quite easy, though I did need to refine the edges a little more with a hand file in order to get the wingtip light boards to actually fit.

What's next? Probably time to get back to the finishing the fuel tanks? I might also try 3d printing a case for the controller board using the STL files that are published on the FlyLEDs website.


 
Jan 12, 2023     Assembling FlyLEDs lighting - (3.0 hours)       Category: Lighting
I decided to take a closer look at the FlyLEDs lighting kit that I had ordered over the summer, just to verify how it would fit into the leading edge landing light bays. The FlyLEDs circuit board has two mounting holes that are 5" apart. It looks like I will need to either: (1) drill and mount my own nutplates onto the existing W-00017 mount bracket, or (2) order the W-00016B mount and add my own holes since it wasn't designed to fit the 5" spacing required by the FlyLEDs circuit board, or (3) make my own mounting bracket inspired by W-00016B. Using the W-00016B mount, or one like it, would provide some added benefit of being able to adjust the up/down tilt of the landing lights if I ever needed to.

With the FlyLEDs kit already out, I decided to spend a little time assembling and soldering the circuit boards together. The instructions that came with it were pretty nicely written and easy to follow. I also trimmed down the wing tip position+strobe light circuit boards to fit my actual wingtips by using the benchtop belt grinder. In the end, I now have the two combo landing+taxi light assemblies, and the two boards for each of the left+right position+strobe assemblies.

I will mention that even though FlyLEDs says to use the thermal paste very sparingly, I feel that they still ship way too little paste in their kits. Fortunately, I had some extra computer CPU thermal paste in a drawer that I was able to use when I ran out of the supplied stuff.

What's next? I should probably test these boards now that I have them assembled. I might also work on assembling their main controller board.


 
Jan 10, 2023     Fixing reversed OBLE rib - (3.5 hours)       Category: Wings
Tonight's session worked on fixing the discovery I made yesterday that I had installed the splice-strip ribs on the Outboard Leading Edge (OBLE) wing sections on the wrong side and flipped. This caused the rib webbing to be facing outwards rather than inwards, To fix this, I had to drill out the approximately 30 flush rivets in each of the two ribs, flip and swap the ribs, and then rivet them back in properly. In any case, I got a lot of flush rivet removal practice and didn't need to upsize any of the rivet holes. Installing the new rivets was pretty easy since the correct orientation allowed me to just use a hand-squeezer rather than the bucking bar with rivet gun.

After getting the two ribs fixed, I did a test fit of the stall warning switch and things are indeed much better, but I think I may need to refine the opening slit in the skin a little more. The vane that protrudes through the slit was a little close to one side of the slit, so I think I'll need to take some time later to make the slit a little longer.

What's next? I'll look into enlarging the slit, but perhaps I'll just set that aside for later... I do need to back to closing up the fuel tanks, so maybe that'll be the next project.


 
Jan 09, 2023     Assembling the stall warning switch - (1.0 hour)       Category: Wings
The stall warning switch assembly is made from a microswitch actuated by a stainless-steel lever, and supported by two brackets. I started by final drilling the holes in the brackets, and then countersinking 3 of the holes to accept flush-mounted screws. Next, I scuffed the brackets and primed them with paint. After drying, all of the screws, washers, and nuts were assembled according to the instructions.

Once I had the stall warning switch assembly together, I tried checking the fit in the left outboard leading edge wing section, but then I realized that something was not quite right. It looks like I've swapped just one of the left and right ribs for the two wing sections when building them, causing the rib webbing to be in the wrong place for the stall sensor to be mounted...

What's next? I think the best solution will be to just drill out these two ribs. swap them, and then rivet them back in the correct sides. That first means drilling out these 50 or so flush rivets perfectly without damaging anything.


 
Jan 08, 2023     Left OBLE fully riveted - (2.5 hours)       Category: Wings
One more work session was all I needed to finish riveting all of the left OBLE wing section. As before, the rivets near the very nose tended to be more challenging to get set properly, due to both the curvature in that area and the need to be working with full reach of both arms.

Unfortunately, one of the ribs had a rivet hole on its flange on the underside at the nose that didn't align with the skin, due to insufficient fluting on my part. Removing that rib to re-flute it would have required drilling out more rivets (including the entire J-channel) than I'm comfortable doing without causing unintentional damage, so I didn't see any other easy fixes besides drilling a new hole in that flange and set a rivet through it. The edge distance from the original hole was not ideal, but this rivet shouldn't have a lot of lateral forces on it.

What's next? It looks like the next task is assembling the stall switch and mounting it.


 
Jan 07, 2023     Starting to rivet the left OBLE - (2.0 hours)       Category: Wings
Good progress has been made on beginning to rivet the left OBLE nose ribs and the splice strip. I also riveted in the doubler for the removable inspection panel (which will allow eventual maintenance access to the stall sensor).


 
Jan 05, 2023     Priming the left OBLE parts - (1.0 hour)       Category: Wings
In this short session, I primed the nose ribs, J-channel stiffener, and contact areas of the Outboard Leading Edge (OBLE) wing skin. I also sprayed some gloss white paint on the parts that would make up the interior section of the landing light bay, and added another coat to the landing light cover brackets.

Once the paint had dried, I transferred the parts back into my dining room workshop and clecoed them all together on my wooden cradles.

What's next? I'll start riveting these pieces together, and hopefully be able to finish that over the weekend.


 
Jan 04, 2023     Scuffed and dimpled left OBLE - (2.5 hours)       Category: Wings
Tonight's session started by un-cleco-ing the left Outboard Leading Edge (OBLE) wing section that I had previously assembled a couple weeks ago. The J-channel stiffener was still a little rough from the match-drilling that I had last done, so I started by deburring all of those fresh holes, and then followed up with a Scotch-brite pad on its surfaces. Then I dimpled all of those holes in the J-channel, to prepare it for eventually being flush riveted.

Next, I removed all 7 of the nose ribs and deburred any of their flange holes that needed it, which was only the aft-most hole on a few of them because I had match-drilled them. Those aft-most holes were then dimpled to match the rest of their flange holes.

Then I used a Scotch-brite pad to scuff the inside of the OBLE skin where the ribs or J-channel would eventually mate against. The skin was then transferred to the DRDT2 dimpling workstation and I dimpled as many of the couple-hundred holes in it that I could. For the holes that could not be reached, I had to use the close-quarters dimpling set with my pop-rivet hand squeezer tool. Then I pulled off the remaining blue vinyl plastic from the skin, and wiped down the parts with acetone and isopropyl alcohol.

What's next? Time to spray some primer to add a little more protection against corrosion.


 
Jan 03, 2023     Right OBLE done - (2.0 hours)       Category: Wings
Tonight's session was all about finishing up the remaining rivets in the right Outboard Leading Edge wing section. This involved mostly the top half of the remaining 4 ribs, and the J-channel stiffener. Getting the rivets near the nose of the wing were definitely harder, both due to the full length that you must reach into the tank to rivet, as well as the complexity of riveting on a highly curved surface. I did end up using two "Oops rivets" to upsize to a larger hole after I had to unintentionally oversized a couple of bad rivets, but the results still came out nicely.

I'm going to pause with the Right OBLE instructions here because the next step would have you combine it with the rest of the wing spar assembly (which I haven't done yet for the right wing). Also, I'm considering not doing that part of the assembly until after I move the pieces to the hangar, while they're still small and easy to move.

What's next? Preparing the left OBLE for riveting, by scuffing the mating surfaces and dimpling for flush rivets.


 
Jan 02, 2023     Resuming riveting on right OBLE - (2.0 hours)       Category: Wings
I got back from vacation and resumed work on the right outboard leading edge (OBLE) wing section. I completed one full rib, and then started focusing on just the bottom side of all of the remaining ribs. I also got most of the splice strip riveted on both the top and bottom side, with just a few more to go.

What's next? I should hopefully be able to finish up this right section in one more session, and then I can start on the left section.


 
Dec 22, 2022     Nutplates and Riveting the right OBLE - (2.5 hours)       Category: Wings
This session started by using the hand squeezer to install a bunch of nutplates on the splice strips, the landing light brackets, lens backing plates, and inspection plate reinforcement ring. Some of those nutplates needed to be dimpled before they could be riveted together.

Next, I started assembling the wing skin, the ribs, splice strip, and J-channel stiffener together on the wing cradles with clecos. With everything fitting together nicely, I started using the air rivet gun to buck some of the flush rivets starting from the outboard side. I managed to get the first two ribs fully riveted in, the section of the J-channel between those two ribs, and the landing light support bracket all riveted in.

I've realized that the instructions did have a legitimate reason for having you rivet all of the ribs in first before clecoing in the J-channel, and that's because the J-channel will partially impair full access to one of the rivets in the ribs. However, I think I should be able to just use my foot-shaped bucking bar to reach under the J-channel for that one rivet on each of the remaining ribs, without having to drill out the J-channel that I've already partially riveted in.

What's next? I'll be going on some xmas vacation travel, so I won't be able to buck the rest of these rivets in the ribs until after I get back.


 
Dec 20, 2022     Priming Right OBLE parts - (2.5 hours)       Category: Wings
Tonight's session was spraying primer on all of the internal parts of the right Outboard Leading Edge (OBLE) wing section. I first started by wiping the parts down again with mineral spirits and acetone, and then coat both sides with the self-etching primer. A few of the parts received gloss white self-etching paint because they will be the inside of the landing light bay and will be visible through the transparent landing light lens.


 
Dec 17, 2022     Dimpling right OBLE skin - (1.5 hours)       Category: Wings
A bit of scuffing of the rivet lines with Scotch-Brite pads, and then I took the skin over to the DRDT2 machine to dimple all of the holes. As with the other wing skins, I couldn't get some of the holes near the center because of the machine's handle getting in the way, so I had to use the close-quarters dimpling tool for those places.

What's next? Clean all of these parts and then spray some primer paint on the ribs and the rivet lines of the skins.


 
Dec 15, 2022     Drilling and dimpling right OBLE parts - (1.5 hours)       Category: Wings
This short session started by match-drilling the rest of the holes in the J-channel stiffener for the Outboard Leading Edge (OBLE) section of the right wing, installing clecos as I went along its entire length. Once it was fully drilled, I could uncleco it and debur all of its new holes. Then I scuffed the J-channel with a Scotch-Brite pad (for eventual paint priming), and dimpled all of the holes with my hand squeezer.

Then I removed the clecos from the ribs that had been temporarily installed in the right OBLE skin, deburred and dimpled the two new holes in each one that I had match-drilled yesterday.

What's next? I need to debur and dimple all of the holes in this right skin, and then try to prime some of these parts.


 
Dec 14, 2022     Assembling left OBLE for match drilling - (2.5 hours)       Category: Wings
Work on the outboard leading edge (OBLE) sections started out by measuring and drawing a straight centerline down both of the pieces of J-channel stiffeners that I had cut last night. Then I drilled one hole in each stiffener on the centerline at the prescribed distance from the end.

Then I removed the blue vinyl from the insides of both OBLE skin, set the left skin into the cradle jig, and started clecoing the ribs into place. Next the J-channel stiffener was clecoed in by its one drilled hole, and then aligned the centerline through the remaining holes in the skin and match-drilled them all.

Next, I enlarged two existing holes in the skin, cut out the area between them, and then smoothed the new oval opening with files so that the stall sensor (lift detector) can later protrude through there.

Since I had a little more time, I took the left OBLE assembly off the cradle, placed the right skin in place, and clecoed in all of the ribs and the J-channel.

What's next? I'll need to match-drill the J-channel stiffener in the right OBLE, and then disassemble both and do some more deburring and dimpling.


 
Dec 13, 2022     More dimpling and rib prep - (3.5 hours)       Category: Wings
I'm back home from my week of business travel, so I started by using Goo-Gone to remove the remaining sticker adhesive off the ribs of the outboard leading edge section, followed by a light cleaning with IPA. The instructions called for adding more dimpling to the landing light brackets, lens reinforcement doublers, and the splice strips, so I did that as well. The splice strips also needed larger holes final drilled and dimpled to accept screws, but fortunately that went without any complications due to their size.

Next, 4 of the ribs had to be modified to cut out sections from the bottom flange to allow them to fit around the stepped portion of the wing spar. I carefully measured these dimensions, drilled the corners of these cutouts, and then used the bandsaw to cut up to the corner. A belt sander and hand files were used to finalize the dimensions up to the line and smooth out the rough edges.

Finally, I measured and cut the two required pieces of J-channel using the bandsaw, and then cleaned up the cut with the bandsaw and hand files.

What's next? I need to drill some holes in the J-channel by clecoing them to the skin and match drilling. Then possibly some priming of pieces.


 
Dec 09, 2022     More leading-edge rib prep - (4.5 hours)       Category: Wings
While I still had some idle time in the hotel, I worked on labelling, deburring, final drilling, scuffing, straightening, fluting, and dimpling the rest of the ribs for the outboard leading edge sections. Now all of the parts that I brought with me are finished up as much as I can do away.

What's next? Once I get back home, I'll be able to clean and prime all of these parts and hopefully start test-assembling them.


 
Dec 05, 2022     Preparing parts for outboard leading edges - (4.0 hours)       Category: Wings
While I'm on business travel this week, I'm continuing to start work on the Outboard Leading-edge wing sections by starting to process some of the parts. This is mostly final-size reaming rivet holes, deburring holes and edges, smoothing edges, and scuffing surfaces with Scotch-brite pads. Stickers showing part numbers need to also be removed and the labels re-written directly on the parts with Sharpie markers. For the ribs, this also means bending flanges to be 90-degree angles and fluting the flanges so that the ribs sit flat.


