Initial Prep (Debur, Trim, Drill, and Cut)
5/12/22 – 1.4h
I took another look at the forward wing walk doubler on the right wing after reading another build log about how their doubler was just a bit long and over-lapped the main spar. My doubler had a very slight overlap as well, so I took a few passes with the file to just remove the overlap. That won't make a huge difference, but might help the forward edge of the skin rivet tighter to the spar without creating a crease. It was also a good way to procrastinate before starting to rivet the top skins to the ribs and spars. Riveting always makes me a little apprehensive, so I like to look busy even though I'm really not!
[Flat File, ScotchBrite Pad, Primer for Touch-Up]

Assemble
5/13/22 – 3.3h
5/16/22 – 1.0h
5/17/22 – 1.3h
5/18/22 – 2.7h
5/30/22 – 1.1h
5/31/22 – 1.0h
6/1/22 – 1.2h
6/2/22 – 1.8h
6/5/22 – 1.7h
6/5/22 – 3.0h
6/8/22 – 1.1h
6/9/22 – 1.3h
6/10/22 – 3.1h
6/12/22 – 2.2h
First, a huge shout-out to Greg for his invaluable help on both the right and left wings! Greg is a new RV-14A builder, and volunteered several hours to help me set most of the rivets forward of the J-Stiffeners on both wing skins. My arms are not long enough to buck all the rivets toward the leading edge myself, and Greg's help was essential! It was a great learning experience for both of us, and the rivets we set as a team came out great! Thank you!!!

I placed the wings with the forward spar down on folded saw-horses on the floor. That provided access for bucking the rivets by reaching over the rear spar for most of the rivets on the wing. I started in the center of the wing and worked my way up and down each rib toward the wing root and wing tip. I attached the inboard skin first, and then used the center-out method on the outboard skin. A small rectangular tungsten bucking bar worked well for almost all of the rivets with pretty good results. Things get a little tight near the rear spar, so I had to go with a bucking bar with an angled face for the last two or three rivets on each rib. I also used the angled face bucking bar on the rivets closest to the rib doublers for the flap hinge brackets. It is very tight in those areas, and things definitely slow down there. I did end up with a couple of cosmetic blemishes near the rear spar due to the awkward access bucking the rivets myself – lessons learned for the left wing!

I used the pneumatic squeezer for the rivets along the root rib. Those rivets are very easy to access with the squeezer, and there isn't a lot of surface area there for a large rivet gun flush set. The root rib has several nutplates, which leads to a lot of layers including the nutplate, root rib, wing walk doubler, and wing skin. I set the rivets without the nut plates first, then adjust the squeezer to set the rivets on the nutplates. I tried a new technique to help protect the screw hole in the nutplate while squeezing the rivets. I inserted a 1/8” cleco into the screwhole to prevent inadvertently damaging the nutplate with the squeezer. The cleco essentially acted as a guard rail for the squeezer, and I installed all of the nutplates without any damage.

I finished the wing skin by riveting the lap joint between the inboard and outboard skins, and then the rivets along the rear spar. I was very happy with how well the rivets pulled the ribs and skins together, and the really tight fit between the skin and forward spar as well as along the lap joint. I had the edge-break on the skins dialed in really well – just a very slight (almost imperceptible) break ended up with a really tight fit.
[3x Rivet Gun, Tungsten Bucking Bars (BB-6, BB-7, and BB-11), Pneumatic Squeezer with Flat Squeezer Set]