4/18/2021 – 0.2 hours
4/25/2021 – 1.4 hours
The first step in this section is to separate the bellcrank ribs. I decided to do this a little early because I had the bandsaw out to trim the aft bottom skin. The bandsaw made the task very quick and easy. The separated edges of the bellcrank ribs are very long and ended up with several tabs that had to be removed and deburred. This was a good opportunity to try a hand-held grinder with a 2” cut-and-polish wheel. I clamped the ribs to a board, and the hand-held grinder did a good job of quickly removing the tabs. One note of caution – make sure the grinder is turning toward the board or bench where the part is clamped, or it could pull the part off the board and bend it.

I finished deburring the ribs, and then cleco'd the battery angles to the ribs to final drill the #30 holes where they attach. I noticed an error I made earlier where I removed a small notch from the end of the left battery angle (F-1037C) instead of the right battery angle (F-1037B). I corrected the missing notch in the right battery angle, and I don't think the extra notch in the left battery angle will be an issue. I sent a note to Van's builder support about the notch in the left battery angle since this is the time to correct it with a replacement part if that is required. Van's builder support confirmed that the notch in the left battery angle does not impact anything, and encouraged me to “build on.” Apparently I am not the first RV-14 builder to make this mistake.
[Bandsaw, Sharpie, Straight-Edge, Deburring Tools, #30 Drill, Dremel, Metal Cutting Wheel, Hand-Held Grinder, 2” Cut-and-Polish Wheel]

4/26/2021 – 1.1 hours
I wanted to take advantage of the good weather today to prime, so I focused on final preparation of the bellcrank ribs. I pre-cleaned and scuffed the ribs, and then set up to dimple the holes in the bottom flanges and the top hole in the forward flanges. I started dimpling with the C-Frame, but access to the bottom flange holes was less than ideal. I switched to the pneumatic squeezer to do the dimpling job. The squeezer isn't as good at dimpling as the C-Frame, but the results with the squeezer are still good. After dimpling the holes, I degreased the bellcrank ribs and completed the priming.
[22” C-Frame, Pneumatic Squeezer, 1/8” Dimple Dies, 3/32” Reduced Diameter Dimple Dies, Maroon Scotch Brite Pad, Dawn Dish Detergent, Dupli-Color Degreaser, Dupli-Color Self-Etching Automotive Primer (Green – Rattle Can)]

4/27/2021 – 0.6 hours
4/28/2021 – 0.4 hours
Bulkhead #6 (F-01406B) goes across the bottom of the fuselage just aft of the baggage area. It has several nutplate attach areas, systems holes, and cutouts. Preparing the bulkhead started with the standard process of deburring holes and edges. I finished the initial part preparation by scruffing (scrub/scuff) with a maroon Scotch Brite pad and Dawn detergent.
[Edge and Hole Deburring Tools, Maroon Scotch Brite Pad, Dawn Detergent]

4/29/2021 – 0.6 hours
The next preparation step for Bulkhead #6 is dimpling select holes in the web and all of the holes in the lower flange. The two outboard #30 holes at the top of the bulkhead web are dimpled flush on the forward side. The two #30 holes at the top of the web near the center are also dimpled. These dimples line up with the ones at the top of the bellcrank ribs. Finally, all of the nutplate attach holes are dimpled flush on the forward side. There are 9 straight nutplates, including one in the center of the web and two on the short top flange of the part. There are also two 90-degree nutplates near the center of the web. The straight nutplates come pre-dimpled, but the 90-degree nutplates need to be dimpled by the builder. Definitely take some time on this step to ensure the correct holes are dimpled in the correct direction!
[22” C-Frame, 1/8” Dimple Dies, 3/32” Dimple Dies, 3/32” Reduced Diameter Dimple Dies]

5/3/2021 – 2.9 hours
The battery angles are riveted to the bellcrank ribs to complete that sub-assembly. The trick to this step is matching the correct battery angle with its bellcrank rib, and then ensuring the parts are aligned correctly. If you cleco parts together and notice holes that don't line up, you've probably done something wrong! Fortunately, you are likely to correct a mismatch before the riveting begins. The other item of note is that the left battery angle does not reach the forward hole on the left bellcrank rib, so that hole is left empty when the parts are riveted together. The actual riveting is pretty standard. I put the manufactured heads of the rivets against the thinner bellcrank ribs.

The finishing step for bulkhead #6 is attaching several nutplates and the bellcrank rib assemblies to the bulkhead. I used the pneumatic squeezer to set the flush-head rivets for the nut plates. The bellcrank ribs are attached with a flush rivet at the top and 4 universal rivets below it. I used the pneumatic squeezer for the two top and two bottom rivets, but the yoke wasn't long enough for the universal head rivet in the middle of the bulkhead. I also noted that the squeezer worked, but access to the rivets with the squeezer wasn't great. I used the rivet gun on the center rivet, which would have been a better choice for all of the rivets that attach the bellcrank ribs to the bulkhead.
[Pneumatic Squeezer, 3” Yoke, 2 1/2" Longeron Yoke, Flat Squeezer Sets, 1/8” Cupped Squeezer Set, 3X Rivet Gun, 1/8” Cupped Rivet Set, Tungsten Bucking Bar, Bench Clamps, Bench Vise]