 
Dec 02, 2022     New workshop table - (2.0 hours)       Category: Workshop
I decided that I needed to replace the plastic folding picnic table with something a little more substantial. So, I ended up getting another of these adjustable height Husky tables from Home Depot, but I picked one that had two drawers in it so that I could put some of my tools in it. Although I have toolboxes elsewhere in the garage, I usually keep a small number of tools close by that are relevant to whatever tasks I am currently doing.

Additionally, the adjustable height of these two Husky tables will let me assemble larger parts (like the other wing spar or the upcoming empennage) spanning across the tables and still be able to raise/lower them together for easier access to my workpiece.

My two EAA standard worktables are now both against the wall and one will be used for reading my build plans now.


 
Nov 30, 2022     Water leak testing the left tank - (1.0 hour)       Category: Fuel Tanks
I filled the left fuel tank with water and left it for more than a day to see if any obvious leaks were present. Fortunately, nothing seemed to be leaking so I drained the water with a shopvac and set the tank upright to dry. I'm not sure how effective this test would be since it would only detect major drips on the leading-edge portion of the tank.

The build plans don't seem to actually propose this method of initial testing, but I know a lot of builders tend to do it anyways. The real testing will be when I eventually close up final side of the tank and then do an air pressure test.

What's next? I'll be travelling for work next week, so I'm preparing a box of tools and parts for the outboard leading-edge that I can work on while I'm staying at the hotel.


 
Nov 28, 2022     J-channel, attach bracket, aft rib half, and nutplates for right tank - (4.0 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
After spending a few days away from the plane building for Thanksgiving, I was ready to get back to work.

I started by mixing up a batch of tank sealant and spreading it onto the flange of the J-channel stiffener. Then my friend David helped me slide the J-channel into the right fuel tank. Then he loaded up the holes with rivets, while I followed behind him and bucked that whole row of rivets. The shopheads were then all encapsulated under nice dabs of more sealant.

I then installed the plastic snap bushings into the holes in each of tank ribs, and then slid the soft aluminum tubing for the vent line, making a few gentle bends to allow it to fit into the bushing at the filler cap.

Next was to apply more tank sealant to the attach bracket and rivet that into place, and then do the same with the aft half of the inboard rib. The heavier rivets that attach the two halves of the inboard rib to the attach bracket needed to be bucked using a double-offset rivet set and a bucking bar with an angled tip. Again, the shop heads needed to be covered with additional tank sealant, and then all of the seams and joints were fileted with sealant too.

The inboard lip of the fuel tank then needed the several nutplates attached, which I simply used my hand squeezer to set those rivets. The fuel sender was also clecoed into place and the arm adjusted slightly to allow the float arm swing without hitting anything.

What's next? With that done, now both fuel tanks are up to the same completion stage. I'll try to do a water leak test to see if there are any places that need more sealant before closing up the tanks.


 
Nov 21, 2022     Last 3 full ribs in right tank done - (3.5 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
Tonight, I had the goal of finishing the last three full ribs in the right fuel tank. Once you get the rhythm down things can move pretty quickly.

What's next? Install the J-channel stiffener, attach bracket, and last half of the first rib.


 
Nov 20, 2022     Two more ribs down on right tank - (2.5 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
Tonight's session started by opening up a new pint can of tank sealant. I managed to get the 3rd and 4th ribs in the right fuel tank riveted this time, and then fileted the seams and shop heads encapsulated with more sealant.


 
Nov 19, 2022     Starting to rivet ribs on right tank - (2.0 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
Tonight's session was to start installing the ribs of the right fuel tank. I managed to finish the first (technically just the forward half of it) and the second ribs. Things proceeded smoothly and I finally finished off the first pint can of tank sealant. Fortunately. I already received a second pint of fresh tank sealant a couple days ago.

What's next? Continue on the ribs for this right tank....Maybe I can get the right tank caught up to the left tank before I take a break for Thanksgiving?


 
Nov 18, 2022     Bending fuel sender float arms - (1.0 hour)       Category: Fuel Tanks
This was a quick session to prepare the fuel senders, which measure the amount of fuel in the tank by using a float. The fuel senders come out of the box with a straight piece of wire for the float arm, however these needed two 90-degree bends added to each of them using a pair of vice grip pliers. The length of the wire also had be trimmed slightly shorter and the end sanded down to remove the burrs. Then a quick trial fit verified that it properly registered both full and empty positions without any contact or interference of other parts in the tank.


 
Nov 13, 2022     Riveting last rib of left tank - (2.0 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
In this session, I started by mixing up another small batch of tank sealant and applying it to the flanges of the remaining half of the inboard rib for the left tank. Sliding it into place went pretty smoothly, and so I started bucking the rivets to the skin with the air rivet gun.

Tackling the larger rivets that join the two halves of the rib together to the attach bracket was a little more challenging. I had to use a 6-inch long drill bit to open up the holes slightly more so that the rivets would slide in, and then I had to use the double-offset rivet set in order to have the clearance to buck them. After that, I went about encapsulating all of the rivet heads with more tank sealant and fileting all of the seams where the tank sealant squeezed out. I also applied a bit more along the inner corners where the rib meets the attach bracket. Next, I used the hand squeezer to add on the remaining 5 nutplates along the inboard edge of the tank skin.

What's next? With this done, the major assembly of the left tank structure is basically complete, with the exception of the last baffle that will close in the tank. Once I feel the sealant has cured long enough, I might try filling the tank with water and see if there are any obvious leaks. I still also have to bend the float arms for the fuel sender.


 
Nov 12, 2022     Bending vent lines and nutplates - (2.5 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
Tonight I worked on cutting and flaring the soft aluminum tubing that would be used for the vent lines in both of the fuel tanks. After flaring, I set aside the tubing that would be used for the right tank for later.

For the left tank, I installed the snap bushings that protect the vent line from contacting the ribs, and then slid the tubing through them. I had to slightly enlarge the mounting clip's hole to allow the snap bushing to fit. A couple of gentle bends were needed on both ends for the vent line to go where it needed to, as described in the instructions. I temporarily installed the bulkhead fitting to check the alignment of the flared nut fitting. This required scraping a little bit of the dried tank sealant that had oozed under the retaining plate and prevented the bulkhead fitting from completely sitting flush. I also scraped a little tank sealant that had gotten into some of the threaded fittings.

Since I was avoiding mixing up tank sealant tonight, I started riveting on some of the nutplates that went along the nose section of the inboard edge of the tank skin. This required me to dimple the nutplate holes along the edge of the tank skin that I had previously deferred (I dimpled the right tank skin too, while I was at it).

What's next? Time to install the last half of the inboard rib, and then probably switch to working on the right fuel tank.


 
Nov 11, 2022     Installing J-channel and attach bracket on the left tank - (4.0 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
Since tonight's session had the goal of riveting in the J-channel, I decided to try out one of the tubes of tank sealant I have rather than mixing up a batch from the can and spreading it. This was the first time I had used the tube applicator form of this tank sealant, so I had to carefully read the instructions about how to mix it in the tube but this was a pretty easy process. It was definitely nice to be able to squirt a long line of this tank sealant directly onto the J-channel, though I still used a popsicle stick to smooth and distribute the sealant across the entire surface.

Sliding in the J-channel into place while it had the tank sealant applied did tend to leave an excessive amount on the inboard side of the tank (the side it was being inserted from), even though I was trying to avoid letting it drag during the insertion. Riveting the J-channel went pretty smoothly, with only a couple of rivets needing to be drilled out and re-set in order to ensure flush fitment. After that was encapsulation of the shop heads with more sealant and smoothing the top edge of the J-channel. I wasn't able to apply sealant or inspect the underside of the J-channel, so I'll probably have to find a mirror or something later.

Since I still had some tank sealant remaining, I decided to install the attach bracket as well. This went pretty smoothly, though there was one rivet I had to redo as well. The rivets along the mating seem of the first rib's halves were left only held in place with clecos, since the instructions say I need to do some tube flaring+bending before installing the other half of the first rib.

With a little bit of tank sealant remaining from the tube, I went over all of the previously installed ribs and added more along any of the seams that needed more


 
Nov 08, 2022     Final ribs of left fuel tank - (3.0 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
In this session, I installed the last two ribs on the left fuel tank. Same process as before... Mix tank sealant and spread on the rib flange, insert the rib into the tank skin, cleco, buck rivets with pneumatic rivet gun and bucking bar, encapsulate all rivets' shop heads with more tank sealant, apply and fillet tank sealant along the seams.

I also noticed that I never installed the nutplates on the Z-brackets after I had finished their alodine treatment, so I used the hand squeezer to install all of those rivets. Each of the 12 Z-brackets had 3 nutplates, and each nutplate had 2 rivets, so this was a nice task to get out of the way.

What's next? Probably install the J-channel stiffener, and then maybe the attach bracket and other half of the inboard rib.


 
Nov 07, 2022     More fuel tank riveting - (3.0 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
Just riveting more of these ribs into the left fuel tank.


 
Oct 27, 2022     Second rib added to left fuel tank - (1.5 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
This session's task was to install the second rib (first full size rib) in the left fuel tank. This honestly went much smoother than the previous rib, though it became much easier when I started using a pointed awl to help align the holes with the skin. Only one of the rivets had to be drilled out and reinstalled, because I noticed that it wasn't sitting completely flush with the skin surface while cleaning up the excessive sealant that had squeezed-out. Overall, this rib was much less messy to install than the first one--maybe because I didn't go quite as extreme with applying the sealant.


 
Oct 26, 2022     Inventory of emp kit - (2.0 hours)       Category: Empennage
The empennage kit that I ordered in January was delivered today by Old Dominion freight. It looks like everything arrived safely without any damage. There were two things backordered in this kit (one of the bags and the VA-140 trailing edge extrusion). I started by performing an inventory of the small parts bags and organizing those small parts into my drawers/boxes. The rivets were organized and combined into the appropriate jars if I already had one for that size.

I'm still trying to decide whether I should get some more shelves so that I can organize these large parts, or whether I can make things fit on my current shelves with better space management.


 
Oct 25, 2022     Starting to rivet fuel tank ribs - (1.5 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
After coming back from several days of travel, it was time to get back to work on the fuel tanks. The first step was to mount the left fuel tank skin into the cradles and test fit the first few ribs into place with clecos. Satisfied with the fitment, I removed the end rib and applied a fresh mix of tank sealant to its flange and started bucking rivets with the pneumatic rivet gun.

This ended up being pretty messy due to the tank sealant squeezing out everywhere--maybe I didn't need to apply as much as I did. In any case, I finished up by filleting the sealant on the internal edge. I also encapsulated the shop heads of rivets, though I'm not sure that was strictly necessary since these rivets are on the "outside" of the fuel containment.

This log entry puts me over the 300 hour threshold.

What's next? The empennage kit finally arrived today, so I'll be trying to verify its inventory before getting back to work on the fuel tanks.


 
Oct 18, 2022     Riveting and sealing the fuel filler caps - (1.5 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
After re-watching the part of Scott McDaniel's video on fuel tank, I started by cleaning both of the cap flanges and the skins with acetone, applying some masking tape to protect the inner taper, and then mixing up a batch of sealant. I then spread the sealant along the mating surface of the flange, leaving a ridge of more sealant along the center of the contact area and thinning it towards both the inner and outer diameter edges. A couple of clecos at the forward and aft rivet hole kept the filler cap in place during the actual riveting.

Since I didn't have a short enough yoke for my hand squeezer, I had to use the pneumatic rivet gun. Fortunately, the riveting went quite smoothly, and I got all of them set perfectly on the first try. After some cleanup of the excess sealant, I applied a little more over the shop head of each rivet using my drinking straw trick, and then fileted the sealant seams.

What's next? Time to set the skins back in the saddle fixtures and do a final test-fit of the ribs before riveting them in too.


 
Oct 17, 2022     Making replacement tube bracket - (1.0 hour)       Category: Fuel Tanks
I decided that I needed to fabricate a replacement for one of the vent tube brackets because the thickness of the edge of the bracket around the hole had become too thin during my smoothing of it. So I grabbed a piece of scrap material of similar thickness, traced out a new one, cut it out, and cleaned it up on the sander. A final fitment check confirms it'll work.

What's next? Time to install the fuel filler caps.


 
Oct 14, 2022     Fuel drain flanges and attach bracket prep - (2.5 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
Tonight's session started by installing the fuel drain flanges on the underside of each fuel tank skin. These flanges will eventually get the sump drain valves screwed into them when done. I started by applying a layer of tank sealant to the contact surface of the flange and then hand-squeezing the rivets that hold it to the tank skin. Then I cleaned all of the excess sealant and applied small blobs on top of the shop heads since those will be on the inside of the tank.

Next I started the preparation of the attach brackets by hand squeezing on the various nut plates, shims, and bearings. This part went almost perfectly except when I riveted the shim to the bracket first and tried to rivet on the nutplates on its overhanging section. There wasn't enough room to use the squeezer or pneumatic riveter in this assembly order, so I had to drill out the shim and attach the nutplates first. In any case, both attach brackets came out fine and it's onto the next step.

What's next? Attaching the fuel cap flanges, and then maybe a final test fitting of all the ribs before I actually start riveting them in permanently.


 
Oct 13, 2022     Stiffeners on right fuel tank - (3.0 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
Now that the stiffeners were done on the left fuel tank, I decided to get them done on the right fuel tank too since I had the process figured out. This time I tried applying a little more sealant near the bent side of the stiffener so that there would be enough squeezed-out to avoid the need to add more sealant later. This worked better, but I still needed to a little more in a few spots. I did have to drill out and reinstall 4 rivets because they weren't flush enough--I guess I wasn't pressing down on the backriveting plate firmly enough the first time.


 
Oct 12, 2022     Installed lower stiffeners on left fuel tank - (2.0 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
This session was about finishing up the installation of the stiffeners on the lower side of the left fuel tank. I've gotten the process down so I can get through these stiffeners much quicker now, even though I did have to drill out one whole stiffener due to the rivets not being set flush enough on my back riveting plate. I think I've found a better amount of tank sealant to aim for, which causes just enough squeeze-out and doesn't require a lot of extra post-processing work to apply more or redistribute excess.


 
Oct 11, 2022     Starting the fuel tank stiffeners - (2.5 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
I started riveting on the first three stiffeners on the left fuel tank tonight. I decided to re-dimple most of the skin because the rivets didn't seem to be sitting flush enough, so I adjusted the DRDT2 a little deeper. After dimpling, I loaded up all of the holes on the underside with rivets and taped them in place with blue painters' tape.

I mixed up a small plate of the tank sealant and applied it to each of the stiffeners using a popsicle stick, placed the stiffener over the protruding rivets, and then back-riveted them in place. I ended up having to drill a few rivets out because I noticed that they had topped over when my backrivet set slid a little bit due to the slipperyness of the wet tank sealant. Things seems to be more reliable if I use my other hand to hold the nose of the backrivet set against the skin so it can't slide while riveting.

I then covered each of the rivet shop-heads with a small blob of tank sealant by using a plastic drinking straw. I also attempted to apply extra tank sealant around the edge and smooth it into a fillet, but that ended up being pretty messy. I think I will try to apply a little more sealant on each stiffener in the future, so it oozes out under the edges and I don't need to apply extra afterwards.


 
Oct 10, 2022     More alodine treatment of fuel tank parts - (2.5 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
Tonight was a chance to get back on the work with Aldone to finish treating the remaining skins and baffling for the fuel tanks. By using the undiluted Alodine, I could use brush application method to treat these parts since they were too large for my immersion tanks. Truthfully, the golden color still doesn't seem to be as visible using the brushed application after rinsing, but my understanding is that the application will still have the same corrosion protection capability. Even if the protection is reduced, it is still more than most builders do for the fuel tank interior surfaces (ie: nothing). In any case, this is all done and I can begin actually assembling the rest of the fuel tanks now.


 
Oct 06, 2022     Installing fuel tank fittings - (2.0 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
Tonight's session started by squeezing on the rivets for the nutplates that will secure the fuel level sender. These nutplate rivets don't require any tank sealant because the fuel sender itself will be sealed when it is later installed. However, installing these rivets was complicated by the fact that they are too far from and edge to use my normal hand rivet squeezer, so I ended up repurposing my DRDT2 dimpler to work as a rivet squeezer and it actually performed quite well.

The next step was to install the fuel bung fittings, which all required tank sealant on their mating face prior to riveting. These were all close enough to an edge that I could use my hand squeezer on them. I did feel that Van's recommended rivet length is a little long for this application because I had a couple of rivets topple over and need to be drilled out.

After those were done, I installed some diamond-shaped anti-rotation plates in a similar manner by applying tank sealant to their mating face before squeezing on the two rivets that hold each one.

After installing those rivets, I encapsulated the shop heads with more tank sealant by using a plastic drinking straw to form a round blob on top of each.


 
Oct 05, 2022     Plugging fuel tank hydroforming holes - (1.5 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
This session marked my first chance to use tank sealant in this build and a test to see how smelly it would be to use in my indoors workshop. I have a feeling that this Chemseal brand of tank sealant might have less off-gassing than other brands, since it seemed quite reasonable.

In any case, the task at hand was to close up the two large holes in each of the inboard and outboard ribs that had been a result of the hydroforming process used by the factory. This mean installing large diameter (#6, 3/16") rivets while "wet" with tank sealant. I had to buy a larger rivet set for my air rivet gun, since this was also my first time working with this size of rivet. Unfortunately, my first attempt installing one of these #6-5 rivets resulted in a toppled over shop head, so after removing it I decided to try using my rivet cutter and reducing the shank length a little. All of the remaining rivets went in successfully on the first try. I think another trick to success was clamping each of the ribs to the worktable and turning the air pressure on my rivet gun to 90 psi.

After all of the rivets had been wet-installed, I also encapsulated both sides of the rivet with another layer of tank sealant for extra measure. I suppose I probably only needed to cover the inside rivet head (the side I had chosen to put the shop head on) since the goal is only to prevent the fuel from escaping the interior, but it seemed prudent to do both sides.

I did also get plenty of opportunities to confirm that Acetone works well enough to clean up the tank sealant while it is still wet. I had been concerned about needing to locate a local source of real M.E.K. (not the "M.E.K. substitute" that is commonly sold these days) for cleanup, but that now seems unnecessary.

What's next? I have more Alodine arriving today, so hopefully I should be able to try treating the tank skins with the full-strength stuff successfully.


 
Oct 04, 2022     Alodine of fuel tank skin - (1.5 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
In this session I attempted to treat one of the fuel tank skins with an acid etch and then alodine wash. This was mostly just painting on the solutions and allowing the excess to runoff into the immersion tanks that I was using for the smaller items. Unfortunately, I think my alodine solution is effectively consumed, since it wasn't noticeably changing color any deeper on smaller parts I was trying to immerse. Additionally, the alodine instructions recommend using full strength (not 3:1 diluted) when it will be applied by painting. So I've ordered a fresh quart of Alodine so that I can repeat this process when that arrives.


 
Oct 02, 2022     Alodine treatment of interior tank parts - (3.0 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
In order to better protect my fuel tanks from possible future corrosion, I decided to treat them with Alodine/Bonderite 1201 (chromate conversion coating) since using primer paint is not an option for the tanks. This process involves immersing and abrading in an acid etching solution the parts for a few minutes, rising in water, then immersion in the Alodine solution for a few minutes, rising in water again, and then letting air dry. I used 3 plastic tubs from Walmart that are normally used for under-bed storage, however their size and dimensions made good immersion tanks. Each tank was filled with about 2-3 gallons of liquid and was sufficient to cover all of these ribs.

The big concern with this process is that the Alodine solution is considered toxic and has waste disposal concerns. The acid bath isn't that great either. However, I believe I should be able to find a local metal plating shop that would be willing to take my waste solutions once I'm done, since they would have to neutralize and dispose of similar waste. I wore double-layer of gloves, and tried to exclusively handle the parts with metal tongs that were left over from parties from long ago.

The intensity of the gold color on some of the parts seems lighter than the others, particularly near the end of the session. I wonder if that was due to the reduced effectivity of the solution as it was being consumed, or perhaps just due to my process inconsistencies. However, I believe this is just a cosmetic concern and not a difference in corrosion protection.


 
Sep 29, 2022     Cleaning fuel tank parts - (1.0 hour) Category: Fuel Tanks
This session was just cleaning the aluminum surfaces of the parts I had previously scuffed parts with isopropyl alcohol. This just removes the stray debris and oils that had accumulated during my prep work.

I've also been rewatching the 2.5 hour-long YouTube video by Scott McDaniels of Van's Aircraft about fuel tank sealing so that these processes are fresh on my mine when I start doing them in the next couple of days. Reviewing some of Jason Ellis' fuel tank videos has also provided some more tips, though his techniques were not influenced by having seen Scott McDaniels' video.
 
Sep 28, 2022     Scuffing fuel tank parts - (2.5 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
In this session I was just working on scuffing all of the internal parts for the fuel tanks. It's necessary to roughen up the surfaces in order to prepare them for better adhesion of the fuel tank sealant.

Then I also needed to countersink the holes in the fuel tank filler cap flanges so that when they are riveted to the underside of the fuel tank skins, they will be able to sit flush. The new material exposed during the countersunking was then treated by an Alodine pen to prevent future corrosion.


 
Sep 25, 2022     Close quarters dimpling fuel tank skins - (1.5 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
I started by using the hand squeezer to dimple for the large #8 screws along the edges of the fuel tank skins. However, I decided to leave the nutplate holes along the inboard edge undimpled for now, since I wanted to be sure about which holes actually needed dimpling and that edge should remain easily accessible for future dimpling, if needed.

Then I got a box of 6d 2" (#13 6F1) finishing nails from Home Depot under the advice of the Slack group. These fit the Cleaveland Tools close-quarters dimpling dies perfectly and are much more durable than the copper ones that are included, and don't need any grinding to fit. With those, I was able to finish dimpling the hard-to-reach section of each of the fuel tank skins.

Finally, I went back to the fuel tank ribs to start scuffing up their flanges and double-checking that they don't need any more fluting tweaks to ensure their hole alignments are good. I'll need to continue with this though.


 
Sep 23, 2022     Dimpling the fuel tank skins - (2.5 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
Tonight's session started by final-drilling and deburring of the #19 screw holes on the other fuel tank skin, and then edge rolling the trailing edges on both skins. Since I will need to apply tank sealant to these rivet seams, I decided to use a Scotch-Brite wheel in my powerdrill now to scuff up all of those seams prior to dimpling (which would be more difficult later).

Then I started using the DRDT2 to dimple all of the flush rivet holes in both skins. This was all pretty straight-forward but did require a lot of rotating and flexing to get the skin into proper position for dimpling some of the holes.

What's next? Unfortunately, there were about a dozen rivets near the middle of both skins that are unreachable with the DRDT2 because the rubber handle contacts the skin, so I'll need to locate and use my close quarters pop-riveting dimpler set for those.


 
Sep 22, 2022     Countersinking fuel tank skins - (3.5 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
This session started by match-drilling the J-channel against the existing holes in the left fuel tank skin. The J-channel is used to add rigidity and avoid oil-canning, but it is supplied from the factory without any holes.

Then the rear baffle is clecoed into place in between the left fuel tank skin so that the skin can be countersunk for flush rivets. I found it interesting that Vans choose to countersink since the skin is dimpled elsewhere for the rest of the ribs, but there's probably some structural or leak-reduction reason for it.

After that, all of the screwholes along the trailing edge and sides were final-drilled to #19 and deburred. The J-channel was also removed, deburred, and dimpled. Next all of these steps were repeated with the right fuel tank.

What's next? I think the instructions call for dimpling of all of the hundreds of holes in the fuel tank skins, so that'll probably consume most of my next session.


 
Sep 21, 2022     Fuel tank countersinking and dimpling - (4.0 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
The countersinking and dimpling work continues. I started by countersinking all of of the Z-brackets to allow flush rivets to later be installed for nutplates. Afterwards, I used scotchbrite pads to roughen up the surfaces of those Z-brackets.

Next was to cut apart the 4 shims that came as one piece, clecoing them to the tank attach brackets, and marking where they had to be trimmed. I then went over to the belt sander and bench grinder to cut and smooth them to final dimensions. Those shims then had to be dimpled with the squeezer to allow nutplates to later be attached.

Then the flanges of the tank attach brackets had to be countersunk to allow the dimpled tank skins to eventually be attached. I found it easiest to clamp these attach brackets to the side of my worktable so that I could use my drill vertically down into the flange.

Next was moving the tank skins from the garage and into my workarea and removing the blue vinyl from the inside surfaces. I ended up using a Dremel with a cutoff wheel to cut the strips from the edges of the tank skins, since those strips would be needed for the leading edge wing section.

What's next? Time to matchdrill the J-channel and other final prep steps before the glueing starts.


 
Sep 20, 2022     Fuel tank dimpling work - (1.5 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
The prep work for the fuel tanks continue with more deburring and dimpling of the stiffeners. I also had to dimple the flange on the fuel tank ribs around the opening where the fuel senders will be installed. The holes in that flange could have been dimpled with a very short yoke, but I needed to use my DRDT2 squeezer instead. Then I marked and cut the two pieces of J-channel that will be needed later. I started the counter-sinking of the Z-brackets, but my powerdrill ran out of battery and it was getting late so I'll have to continue with that tomorrow.


 
Sep 19, 2022     Prepping fuel tank nose ribs - (3.5 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
This session continued the prep of the fuel tank nose ribs. Two of the ribs each needed an additional 3/4" hole made with a step drill, with mounting holes around its perimeter made for a bung hole fitting. The mount holes also had to be match drilled for the bung holes that already existed in each of those ribs.

Then I continued to debur the edges and rivet holes on the rest of the ribs, and then countersinking the flange holes of those nose ribs that would eventually be facing the exterior tank skins. One of the holes in each of two ribs had extremely tight space on the back side that prevented use of my squeezer for dimpling, so I had to figure out how to use the close quarters dimpling tool. I ended up screwing the fixture to the top of my workbench, holding a dimpling die in place with tape, and then using a hammer to repeatedly strike the dimple die through the rib and into the fixture.


 
Sep 17, 2022     Prepping fuel tank brackets and stiffeners - (2.5 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
This session was just marking and cutting apart the support brackets and stiffeners for the fuel tanks. These pieces ship from the factory conjoined in long strips that need to be separated from each other on the bandsaw and then the remnants sanded off then smoothed on the bench grinder. The edges and holes also needed to be deburred.


 
Sep 16, 2022     Fluting the fuel tank ribs, Cutting stiffeners - (3.5 hours)       Category: Fuel Tanks
In this session, I began work on the fuel tanks and started by straightening and fluting the fuel tank ribs. These ribs come supplied with a lot of distortion from the manufacturing process so I had to use the fluting pliers along their flanges to allow them to sit flat. The flanges also have to be bent to ensure they are 90 degrees from their webbing areas.

Then I started marking the cuts I would need to make for the various stiffeners, which are all supplied in long pieces of angle stock that only have guide holes punched in them. I did have time to cut out and smooth some of these ribs on the band saw, but there are still a lot more to go.

What's next? Finish marking and cutting these stiffeners, then prepare more raw tank parts.


 
Sep 15, 2022     Finishing the left aileron - (1.0 hour)       Category: Ailerons
After letting the VHB tape adhesive cure under heavy weights overnight, I started double-flush riveting the trailing edge using the special flush dies. To minimize introducing twist, I set every 10th rivet, then go back and start evenly filling in the middle rivet of each of the new segments, repeatedly filling in the middle rivet of each segment until every other rivet is filled, and then filling in all of the remaining holes. After all of the double-flush rivets were done, I added the pulled rivets on the inboard and outboard ends of the aileron, thus completing this section. The amount of twist in this one seems to only be about 0.3 degrees.

What's next? I think I will start working on the fuel tanks, since I have had the tank sealant sitting in my refrigerator for a few weeks and it has a limited shelf life.


 
Sep 14, 2022     Closing up left aileron nose - (1.5 hours)       Category: Ailerons
Tonight's work session started by finishing countersinking the trailing edge extrusion, then dimpling both of the left aileron skins. Then I bucked the row of flush rivets that close up the underside of the nose, locking in the alignment of the aileron. After that, I applied VHB tape to both sides of the trailing edge extrusion and clecoed it into place and weighted down flat on my kitchen countertop.

What's next? After the VHB adhesive cures overnight, I can double-flush rivet the trailing edge and then mark off both ailerons as done.


 
Sep 13, 2022     Finishing up right aileron, Starting on left - (2.0 hours)       Category: Ailerons
After letting the VHB adhesive cure overnight, I started double-flush riveting the trailing edge together using my hand-squeezer and the special flush dies from Cleaveland Tools. Then there were about a dozen blind rivets that needed to be pulled on the two ends before I could officially call the right aileron complete. It's difficult to say precisely how much twist there ended up being. but I'm pretty sure it's less than a degree, which is good.

Resuming work on the left aileron, I started by measuring and cutting a new piece of VA-140 trailing edge extrusion. Then I clecoed it in place and final drilled all of the holes of the trailing edge and the two skins. Finally, I removed the extrusion and then used the counter-sink cage to drill counter-sunk holes into one side of the extrusion.

What's next? Finish counter-sinking the extrusion, and then set the final row of rivets in the nose skin.


 
Sep 12, 2022     Untwisting and closing right aileron - (3.0 hours)       Category: Ailerons
Resuming work on the right aileron, the next step was to buck the final line of flush rivets on the underside of the nose skin, but first I needed to ensure that any twist was minimized since the riveting would effectively lock in its current angles. My digital angle level showed about 5 degrees twist, so I ended up wedging and clamping opposite corners of the aileron to my worktable before starting to rivet.

Once I had finished that row of flush rivets, I realized that the outermost stiffener of the underside skin was mispositioned trapped in front of (instead of behind) the opposite stiffener. This meant drilling out the handful of rivets holding that outermost stiffener to the skin, and then re-riveting it on the correct side.

With things back as they should be, I applied 3M VHB tape to the trailing edge extrusion, clecoed it in place, and weighted the aileron down on my kitchen countertop for the adhesive to cure overnight.

What's next? After the VHB adhesive has cured, I can double-flush rivet the trailing edge and then pull the final blind rivets on the inboard and outboard ends of the aileron.


 
Sep 11, 2022     Preparing trailing edge extrusion for right aileron - (2.5 hours)       Category: Ailerons
After retrieving the right aileron from storage and re-reading the instructions to figure out what was next, I started by measuring and cutting a piece of the VA-140 trailing edge extrusion to fit the aileron. Fortunately, the ailerons are shorter than the flaps, so the entire width can be satisfied with a single piece of extrusion. Then I clecoed the extrusion in place and final drilled the holes through the trailing edge skins, then removed the clecos to debur the skins, and then dimple them. Then I used the countersink cage to prepare both sides of the trailing edge extrusion to allow a dimpled skin to sit flush.

What's next? I think it'll be time to close in the nose section of the aileron by riveting on the bottom skin, and then setting up the adhesive on the trailing edge to cure overnight.


 
Sep 07, 2022     Finishing right flap - (2.0 hours)       Category: Flaps
Now that the VHB adhesive tape had a chance to cure overnight, it was now time to do the double-flush riveting along the trailing edge of the right flap. As before, I used the hand squeezer with the "safety-pin style" angled dies to install these rivets and it went very smoothly.

Then there were a number of pulled rivets to install on the remaining ribs, which each required those holes to be final-drilled to a slightly larger size for these rivets. Finally, just a few more solid flush rivets to install along the inboard and outboard edges of the flap by using the hand squeezer again.

The final amount of relative twist between the two hinge brackets ended up being 0.2 degrees, which is the same as the twist in the left flap, and seems like an acceptable amount.

What's next? With both flaps fully complete, it's time to finish up the ailerons as well.


 
Sep 06, 2022     Closing up nose of right flap - (3.5 hours)       Category: Flaps
I resumed work on the right flap by closing up the nose by flush riveting the line of rivets on the bottom side. As before, I used a digital level to monitor the twist of the two hinge brackets while riveting with the bucking bar held inside. Once about a dozen rivets were in, the twist seems to be stable and doesn't vary as the remaining rivets went in. I think the final twist of this flap will be about 0.2 degrees, the same as the left one. With those solid rivets in, I finished up by installing the pulled rivets along the nose ribs.

I prepared the two aluminum extrusion wedge pieces by adhering the 3M VHB tape to both sides, and then inserting them between the two skins and clecoing them in place. As before, I placed the flap upside down on my kitchen countertop and weighed it down with some cement trim and dumbbell weights.

What's next? After the adhesive has cured overnight, I can do the double-flush riveting on that trailing edge. Then I can finish up by installing the remaining pulled rivets for the ribs


 
Sep 05, 2022     Right flap trailing edge countersinking and dimpling - (1.0 hour)       Category: Flaps
This was a quick session just to make some progress on restarting work on the right flap. These steps were the same as what I did a couple day ago for the left flap.

I started by measuring, cutting, and trimming the two pieces of trailing edge extrusion (VA-140) to match the length of the right flap skin. Next, I used the micro-stop drill cage to countersink both sides of the TE extrusions to accept a dimpled skin. Then I used my hand squeezer to dimple the trailing edge of both of the skins.

What's next? Time to rivet in the remaining skin to the right flap, and set the adhesive tape for the trailing edge.


 
Sep 04, 2022     Finishing riveting of the left flap - (2.5 hours)       Category: Flaps
After letting the VHB adhesive tape cure on the trailing edge overnight, it was now time to actually do the riveting. This is done using a "double-flush" technique so that both sides are flat. Additionally, since the trailing edge is at an angled shape, so I'm using a special rivet squeezing die set from Cleaveland Tools that handles this angle. The hand squeezing proceeded quite nicely with no unexpected problems. I opted to squeeze the trailing edge while it was still on the kitchen counter and weighted down, in order to minimize introducing any twist.

After those flush rivets were squeezed, I installed the rest of the pulled rivets along the ribs. The exterior rivets along the inboard and outboard edges were conventional flush rivets and could be squeezed normally. And with that, the left flap was done. The final twist was only 0.2 degrees, which is acceptable. There is some oil-canning on one of the upper skin sections, but that is also not a significant concern.

What's next? Time to finish these same steps for the right flap.


 
Sep 03, 2022     Riveting the nose skin of the left flap - (4.0 hours)       Category: Flaps
Resuming work on the left frap meant finishing work on the trailing edge extrusion (VA-140) to prepare it eventually be riveted in. But first, I had to cut the two extrusions to the final sizes, and then counter-sink the holes on both sides to accommodate the dimpled skins, before actually dimpling those two skins of the flap.

Then I started flush riveting the last side of the nose skin of the flap. This step is critical since it finalizes any twist that may be present in the frap. I used a digital level to compare the angles on the two hinge brackets and applied some corrective twist whenever I felt necessary during this riveting. Bucking these rivets also required either using the extremely long special bucking bar, or sticking my hand down inside of the skin to hold the bucking bar (I actually found the latter easier). After that long seam of flush rivets was completed, I finished the rest of the nose rivets using blind rivets.

I then had to set the flap down on a very flat surface so that when the trailing edge extrusions are glued in with VHB adhesive tape, it'll cure without any unintentional twist. I clecoed things down and used some heavy weights to let this all cure overnight.

What's next? After curing is done, I can finish riveting the trailing edge.


 
Sep 01, 2022     Countersink inboard nutplates and flaps AEX - (1.0 hour)       Category: Flaps
The last task to wrap up the upper skins section of the left wing was to machine countersink the inboard nutplate holes so that a dimpled skin could fit in them nicely. This was just a matter of using my countersinking cage until my sample coupon could fit into the dimples and sit flush, though it did cut away quite a bit and generate a lot of metal chips. I'll need to get some help from a friend to move this wing onto the storage cart.

Then I started looking at the flaps section to see where I left off while I was blocked on the VA-140 AEX (trailing edge aluminum extrusion). This meant measuring a couple of pieces of VA-140 and trimming them to the initial dimensions specified, to prepare them for finer measurements and trimming.


 
Aug 31, 2022     J-channel stiffener complete - (2.0 hours)       Category: Wings
In this session, I worked on riveting the J-channel stiffener onto the back side of upper skins of the left wing. This stiffener comes in two pieces that are flush riveted, and have an overlapping area of a couple of inches near where the two skins also overlap.

I found it easiest to keep the wing on its edge (main spar sitting on the tape surface, with the trailing edge facing up) and then use a step-stool to stand above the wing with one hand riveting or bucking from opposite sides. This work went relatively easily, with only one minor problem when my bucking bar slipped during riveting and left a slight dent in the interior side of the J-channel. I consulted with Vans and they indicated that since the J-channel is not structural and only serves to reduce oil-canning effects, there was no need to do anything to address this minor damage. So with that I carried on and finished riveting the entire J-channel in place.

What's next? There are 7 screw holes in the inboard edge that need countersinking, and then I can move onto finishing the trailing edges of the flaps and ailerons.


 
Aug 30, 2022     Finished the upper skins on left wing, start on J-channels - (4.5 hours)       Category: Wings
In this long session, I started by riveting the outboard flap hinge bracket into place, since I had previously finished all of the skin rivets in this area. I started to try to install these 10 rivets by using the hand squeezer, but quickly discovered I could only set about 4 of them that way. So I got out the double-offset #4 rivet set and got those rivets taken taken care of. Putting some tape on the rivet set and the spring of the rivet gun is definitely a good trick for keeping the offset rivet sets from rotating while you're working.

After that, I decided to tackle the remaining flush rivets on the outboard upper skin. I ended up placing the wing flat down on my two tables (skin side up, open side down) with a gap between the two tables so that i could reach up inside to buck the shop side of the rivets. Because the ribs face different directions, this was a good opportunity to practice riveting with my non-dominant hand. It was definitely a nice accomplishment to finally see all of these rivets completed.

Next, I got out the two J-channels that I had cut and match-drilled weeks ago and started prepping them for the next steps. I deburred the holes, smoothed the sharp edges, scuffed the surfaces, dimpled the holes, then primed the two pieces. Once dry, I slid them into place and clecoed them to the wing, with the proper overlap section. I had to check the annotated wiki instructions to be clear about the intended overlap, since the phrasing of which J-channel is "on top" has a different meaning here.

What's next? I'll try to finish riveting this J-channel in place, and then maybe set the wing aside so I can start the work to finish up the flaps and ailerons.


 
Aug 29, 2022     Flush riveting the outboard skin - (4.0 hours)       Category: Wings
Over the weekend I made a fair bit of progress riveting the outboard skin section onto the left wing. The rear spar and main spar are now riveted to the skin, and I tried to use the back-riveting method when I could. However, it looks like I'd need a longer double-offset backriveting set in order to finish the rib rivets, so I'll probably end up bucking those normally for now.

What's next? Finish bucking the remaining rivets that are still under the blue tape. Then start adding the J-channel to this side...


 
Aug 25, 2022     Safety wire and finishing inboard upper skin - (2.5 hours)       Category: Wings
I started by finishing the last few rivets on the inboard upper skin. The remaining rivets were just the ones along the main spar flange, so I decided to try to backrivet them by flipping the wing with the skin on the work table. I had to use some folded cardboard to slightly raise the angle of the wing so that the flange would rest solidly against the backriveting plate on the table. Some blue painters tape held in the 20 or so rivets while it was in this position during the riveting. It surprisingly worked quite well and was very quick.

Since I had removed the outboard upper skin in the previous session, this provided a good last opportunity to replace the bolts and add safety wire on the other remaining aileron bellcrank bracket. The safety wire pliers that I bought from Harbor Freight are surprisingly functional, at least relative to some of the beat-up pairs that I've used at my mechanic's shop.

Finally, I clecoed the outboard upper skin back into place and started riveting the easier rivets along the rear spar flange. I got about half-way done with those before deciding to wrap up for the night.


 
Aug 24, 2022     Aileron hinge bracket attached - (2.5 hours)       Category: Wings
After putting it off longer than I probably should have, I decided to tackle riveting the SB-updated aileron hinge bracket to the rear spar. (The first time I attempted this step a few weeks ago, I ended up mis-driving multiple rivets and damaging the bracket enough while drilling them out that I decided to order a replacement bracket.) So this time I practiced using my offset rivet set on a scrap piece a few times with different air pressures and found a setting that worked for me. I also tried a new trick of putting tape on my offset rivet set to keep it from rotating in the gun, and that seemed to work out well.

Then, I un-clecoed the outboard ski, removed the blue vinyl protective plastic, and dimpled the last few rivet holes in the overlap corner. Then I set that skin aside for now.

After that I got back to riveting the remaining rivets on the inboard skin and I managed to finish all except the ones along the main spar flange. That'll be the job for another night--maybe I'll try back-riveting those because it's so difficult to drive these just by feeling and without sight.


 
Aug 22, 2022     More wing skin riveting and other tasks - (2.0 hours)       Category: Wings
This log entry represents work done over multiple days, though they were very light-work days due to needing to spend some time on other tasks around the house (including some drywall and plumbing repair in the guest bathroom, assembling a backyard gazebo, and throwing a taco party for friends).

After receiving a new foot shaped bucking bar, I was able to buck those remaining rivets on the inboard edge of the rear spar flange. The angled tip of that bucking bar was narrow enough to squeeze past the doubler fork. I also riveted in the last nutplate on that inside trailing edge.

I also received some drilled head bolts to replace the ones that came for the aileron bellcrank bracket, so that I could safety wire them. Interestingly, the new bolts have a slightly longer unthreaded portion of the shank than the original ones, even though I ordered the size that was described in the instructions. It's possible that Vans has been shipping out slightly shorter bolts than what the instructions say. The longer ones still seem to engage properly but they do protrude out the rear side (of the tie-down hook bracket) a little more than necessary. I only did one of the two brackets on this wing, since the other side still has the skin clecoed in place for alignment purposes.

Then I got back to installing flush rivets on the inboard top wing skin. I finished another couple dozen rivets or so, completing up through another rib section of the wing. This time I tried flipping the wing down on its side so that I could reach around the main spar and buck the underside of the rivets. This angle is quite a bit more difficult because I can only use feel to position the bucking bar, and I have to get on my knees and look up in order to inspect each shop head. It also took a few rivet attempts to get used to this new riveting orientation. I may need to enlist a riveting buddy to finish the majority of these rivets, or try a different angle.


 
Aug 14, 2022     Skin riveting and prepping aileron hinge bracket - (4.0 hours)       Category: Wings
I started out trying to buck those remaining 5 rivets on the inboard most edge of the rear-spar flange. The slack group recommended using the angled tip of my bucking bar, and although that did let me get 3 of those rivets, the remaining 2 need a sharper tip than my bucking bar. So, I think I'll probably have to find one of those foot-shaped bucking bars and try these later.

Then I made some progress riveting on the nutplates on the inboard edge of the wing. Because I chose to dimple the ribs in the wing-walk area (rather than countersinking the skin), I had to also dimple the nutplates and use slightly longer rivets here too. I also made a little more progress bucking rivets on the skin up to half of the next rib.

Next, I decided to take a break from the skin riveting and work on preparing the replacement aileron hinge bracket. This involved some bandsaw work to cut apart the pieces, belt-sanding, smoothing on the scotch-brite wheel, and scuffing with scotch-brite pads. Then some counter-sinking for flush rivet holes, cleaning, and priming the parts. Finally, I used my hand-squeezer to install the rivets, then clecoed the assembled bracket into place.

What's next? Probably more skin riveting, and maybe attempting to rivet in this aileron hinge bracket into place.


 
Aug 12, 2022     Starting to rivet skins on left wing - (3.0 hours)       Category: Wings
I started by using the oscillating tool to remove a little more material from the overlapping corner of the two upper skins for the left wing. Then I cleaned and sprayed primer on the rib-contact areas on the skins. Once dry, I clecoed the smaller inboard skin section on top of the wing-walk plates and got started installing all of the flush rivets using the pneumatic rivet gun. I ended up using slightly longer rivets than called for by the instructions for the wing-walk area, due to my choice to dimple rather than counter-sink, but that was expected. At the end of the work session, I finished basically all of the inboard-most 4 ribs, which represents the entire reinforced wing-walk section. Although the instructions mention the option of using back-riveting if you want to achieve a smoother surface, I'm just using standard rivet bucking for now.

What's next? There are still 5 more rivets on the trailing edge flange of the rear spar that I have to figure out how to buck due to clearance issues, but I think using the tip of an angled bucking bar will help. I'm also expecting the replacement aileron hinge bracket from the service bulletin kit to arrive


 
Aug 11, 2022     Dimpling outboard upper skin - (2.0 hours)       Category: Wings
I resumed work on the upper wing skins by using an oscillating tool to remove some material from the overlapping seam corner to make the stackup thinner, as per the instructions. After measuring with my digital calipers, I think I will have to come back to this and remove some additional material.

Then i started scuffing the backside of this skin to prepare it for priming, and then dimpling it (except for the area needing additional material thickness removal). I also used the edge rolling tool to add a slight bend on the leading the overlapping edges so that they will sit flush when finally riveted.


 
Aug 10, 2022     New rear spar doubler cut and riveted - (2.0 hours)       Category: Wings
In this session I continued prepping a new rear spar doubler by cutting out the oblong hole for the aileron pushrod, using a series of drill holes and a rounded metal file. Then I primed it, and riveted in the spots that only attach it to the rear spar. I also primed the wing walk doubler plates.

The primer is a different color because I'm trying out NAPA 7220, which is apparently the same as Sherwin Williams GBP 988 self-etching primer, and was highly recommended by a few builders on VAF forums. It definitely seems to spray on thinner and have a smoother less-chalky finish, and dries extremely rapidly.


 
Aug 09, 2022     Vans Lightbox Kit - (3.0 hours)       Category: Workshop
Although not part of the plane, I ordered the Vans Aircraft lightbox kit back at the beginning of January and finally received it yesterday. I had intended to put together this LED sign as a practice kit before I started working on real airplane parts, but shipping delays caused things to arrive out of sequence. In any case, I spent a few hours putting this together so I would have something nice to decorate my workspace.

This kit actually doesn't provide as full guidance about how to do the assembly, at least compared to regular airplane build instructions. You're instead encouraged to personalize it and choose what type of rivet style (flush, universal, or blind) to use for the assembly and have to make your own decisions about what to dimple, countersink, or nothing. I ended up using solid universal rivets for most of the body, blind rivets for the front face, and leaving it unpainted.


 
Aug 07, 2022     Aileron hinge bracket woes - (3.0 hours)       Category: Wings
I received the longer rivets I needed to re-assemble the (Service Bulletin enhanced) aileron hinge bracket, so I started using the hand-squeezer to put it back together and then cleco it onto the wing. Then I started squeezing in the rivets that hold it to the rear spar, and I got half of the rivets in.

Unfortunately, this is where things started to go bad. Due to clearance issues that made some of them difficult to squeeze at a perfectly straight angle, this caused me to get a few badly set and toppled rivets. Attempting to drill these bad rivets out unfortunately caused some off-center and significantly elongated holes in the SB-supplied doublers and the doubler with the aileron pushrod hole. So I think the easier path will be simply order a new Service Bulletin kit and remake these parts due to the importance of this area.

The rest of the session was drilling out the bad parts and using the remaining W-107D from the right wing to start on new one here. I'll still need to order another one for when I eventually do the right wing.

What's next? After finishing fabricating this one new rear spar doubler, I will likely start on preparing the right wing spar while I wait for the replacement SB kit. Or maybe I'll finish up the flaps and ailerons now that I have the VA-140 trailing edge extrusion...


 
Aug 05, 2022     Dimpling wing-walk and inboard upper skin - (2.0 hours)       Category: Wings
This was a brief session to un-cleco the inboard upper skin and the wing-walk doublers, and then begin dimpling them.

Although the instructions recommend countersinking rather than dimpling the skins in the wing-walk area, I've decided to deviate and do dimpling instead. This choice has been made by a number of other builders on VAF for a variety of reasons, but should result in slightly stronger though slightly heavier build (due to no removal of material and needing slightly longer rivets).

I then used my combo belt/disc sander to remove some of the material thickness in the leading edge corner where the two skin pieces overlap. I was initially attempting to use just sandpaper and scotch-brite wheel in my power drill, but those were both taking too long so I switched to the circular part of my combo belt/disc sander and that took care of it in a few seconds.

I also used a scotch-brite pad to scuff up the wing-walk doublers, and the contact areas of the underside of the inboard upper skin, to prepare them for eventual priming.


 
Aug 04, 2022     Finish riveting rear wing spar, starting top skin - (2.0 hours)       Category: Wings
I started out by unclecoing the rear spar and taking it over to the drill press so that I could ream the wing attach bolt hole to its final size. Then I re-clecoed the rear spar back onto the wing and installed all of the rivets that hold the rear spar to the wing ribs. I chose to put the rivet factory heads on the external side of the spar (even though the ribs would be the thinner material), since that would simplify drilling out that rear spar in the future if it ever needed to be done during damage repairs. There are still a few clecos holding the section where the aileron hinge bracket would go, but I am waiting for some longer rivets to be delivered before I finish that part.

The next section relates to installing the top wing skins, so I started by retrieving those two pieces of sheet aluminum and the two wingwalk doubler plates from the garage and clecoing them into place. This really made the wing start to feel like something solid since it adds a lot of structural rigidity to the ribs. Then I match drilled a few places where nutplates would need to be installed along the inboard edge of the wing, and final drilled a few other places in the wingwalk doublers.


 
Aug 03, 2022     Aileron bellcrank and riveting rear spar doublers - (3.0 hours)       Category: Wings
One of the back-ordered things that I received last week was a bag containing the aileron bellcrank brackets, so I started by deburring them, scuffing, and then priming them. These were then bolted onto the main spar using the existing bolts that secure the tiedown mount.

I then started clecoing the freshly primed rear spar and its multiple doublers. The instructions suggest riveting the doublers before clecoing it to the rest of the wing, but you have to be careful not to put rivets into the rib holes when doing that. I opted just to cleco it directly to the rest of the wing and rivet the doublers while it was in place and easy to see where the doublers were located. Skipping over the rib rivets would make it easier to remove the rear spar in case you had to drill out any bad rivets. Fortunately, all of the rivets that I installed with the hand squeezer seemed to go in without any problems.

What's next? Time to actually rivet these ribs to the rear spar, making this even more of a more permanent assembly. Then start working on the top skins for this wing.


 
Aug 02, 2022     More countersinking and priming - (3.5 hours)       Category: Wings
I made a sample coupon of a dimpled #6 screw and used that to countersink the wing access plate holes in the wing spar. There are only 12 of these holes so it was much quicker than the fuel tank countersinking. After countersinking, I used a Touch-n-Prep pen to apply alodine to exposed surfaces.

Then I un-clecoed the rear spar and doubler fork/plates and finished the dimpling in the flanges that I was unable to previously reach. That was followed by some hole and edge deburring, then surface scuffing with a Scotch-Brite pad, then cleaning and priming.

What's next? I think riveting the newly primed rear spar to the ribs.


 
Aug 01, 2022     Countersinking nutplate screwholes in the spar - (2.0 hours)       Category: Wings
With the fuel tank attachment nutplates riveted, I could now start countersinking their screwholes. I made a sample coupon on 0.030" scrap material with a dimpled #8 screw hole, and also the maximum inner/outer hole sizes to simplify checking if I had countersunk far enough yet. Once I had gotten the countersink cage depth set properly, the rest of the holes went along pretty quickly. A surprising amount of aluminum chips were produced, due to the size and number of these holes, but they all seem to be correct.

What's next? I'll need to make another sample coupon for the inspection panel holes since those are a smaller screw size, and then countersink those holes too.


 
Jul 31, 2022     Attaching nutplates to left spar - (3.0 hours)       Category: Wings
I made it back home from Oshkosh on Saturday afternoon; it was lots of fun as always, and only some slight inconveniences caused by weather.

While at Oshkosh, I stopped by the Flyleds booth and decided on going with their lighting package for the standard Van's tips and leading edge lights, rather than the added expense of the ZipTips or AeroLED tips. My Flyleds order has been placed and it should arrive in a few days. I also stopped by the Dynon booth and I'm still leaning towards them, particularly because of their Dynon Fast Track trays and Advanced Control Module (ACM) Jump Start Kit that simplifies most of the avionics wiring. I'll wait until at least next year before ordering the avionics though.

After arriving back home, there were packages containing my back-ordered Wing Kit parts waiting for me. I did a quick inventory of all of the parts and I now have everything for the wings, including the VA-140 trailing edge extrusion and the nutplates for the wing spars.

So I started by attaching the 48 nutplates to the left wing spar, since the spar was still out on my table and in a convenient orientation. With each nutplate, I kept a corresponding screw in its hole while riveting to ensure that there wouldn't be any problems later.

What's next? I need to finish countersinking the nutplate screwholes on the spar, now that all of the nutplates are mounted. I also need to finish the dimpling and priming of the rear spar.


 
Jul 20, 2022     Rear spar dimpling and prep - (2.0 hours)       Category: Wings
This was a short session, and also the last one for at least a week. I started by finishing countersinking the last holes in the rear spar and inboard doubler. There were a few -4 holes in that doubler that needed to be countersunk to accommodate dimpled skin, so I had to make a new hole in my test coupon for that size to verify it. Then I started dimpling the holes in the rear spar flange that I could access. Since I knew I would be taking a break, I didn't want to uncleco the rear spar (in order to access all of the flange holes) quite yet.

Next, I drilled out all of the rivets in the one aileron hinge bracket that had the bad bearing. Although I think I had managed to get the bearing spinning freely after manipulating it enough by hand, I didn't want to risk that it would seize up later so I'm still opting to replace it with a new bearing.

What's next? I'm going to Oshkosh/Airventure for a week and keep an eye out for RV-specific vendors this time. I also want to look at the Dynon avionics booth to see how much I like their UI, before I commit to anything. After I get back, I'll need to remove the rear spar for priming and then start riveting it on.


 
Jul 18, 2022     Match drilling doubler fork - (1.0 hour)       Category: Wings
In this session, I started by flattening the bend out of the doubler fork that will be used on the inboard edge of the rear spar. This part comes from the factory with a slight bend due to the punching process during manufacturing. Then I clecoed it into place on the rear spar and match drilled all of the couple dozen rivet holes in it. Then I mounted the rear spar on top of the ribs on the rest of the wing assembly with clecos, to prepare for the next steps.

What's next? There's some more match drilling I have to do, then some priming prep.


 
Jul 17, 2022     Match drilling rear spar doublers - (3.0 hours)       Category: Wings
This work session involved preparing 3 of the doubler plates that go on the left wing rear spar. These doublers all had to be clamped into place and then match drilled and deburred for the dozen or so holes that go through them.

One of the doublers also had a large teardrop shaped hole that a pushrod will go through, so I had to drill a series of holes around its perimeter and then use a bit of dremel and hand filing to smooth that out to match the original hole.

What's next? There's one more fork-shaped doubler that needs to be flattened and prepared, prior to more paint priming.


 
Jul 16, 2022     Starting on the left rear spar - (5.0 hours)       Category: Wings
I finished up the section 14 work by torquing the rib bolts to the specified value recommended by VAF.forums, and then used torque seal paint to make inspections easier in the future. I also installed a larger rubber grommet into one of the holes of the innermost rib because the intended plastic snap bushing was a little too loose (likely from my poor step-drilling technique of that first rib).

Then I started the first step of section 15 by prepping the aileron hinge brackets. This involved flattening out some of the bend, deburring the holes and edges, scuffing, priming, final drilling, and countersinking some of the rivet holes. Then I got to use my hydraulic press again to press-fit in a bearing, and then hand squeeze some rivets into these multi-piece brackets. One of the brackets is the revised version that is a part of a service bulletin, that was in response to some cracking in this area, so it is obviously much beefier as a result.

Unfortunately, I only realized only after riveting that one of the COM-3-5 bearings in one of these brackets seems to be rotating and pivoting with a lot more friction than the other ones. I'm considering drilling apart that bracket and replacing the bearing with one of the remaining ones and ordering a replacement. I also happened to notice that tail lengths of 3 of the rivets in this bracket were just slightly on the short side, so ordering longer ones might be a good idea anyways.

What's next? The next step for the rear spar section is to begin preparing some doublers for the rear spar itself.


 
Jul 14, 2022     Finished riveting ribs to left main spar - (3.5 hours)       Category: Wings
In order to finish riveting the innermost 3 ribs to the left main spar, I decided to un-cleco them and work on them from outboard to inboard. This would provide the most physical access for riveting since these ribs all faced with the flange side inboard, so this sequence also made the most sense.

Typically the recommendation is to keep the rivet factory head on the thinner metal (which would be the rib flange), so I kind of wanted to continue with that practice here. Unfortunately, the final rib already had the torque tube bracket riveted to it (as per the instructions), so this meant that I couldn't fit my rivet gun if I wanted to keep the factory head on the rib flanges. Since only a handful of rivets were holding that bracket onto the rib, I decided to just drill them out so that I could first attach the rib to the spar, then I would reattach the bracket.

Then I spent a few minutes reading the next section about the rear wing spar, and retrieving and organizing the parts for its aileron hinge brackets from the garage.

What's next? I need to buy a smaller torque wrench (since my current torque wrench is intended for larger sizes), and then do a final tightening of these bolts. Then I can start processing the aileron hinge brackets for the next section.


 
Jul 12, 2022     Riveting the ribs to left main spar - (4.0 hours)       Category: Wings
Tonight, I started riveting the wing ribs to the left main spar. It took a few tries to get the first few rivets set satisfactorily, but once I got the technique figured out and got back in my rhythm it proceeded much more smoothly. There are 14 ribs (but the 1 outermost doesn't require riveting yet), and I did all but the innermost 3 ribs in this session.

While reading some VAF forum threads, I found one that revealed that I should have cut the short J-channel pieces a few days ago from the 8-foot stock rather than the 6-foot stock (which have a specific purpose later on in the fuel tanks). This means that I'll probably be ordering a new 6-foot section of J-channel prior to being able to finish the right-side fully.

What's next? I need to finish riveting those innermost 3 ribs, then retorque all of these bolts


 
Jul 11, 2022     Bushings, riveting, and bolts for left wing ribs - (5.0 hours)       Category: Wings
In this session, I started by re-identifying which ribs went in which position using a process of elimination, since it was too hard to read my hand-written numbers on some of the ribs after priming them. Then I completed the hand-squeezing of universal-head rivets that were in 3 ribs, and installed all of the snap-in plastic snap bushings. I also finished countersinking all of the skin holes on the underside of the left wing spar, then protected all of the freshly exposed metal with my Touch-n-prep Alodine pen. Next step was to identify all of the correct length bolts that go through the wing spar and ribs, and slot them into the correct holes since each rib needs two different length bolts depending on its position.

What's next? I need to torque down all of these spar bolts, and then begin riveting in these ribs to the spar. After that, I think it'll be time to start work on the trailing spar.


 
Jul 10, 2022     Drilling and Priming the left wing ribs - (5.5 hours)       Category: Wings
In this session, I used a new step drill to enlarge the various holes in the left wing ribs. I found writing the desired hole diameters next to their holes on each of the ribs made the step drilling process much quicker, since each rib has different numbers and sizes of holes. After drilling the holes, I deburred them all, then scuffed the surfaces of the ribs, wiped them down with mineral spirits, and sprayed a layer of primer. After both sides had dried for a few minutes, I moved them all inside to finish curing over night.

What's next? I'll need to re-identify which ribs go in which positions, install all of the snap bushings, and start assembling the ribs with clecos.


 
Jul 08, 2022     Left wing ribs clecoed - (2.5 hours)       Category: Wings
In this session, I arranged all of the left wing ribs into their correct positions and temporarily clecoed them into place on the main spar. This allowed me to final drill the bolt holes that secure many of them into position. Then I labelled all of these ribs with numbers, and then removed them off of the spar.

Unfortunately, while assembling the ribs together this allowed me to discover that the one outermost rib needs to be replaced. That rib has the trailing flange that you're intentionally supposed to cut off, but I unfortunately modified a W-1011-R instead of a W-1012-R. Although I still have the W-1012-R rib that I was supposed to use, I now need to order a replacement W-1011-R for eventually completing the right wing.

What's next? I now need to use a step drill to enlarge the holes in these ribs for snap bushings, which will later be used to run electrical wires through


 
Jul 07, 2022     Finished wing rib fluting - (6.5 hours)       Category: Wings
Over the last couple of nights I've continued to work on the trailing wing ribs. This mostly involved making sure the flanges were at 90 degree angles, fluting the flanges so the ribs lay flat, and dimpling all of the skin-contact holes. Unfortunately, I wasted some time and ended up having to re-dimple a few of the ribs because I noticed that my hand squeezer had been loosening the dies gradually after a large number of squeezes. I've also been using scotchbrite wheels in a drill and on the bench grinder to remove the sharp edges from both the lightening holes and the outer edges.

What's next? Maybe priming these ribs, or finishing countersinking the skin holes on the main spar...


 
Jul 05, 2022     Countersinking spar and fluting left wing ribs - (5.5 hours)       Category: Wings
This log entry represents work over several days during this past weekend. I started by continuing with more countersinking of the first side of the left spar. After countersinking, I protected all of the exposed aluminum with a Alodine Touch-N-Prep pen, though the shape of the applicator tip was a little challenging to fit into all of the countersunk holes.

Next was to try to flatten the flap hinge brackets, which were slightly concave from the factory hole-punching process. The instructions recommends a technique of putting the piece in a vice, applying pressure, and then hitting with a hammer. However, I wasn't getting much progress with that method and it was starting to leave marks on the surface, so I switched to using a hydraulic press and that worked out much better.

Then I spent some time preparing the ribs by ensuring the flanges were all 90 degree to their webbing, fluting the flanges to make the ribs sit flat, and removing the part stickers, adhesive residue, and stamped ink marks.

What's next? There are a few more ribs to finish prepping and fluting, and then I can start assembling all of them onto the rib with clecos. I also have more countersinking to do on the other side of the rib.


 
Jun 30, 2022     Spar nutplates and countersinking - (3.0 hours)       Category: Wings
In this session, I finished riveting to the left spar all of the nutplates that had in stock. There are still several dozen places for nutplates that I cannot populate yet, so I will have to come back to those later.

However, I continued making progress countersinking the remaining holes (and researching about the proper depths). These holes need to be countersunk to allow a dimpled wing skin to sit flush in them, so the consensus from the Vans forums is to countersink them to be slightly deeper (0.007" precisely) than what a flush -3 rivet would take.

What's next? Continue on with this countersinking... There are a lot of these holes!


 
Jun 28, 2022     Replacement hinge brackets for right aileron - (4.5 hours)       Category: Wings
The replacement parts for the right aileron hinge brackets from Vans arrived today, to replace the ones that I had countersunk on the wrong sides. So the first step was to use the bandsaw to cut apart the pieces from each other and then use the bench grinder to smooth off the edges. Then I made counter-sunk holes on the correct sides, deburred the holes, scuffed with a Scotchbrite pad, and then painted with primer. After the primer had dried for a few minutes I riveted them onto the aileron spar, and started reassembling the right aileron around it. I had to finish backriveting the end rib halves onto the upper and lower skins, and finish edge-rolling the nose skin in place. Everything else proceeded quite smoothly and I was able to fully rivet on the upper aileron skin. Since I'm still lacking the VA-140 trailing edge extrusions, I can't close up the aileron with lower skins yet so I just cleco'ed it in place for now and have set the right aileron aside and next to the left one.

Overall, the need for me to redo these hinge brackets actually led me to discovering a much better assembly order for these ailerons that eliminates some of the tight spots... I'd recommend squeeze the two end ribs onto the spar first, then squeeze the hinge brackets onto the end ribs, then backrivet the top skin to the end ribs, then attach that to the nose skin+nose ribs. (Normally squeezing the end ribs onto the spar is very difficult due to its proximity to the nose ribs and the top skin.)

I also had a little time to squeeze the rivets that hold the dozen inspection panel nutplates onto the left wing spar. I used a cleco and one of the screws to center these nutplates before riveting in the first side.

What's next? There are a few more nutplates that I can rivet onto the wing spar, once I find the right size screw for them. The nutplate screwholes need to be countersunk to the right size after the nutplates are in.


 
Jun 26, 2022     Drilling holes in my left wing spar - (5.5 hours)       Category: Wings
I decided to move onto the wing spar section, so the first task was to drag the huge spar out of the shipping box and set it across two tables in my workshop. I then had to cut 4 pieces of J-channel aluminum to specified lengths (with a Dremel tool), then clamp them to the sides of the spar, and match-drill dozens of holes through them. Once fully drilled (which required swapping the lower pieces onto the upper side to fully drill), those 4 pieces can be set aside for a later section.

Then I had to final drill and countersink dozens of more holes along the flanges of the spar that would later receive nutplates. Once all of those holes were prepared, I started laying out all of the nutplates into their appropriate locations with clecos. Unfortunately, it looks like among the backordered parts in this kit are several dozen of some of the nutplates. I'll be able to attach the ones that I have, but not all of them for this section.


 
Jun 24, 2022     Right aileron nose skin riveting - (3 hours)       Category: Ailerons
Switching focus back to the right aileron for a little bit, I started by finally removing the protective blue vinyl plastic from the nose skin, deburring the holes, scuffing up areas that I would prime, and then finally spraying on some primer on those interior rivet line areas.

Since I found it difficult to use the air riveter where trailing ribs connect to the left aileron spar, I decided to try the hand squeezer on them while the spar is still unconnected to anything else (the normal order is to back-rivet the trailing ribs to the skins, and then rivet the skins+ribs to the spar). This seemed to work out well and I got some really nice shop heads on these ribs.

Once the primer on the nose skin had dried for a few minutes, I started riveting the nose ribs and counter-weight to the nose skin. I was able to do all of these rivets with just the hand squeezer and hand rivet puller, except for one rivet that needed the air rivet gun. There was still air pressure from the day before, so I didn't even need to turn on the compressor for that.

What's next? I couldn't really proceed with anything else until I receive the replacement hinge brackets from Vans, which should arrive on Tuesday, so I'll set the ailerons to the side and start working on the actual wings next.


 
Jun 24, 2022     Continue riveting the left aileron - (4 hours)       Category: Ailerons
Tonight I continued the riveting work on the left aileron by using the pneumatic rivet gun for the places I couldn't get with a squeezer. The nose ribs are now fully riveted to the spar, and the top skin is fully riveted to the nose skin and spar. I had a few struggles with some of the -4 rivets that hold the main ribs to the spar, mostly due the angles of physical access.

What's next? The bottom skin is now the only thing on the left aileron held in by clecos, but I cannot proceed any further without having the backordered VA-140 trailing edge extrusion. Vans still hasn't shipped out the replacement parts that I ordered last week for the right aileron hinge brackets, so I won't be able to make too much progress on the right aileron either. I have a little more I can do on the nose skin on the right aileron, but after that I might start work on the actual wings next.


 
Jun 22, 2022     Flush riveting nose skin of the left aileron - (2.5 hours)       Category: Ailerons
In this work session, I started by taking off the temporarily assembled nose skin and prepping it for final assembly. This meant I had to remove the blue vinyl covering from both sides, some final hole deburring, dimple all of the rivet holes that would be receiving flush rivets, edge-rolling the two trailing edges using the special rolling tool from Cleaveland Tools, scuff the parts that would be primed, and then actually prime those portions of the nose skin. Again, I tried to minimize wasted primer by only painting it on the portions that would be in contact with the spar, other internal aluminum ribs, or the stainless steel counterweight tube.

After that, I started assembling the nose ribs into the nose skin and flush riveting the easy rivets in the nose skin. The assembly was a little confusing here because I wasn't following the order of operations strictly enough, so I ended up having to drill out a handful of the rivets just after installing them. I got a little more than half of them with hand-squeezer or hand-riveter (there were a few blind rivets to install), but there are still a few more that were too hard to reach and I will need to use the pneumatic rivet gun on tomorrow.


 
Jun 21, 2022     Back riveting the stiffeners to the aileron skins - (2.5 hours)       Category: Ailerons
I got to do some back-riveting for the first time, and it went amazingly well. It seems much easier to get consistent results back-riveting than normal riveting, at least from this session's experience. Rather than special back-riveting tape, i just used blue painter's tape and that worked perfectly fine. I got all 32 of the the stiffeners attached (8 on each of the 4 skins) without a single bad rivet that required drilling out. Then I back-riveted the 4 parts of the hinge brackets to the left skins, though the shape of those brackets made the process a little tight.

I must say, being able to ask Alexa to turn on or off the air compressor in the garage (in the adjacent room to my workshop) without having to go out there and flip the switch is pretty convenient. I also picked up a pair of bluetooth earmuffs that let me listen clearly to music while riveting, which is also pretty nice.

What's next? I need to start doing the final prep on the nose skins, dimpling, priming, and edge-rolling them. Looking ahead, it seems like I'm going to very soon be blocked again by the back-ordered VA-140 (trailing edge extrusion) parts, so I may need to pick another section to work on next.


 
Jun 21, 2022     Primed right aileron skins - (1.5 hours)       Category: Ailerons
I carefully drilled out the rivets holding the mistaken hinge brackets for the right aileron and clecoed them back in the correct way. I've already ordered replacements for those two brackets, since the countersinks on the wrong sides are not recoverable, so it'll probably be at least a week before I receive the new ones from Vans. However, I was still able to use the bad ones to check the correct faces of the right aileron skins and make some progress on them. I started by removing their blue protective plastic, dimpling them to eventually receive their flush rivets, scuffing the areas that will receive primer, and masking off the trailing edges (that will be receiving adhesive for the trailing edge extrusion). Then I sprayed them with primer where they'll contact the ribs/stiffeners.

(This was a short session because I spent the rest of my evening doing some unrelated metalwork for the ceiling fan in my hangar, which needed the 5-foot downrod support tube to be cut down to 3-foot, and re-drilling the holes in that tube.)

What's next? I'll need to practice some back-riveting, and then move onto attaching these stiffeners to the skins.


 
Jun 17, 2022     Left aileron skin prep - (4 hours)       Category: Ailerons
This time I worked mostly on prepping the left aileron skins by dimpling them, scuffing the inside, and then painting primer just on the areas where they would be contacting other ribs/stiffeners. This also meant identifying and labelling which side would be the inside, and also taping off the trailing edge to prevent primer going where the adhesive would later need to go.

I also spent a little time painting primer on the stiffeners and then dimpling them once the primer was dry. I suppose I could have dimpled them before priming them, but it didn't seem to make much of a difference.

Then I started looking at the skins for the right aileron so I could at least label the correct sides there. That also required temporarily setting up the right aileron hinge bracket ribs in their correct position to align the skin with them. Unfortunately this revealed that I had apparently made mistake while assembling those two hinge brackets incorrectly and counter-sunk the wrong sides of them. Basically I had created matched sets of just left-aileron brackets, instead of sets for left and right. Since these are kind of structurally important, simply counter-sinking the other side of them would probably not leave enough strength in the remaining material, so I'll need to replace them.

What's next? I'll need to verify this a little more closely, but I think I'll just need to order a new A-1006-1 and A-1007-1, which are about $5 each. Then either finish prepping the right aileron skin, and doing some back riveting of the stiffeners.


 
Jun 16, 2022     Right aileron nose caught up and stiffeners cut - (4.5 hours)       Category: Ailerons
I repeated all of yesterday's work to assemble the aileron nose and drill the aileron counterweight tube on the right aileron, so now both the left and right sides are caught up to each other. This time things went a little more quickly because I knew what to expect when doing all of the drilling and how to temporarily remove the rib while marking the hole positions.

The other big progress I made was possible after I received an installed a new blade for my band saw. This finer tooth-pitch blade (62" x 1/8" x 14 TPI) is also narrower and allows for easier turns to be made. In any case, this allowed me to finish cutting all of the rib stiffeners from the angle stock that was supplied. I also scuffed all of these stiffeners with the scotch-brite pad, and buffed all of the rough edges with the scotch-brite wheel on the bench grinder.

What's next? All of these rib stiffeners will now need to be painted with primer. Then all of the aileron skins will need to be scuffed, edge-rolled, dimpled, and primed as well.


 
Jun 15, 2022     Drilling the left aileron counterweight - (3.0 hours)       Category: Ailerons
Tonight started out by cleco'ing together the nose ribs, nose skin, and spar of the left aileron together so that I could match-drill the counterweight. The counterweight is actually just a stainless steel tube positioned at the nose of the aileron, but it must be match-drilled in 14 places and the final-drilled to the needed size.

Drilling through this stainless steel tubing definitely took some life out of my drill bits, and I had to switch to a newer drill bit part way through when I realized that I was making really slow progress drilling. Fortunately, I stocked up a few spare drill bits around just for this reason. I'll just also mention that it was very nice that Vans pre-cut these counterweight tubes to the right length at the factory, because cutting them to length (as the instructions says you might have to do) would have been annoying to do with just a hacksaw.

What's next? Assuming my new bandsaw blade arrives tomorrow, I should be able to resume work cutting out the ribs for the trailing edge of the ailerons. I might also work on doing the same steps from tonight on the right aileron.


 
Jun 14, 2022     Riveting aileron nose rib brackets - (3.0 hours)       Category: Ailerons
Tonight's work was mostly riveting together the multiple pieces that form some of the ribs, nose ribs, and hinge brackets of the ailerons. All of these rivets were flush rivets that I had to prepare with the countersink drill cage. A couple of the pieces also required a nutplate to be riveted on as well. All of the riveting done tonight was just done with my hand squeezer. Prior to riveting all of these pieces, I spray painted a little more primer on these parts for corrosion prevention.

Although this primer dries to the touch pretty quickly (about 15 minutes), it unfortunately is still pretty soft for at least a full day so it easy to accidentally scratch or stick to other contacting surfaces for that period. I'll try to leave freshly primed parts overnight before doing their next steps, but that isn't always the most convenient for keeping up progress.

I also had some time to prep to prep the aileron spars by dimpling the flanges where the skins will go, deburring the lightening holes and edges, scuffing the surfaces with a scotch-brite pad, and applying some primer.

What's next? It looks like I'll be mock-assembling the aileron spar, nose ribs, and drilling the stainless steel counterbalance tubes.


 
Jun 13, 2022     Continue prepping aileron parts - (6.5 hours)       Category: Ailerons
Last week I was traveling for work, so I wasn't able to get as much progress done as I would have liked. I did bring a box of parts to the hotel so that I could do some debur and scotch-brite scuffing work.

I got back to my workshop at home last night and resumed prepping the parts using my bench grinder and bandsaw. I have ordered a higher tooth-pitch bandsaw blade, since the wood blade my saw came with is a little too aggressive for this thinner material in the ribs. Then I dimpled and countersunk a few of the holes in the nose rib parts before doing a quick spray of some primer to them.

What's next? I should be able to start squeezing rivets in the first set of these nose ribs tomorrow, and finish counter-sinking more of the holes in the trailing ribs.


 
Jun 05, 2022     Starting on the ailerons - (2 hours)       Category: Ailerons
Since I'm setting aside the flaps until I receive the backordered part, I decided to start working on the ailerons. The first step was to take out the punched pieces, remove their protective blue plastic vinyl, and write on their part numbers with a Sharpie marker. I also had to cut several apart using the bandsaw, since a few of the parts were still connected to each other in order to simplify Van's manufacturing processes. After that I used the Scotch-Brite wheel on the bench grinder to remove the rough saw remnants and smooth those edges.

What's next? Since I'll be traveling for a few days to Houston for a work event, I've packed a small box with these parts and some supplies (deburring tool, metal files, and scotch-brite pads) so that I can try to get some progress done while sitting in the hotel room in the evenings.


 
Jun 04, 2022     Finish riveting top skin of left flap - (5.5 hours)       Category: Flaps
This log entry is actually a few hours of work over 3 days. Basically, I've now finished all steps on the left flap that I had previously done to the right flap. This means that I've finished flush riveting the row shared by the nose skin and the top skin, and all of the top skin ribs except for the trailing two rows. The next step would be on page 21-09 to finish the trailing two rows and then rivet on the bottom skin, but I don't want to do any of that until I receive the backordered VA-140 trailing edge extrusion.

What's next? I will set both of these partially completed flaps aside and start on another section. I've not heard any word back from Van's Aircraft yet about when to expect the remaining parts, but my order status page still shows that they know I have backordered parts. However, I won't have any time over the next week for plane building since I'll be attending a work event.


 
May 31, 2022     Started riveting on left flap - (5.0 hours)       Category: Flaps
After a bit of a break from planebuilding over the weekend, I resumed work today by finishing dimpling the left flap spar and all of the ribs. I then started hand squeezing rivets into the flap hinge brackets and nose rib assemblies. The hand squeezer still seems like my preferred riveter for things when I can use it.

Then I started using the air rivet gun to attach the ribs and brackets to the left flap spar, however I only got about half-way through this part before I had to call it a night because it was getting late.


 
May 27, 2022     More right flap riveting and priming the left flap - (6.0 hours)       Category: Flaps
After getting a recommendation from Van's Builder Support to just continue working and deal with the minor dent with body filler prior to painting, I proceeded to finish flush riveting the top skin of the left flap. It was nice seeing that side of the flap looking nearly complete. I decided to pause work on the right flap since the next steps would be assuming that the trailing edge extrusion was already cut and prepared for riveting (but that part is still on backorder).

So, I resumed work on the left flap by disassembling the clecos holding it together. I then dimpled the skins, scuffed with Scotch-Brite pads, and sprayed some primer on them. This time I did remember to mask off the trailing edge of the skins prior to priming, so I didn't need to remove the primer with acetone like I had to on the right flap skins. I then did the machine counter-sinking of the flap hinge brackets where they will later be double-flush riveted. Finally, I scuffed and primed the rest of the ribs and internal parts of the left flap, before temporarily reassembling the pieces with clecos.

What's next? I realized that I had skipped over some dimpling of these left flap parts, so I'll have to check over all of those parts and then proceed with riveting them together. Hopefully I'll have a bit of time this Memorial Day weekend to make some good progress, but I do have some construction work to do out at the hangar as well.


 
May 26, 2022     Flush riveting right flap skin - (4 hours)       Category: Flaps
I scuffed up and primed the inside contact areas of the three pieces of the flap skins and then started reassembling them together with clecos. However, I quickly noticed that one of the flap hinge brackets wasn't in the correct place because it wouldn't fit through the hole in the nose skin. Realizing my mistake during yesterday's riveting, I drilled out and reinstalled one bracket and one rib in their correct locations. I remembered to bend the edges of the nose skin using the Cleaveland edge rolling tool, and then reassembled everything.

Then I got my first experience doing flush riveting on the nose skin. After a little bit of practice on some scrap material, I felt ready to tackle the first row of flush rivets. That seemed to be going pretty well almost up to the end of that row, when my rivet set slipped and left a little dent in the nose skin. I'll have to get some second opinions about it, but I'm leaning towards just using some body filler later. Or I could pull that skin off and hammer it flat from the inside. Alternatively, I could order a replacement nose skin ($38 plus shipping).

UPDATE: Vans Builder Support has replied and indicated that the dent is still airworthy and could be safely filled prior to painting. The risk of damage caused by attempting to remove that many rivets perfectly is higher than the reward.


 
May 26, 2022     More riveting of stuff to the right flap spar - (1.5 hours)       Category: Flaps
Tonight was a short session that was primarily consumed by getting some familiarity with the pneumatic rivet gun and the offset rivet set. By using them together I was able to get the rivets in the remaining rib of the right flap. I also took the time to drill out the one rivet in the rib of the hinge bracket from last night that I had to install reverse due to clearance issues with the hand squeezer (I actually ended up removing all 3 of the rivets in that rib and setting them all using the rivet gun).

What's next? I think I'll need to get some more practice with the rivet gun before I feel comfortable using it on the skins. I also need to scuff and prime the inside of the skins before I start attaching them for riveting.


 
May 24, 2022     Riveting stuff to the right flap spar - (2.5 hours)       Category: Flaps
I continued with the hand squeezing of rivets tonight, first starting with the double-flush rivets that hold the two halves of the flap hinge brackets together. The double-flush technique is an interesting concept, but I wasn't able to get it to be completely flush on the shop-head side of the piece.

I then continued to rivet the ribs, nose ribs, and flap hinge brackets to the flap spar, still using just my hand squeezer. A few of the ribs were a little tricky to get access to, and I had to reverse sides that I put the shop head on for several of the ribs in order to make squeezing easier. Unfortunately, I had to end the night with one of the ribs un-riveted because it was simply undoable with my squeezer due to the proximity to the flap hinge brackets. I suspect they'll be easier to rivet with the pneumatic rivet gun and an offset bit, but I'll have to figure that out tomorrow.


 
May 23, 2022     Priming and riveting right flap internals - (4 hours)       Category: Flaps
Today was the first day for priming parts. I've decided to use a light single coat of Rustoleum's self-etching metal primer for all of these parts, based on its convenience and recommendation by others. This primer also has the benefit that it dries in only 10 minutes, so it's very quick to get back to work.

After priming the spar, ribs, nose ribs, and flap hinge brackets, I started using my hand squeezer to set the first rivets on the assemblies used on the right flap. I also got some practice drilling out bad rivets after seeing a handful of them were incorrectly set crooked, smiley, or with a gap. However, I was able to successfully remove and re-squeeze those few rivets without any drama or damage to the pieces. Then I clecoed the parts all back to the spar.

What's next? I have to finish assembling the hardware parts on the flap hinge brackets and then set the special "double-flush" rivets tomorrow. Then I'll probably rivet what I can to the spar.


 
May 22, 2022     Dimpling right flap and SB review - (3 hours)       Category: Flaps
With the DRDT2 support table complete, I could finish dimpling the rest of the holes in the right flap skins. I think all holes in the right flap are fully done, and ready for priming.

I decided to take a quick look at the contents of the Service Bulletin packet that was included with the wing kit, just to make sure it didn't affect anything in the flaps. As it turned out, it was for the aileron hinge brackets so I located the section it in the instructions that it seemed to relate to and wrote some annotations so that I wouldn't forget to incorporate it later. I also individually labelled, cut, and lightly deburred some of those SB parts so that I could keep them together for later assembly.


 
May 22, 2022     Woodworking building DRDT2 table - (4 hours)       Category: Workshop
Today work was mostly woodworking tasks, since I wanted to get rid of the delivery pallet and the remains of the larger wing kit crate because next week was my city's bulk garbage collection. I used the plans supplied with the DRDT2 dimpler to construct its support table using the plywood from the top of the crate. I didn't cover it with carpeting yet, but some leftover cardboard seems to work well enough for now.

I also took some time to sand down the wing cradles that I had already cut from the top of the crate. I also cut the 2x2 clamping blocks that I'll need to later attach to those cradles.

With that done, I pulled the old crate and pallet to the curb and I'm now able to park one of my cars in the garage again...


 
May 21, 2022     Countersinking the right flap hinge brackets - (2.0 hours)       Category: Flaps
The instructions call for creating the FL-0009 drill jig out of some 1/8" angle aluminum, which I conveniently was able to find an old scrap of at the hangar. After a bit of processing on the band saw, bench grinder, drill press, and belt sander I had a nice drill jig completed.

Once the drill jig was in hand, I used my drill-stop cage tool to countersink the four holes in each of the four flap hinge brackets to just the right depth for a flush rivet. Then a final debur of their rear mating sides.

A package arrived by USPS today from Van's Aircraft with the washers and blind rivets that I reported were missing from my inventory. I reported it on the 12th and it came on the 21st, so that took just 9 days, which isn't that bad. I've filed away those parts into their appropriate bags or jars they were missing from so I can easily find them later.


 
May 20, 2022     Dimpling and scuffing right flap - (3.0 hours)       Category: Flaps
I disassembled the rest of the right flap so that I could continue dimpling the rest of the ribs and skins. I was doing as much of the dimpling using my hand squeezer, but I eventually needed my first use of the DRDT2 dimpler in order to reach some of the holes that were too far from the edge of the sheet metal.

After that I started using a scotch brite pad to scuff up all of the ribs and brackets to prepare them for eventually being primed. For the flap spar, I found that a flap disk made from scotch brite pads worked pretty well down its recessed channel.


 
May 18, 2022     Drilling and dimpling the right flap - (2.5 hours)       Category: Flaps
I match-drilled the final two places on each of the nose ribs of the right flap. Then I installed a bolt and some washers in the two flap hinge brackets of the right flap and match-drilled the holes that will hold the two bracket pairs together. Then I started disassembling the right flap so I could debur those new holes, and I started on some of the dimpling that I could easily accomplish with my hand squeezer.

What's next? I'll probably need cut and assemble some wood sleds for my DRDT2 dimpler in order to safely dimple the holes in these flap skins soon.


 
May 17, 2022     Mock assembly of the right flap - (2.5 hours)       Category: Flaps
I spent a little time disassembling some of the clecos from the left flap so that I could finish match-drilling the last hole in the flap hinge bracket that was too close to the skin to drill. I then deburred the two holes in each of the nose ribs that had been previously match-drilled through the nose skin.

After deciding to make some progress on the right flap, I fetched all of its pieces from my shelf and clecoed all of its parts together. Nothing too eventful, but it went quicker than the left flap since I knew what to expect this time.

What's next? I didn't have time to start on any of its match drilling tonight, but I'll get to that tomorrow and that should bring both flaps to the same state of completion.


 
May 16, 2022     Match drilling the left flap nose ribs - (1 hour)       Category: Flaps
This was a short session because I started late tonight. After researching a little more on the edge bending of the nose skin, I decided to wait until after I dimple it to apply the bend using the Cleaveland edge seamer tool. So I proceeded to assemble the nose skin with the rest of the pieces and cleco'ed everything in place. This allowed me to match-drill the two remaining holes in each of the nose ribs.

What's next? Normally, I should also be match-drilling the trailing edge aluminum extrusion (VA-140) before going further, but that is back-ordered still. So I think my next step will be to disassemble these pieces, deburr, prime, and possibly rivet the internal assemblies. Or I could set this aside and start on the right flap...


 
May 15, 2022     Left flap ribs, hinge brackets, and cleco assembly - (3 hours)       Category: Flaps
Reading online, others had removed the spare tab off the flap ribs by using either metal snips or a dremel cutoff disk. I ended up using metal snips, and then a needle file to smooth off the cut surface.

I then assembled all of these flap ribs to the flap spar and attach the upper and lower skins in place using clecos, just so that some additional match drilling could be done. I fitted the appropriate AN-bolt through the flap hinges to align them, clamped them together, and match-drilled through 3 of the 4 holes without problem (I'll have to do the last 1 hole in each hinge after I remove those pieces off the spar again, due to clearance issues with my drill).

Unfortunately, one of the parts that was backordered when my wing kit shipped was the triangular aluminum extrusion VA-140 used on the trailing edges of these flaps. So I'll have to skip over some of the steps and come back to them later.

What's next? I need to next decide how I intend to bend the edges of the nose skin, before I can attach it and do more match drilling. Cleaveland Tools included an edge/seaming tool, but that might not be the best thing to use here. Other people talked about using a piece of wood with a slot cut in it. I'll have to do some more research. But it's nice to see how rigid this flap is after just a few clecos holding things together.


 
May 14, 2022     Prepping left flap ribs - (3.5 hours)       Category: Flaps
I finished up page 21-02 and started working on page 21-03. This involved buffing the edges of the flap nose ribs with my Scotch-brite wheel to make the tabs on the leading edge contour smoother. Then there was some match drilling and final drilling of the "Inboard Rod End Rib Subassembly" and "Outboard Rod End Rib Subassembly". The "Left Hinge Pair Rib Subassembly" (and Right) involved more clecos and match drilling.

Throughout the last couple days, I've been trying to focus on first building just the left side flap and just using parts ending in "-L", but I started to realize that the directions were actually needing me to use parts that had a "-R" suffix even on the left side. So this meant pulling out more of the parts that I had been setting aside for later and deburring/prepping them so that I would have all of the needed parts for the left flap. This just means that I'll have less prep-work to do later when I start on the right flap.

Moving onto a new part: the main ribs for the flap. I started by removing their blue plastic and labeling them, as usual. Then used pliers to eliminate the "pucker" in the edge cutouts, caused by incomplete bending at the factory.

What's next? The next step tomorrow will be to cut off an extra tab on these ribs, but I think I will need to use a Dremel cut-off wheel since my bandsaw wouldn't be able to cut just one side of it. I'll have to do some research to see what other people do here.


 
May 13, 2022     Flap hinge brackets - (2.5 hours)       Category: Flaps
I spent a little bit of time folding up the packing paper left over from the shipment crates, so the floor of my garage is visible again. Back to page 21-02... I also finished cutting out the wing cradles and the flap cradles from the leftover plywood from the crates. I then marked, drilled, and deburred 4 holes along the flanges of the four FL-1007L (flap hinge bracket).


 
May 12, 2022     Wing kit inventory complete, starting on the flaps - (3 hours)       Category: Flaps
Inventory of the remaining items in the wing kit is complete. No other missing items were encountered (besides the backordered ones and the washers I mentioned yesterday). All of the kit items were organized on my new shelves grouped by letter prefix (A, FL, W, T, other). I'm using the two shelves next to each other so that the long items can span across them. I'm planning on leaving the wing spars, the uncut tubes, and uncut J-channel in the long crate for now. The other crate has been emptied and I've stacked the skins upright against the garage wall for now.

I've decided to skip ahead and start work on the flaps (section 21) since it has fewer components and they are easier/cheaper to replace if I make any mistakes, since this will be my first time working on anything. I decided to warm up by trying out the scotch-brite wheel to deburr the edges of the four FL-1007-L pieces, which seemed to work well. I also ended up rearranging my workshop by moving around the worktables so the powertools could be against a wall--I think that'll help reduce the dust going into the rest of the house.

I started cutting out the cradles that were drawn on the lid of one of the crates with my jigsaw, but I'll need to finish that tomorrow when it's not so late and I can make more noise.


 
May 11, 2022     Wing kit delivery and inventory - (6 hours)       Category: Wings
The wing kit was delivered today in two boxes by ABF freight without any surprises. There were a number of items listed as back-order on the inventory sheet, so those will be shipped to me later at some point (mostly things like pushrods and some bags that had nutplates). I had to go out and buy a couple more plastic shelving units to help storing these things as I take them out of the crates.

After counting things, I've been keeping the "bags" of mixed items together since they seem to be grouped by tasks. However, the "subkits" of larger punched aluminum pieces are grouped together just for the purposes of shipping, so there's no real benefit to keeping them together.

The bags of rivets (only the ones that have more than a couple dozen rivets in them) have been put into 9 oz plastic "spice jars" that I've labelled with the rivet type. The nutplates have also been put into a plastic drawer system and labelled too.

I've completed the inventory of the small parts and subkit 1, so I'm more than half-way through the entire inventory. What remains for inventory and organization is mostly just the spar, angle pieces, and larger cut aluminum pieces. I found one parts bag that was missing all of one type of washer, so I'll contact Van's Aircraft about that once I'm done with inventory.


 
Apr 26, 2022     Finished casters on second worktable - (1 hour)       Category: Workshop
I ended up having the use an orbital sander to take a little bit off of two of the legs to get things to sit precisely flat.

I also installed some replacement window shades in the workshop to limit the heat that'll being coming in during the summer.

My workshop is in the area that would normally be a formal dining room, but I've never actually needed more than the breakfast table area that is adjacent to the kitchen. Some friends have suggested plastic sheeting to curtain off the workshop from the rest of the house, and possibly HEPA air filtration to keep the dust down. I'll have to see how much of an issue that actually becomes once I get started, but I'll definitely be doing messy things (like painting and sanding fiberglass) outside or in the garage.

Although I ordered both the empennage and wing kits in January 2022, the wing kit is scheduled to be the first one arriving. Crating for the wings is currently scheduled for May 2 2022 - May 6 2022, with shipping to be done after that....


 
Apr 25, 2022     Finished assembly of second worktable - (2.3 hours)       Category: Workshop
The second table was finished up, but there was a little bit of wobble when I put the table back upright on the floor. I didn't have time to actually install the caster wheels in this session, but I set out the parts to prepare to install them the next day.


 
Apr 24, 2022     Started assembly of second worktable - (1.5 hours)       Category: Workshop
The assembly of the second worktable is going faster now that I know how things were intended to go together.


 
Apr 22, 2022     Finished first worktable - (3 hours)       Category: Workshop
Finished assembling worktable 1. I also mounted some retractable caster wheels that I had ordered from Amazon. These allow the table to sit completely on the floor when the wheels aren't necessary, keeping it rigid and stable for normal use.


 
Apr 21, 2022     Started assembling workbench 1 - (3 hours)       Category: Workshop
Finished cutting all of the wood for the two workbenches. Started assembling the first workbench, using glue and screws.


 
Apr 20, 2022     Continued cutting wood for workbenches - (2 hours) Category: Workshop
More cutting of wood... (no pictures taken)
 
Apr 16, 2022     Started cutting wood for workbenches - (2 hours)       Category: Workshop
Purchased the wood for the EAA standard workbench and got it transported home. Home Depot seemed to have slightly better pricing than Lowe's this time, Although I had them cut the plywood for me, I opted to cut all of the 2x4's myself at home. I started making some of the first cuts using my new bandsaw and a jigsaw. I know a chopsaw or tablesaw would definitely have been more appropriate, but I just wanted to use tools I had already.


 
Jan 23, 2022     Got a wing cart - (4 hours)       Category: Workshop
A colleague and fellow builder alerted me to a posting on vansairforce of someone nearby getting rid of their RV-14 wing cart because they had progressed past the stage of needing it anymore. It was only about 1.5 hours' drive away at Brenham airport, a location I've flown to many times before but never driven to that airport before. After reaching out to that builder, I planned the meeting to pick it up, which ended up needing a bit of disassembly in order to fit in my Jeep Liberty SUV. Before heading back, I had lunch at the airport diner (which had just recently reopened under new ownership).

Once I got back home, I reassembled it using the existing screw holes and just a few new screws to replace some of the stripped ones. I noticed that the caster wheels also needed a bit of lubrication, so I added some oil too. One of my cats has already found it to be a nice place to rest, at least while the cart is still empty.


 


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