Saturday, July 28 - So, tonight I took care of dimpling the rudder skins. I also took care of machine countersinking the R-916 rudder trailing edge, the AEX wedge. I looked up this acronym and was unable to find what AEX actually stands for. My guess is Aluminum Extruded for Xperimental planes. Haha. Ok, moving on.
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| Dimpling Rudder Skins Using DRDT-2 Dimpler & the Pneumatic Squeezer |
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| Countersinking the Rudder Trailing Edge Wedge |
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| AEX Edge Wedge Countersinking Done! |
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| #10 Through the CB Rib &Weight & Countersunk |
I had shaved (with the band saw) a little lead off of the CB weight, thinking it was going in the other rudder rib. Oops! I did some research and I don't think I have to worry. Even with that comfort in mind, I still thought I'd try different ways to put it back on. I used a mini torch (using a Bic lighter) and it only melted the sliver I had shaved off. It can't get the larger weight hot enough to melt the two together. I might try a little JB Weld and epoxy it on. I'm not too worried about it. I also took care of a little task of drilling the last three holes at the top of the rudder skins. They have you drill to a #30 and dimple now as later it will be “nearly impossible to do this”.
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| Shaved Where I Shouldn't Have |
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| JB Welded the Shaved Parts Back On I'll Clean This Up Nice & Tidy Later :o) |
Sunday, July 29 – I couldn’t really do much today as I still need to get the R-903 and R-904 rudder tip and bottom rib aft holes countersunk. I scuffed, cleaned and primed all other rudder parts and assembled the spar and reinforcement plates for now. I won’t rivet anything else into place until the tools arrive and the ribs are countersunk, scuffed, cleaned and primed. I’ll keep looking ahead to see if I can get anything else started in the meantime. I know I can move on to other sub-assemblies but I’m a bit anal retentive when it comes to working in an orderly process and not out of order.
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| Rudder Skeleton Ready For Cleaning & Priming |
Monday, July 30 – There is another birthday today! Belated Birthday Wishes go out to my little sister. She turns 41 today! Happy Birthday Sis!! She is a beautiful person and excellent educator. High 5 and Salute to all educators!
I started my session by going to Lowes tonight to get a something to complete the dimpling on my R-903 and R-904 ribs. I didn’t want to wait up to 4 weeks for my tight space dimpling Vice Grips and didn’t want to order any additional tools and pay more for what I don’t need for this task. I’m sure I’ll need them later in the wings or fuselage so I’ll have them for next time. I purchased a piece of 1/8”x1½”x3’ steel bar for about $9. I've seent this little trick on other builder sites. While I was there, I got a piece of aluminum angle – ¾”x1/8”x8’ (I couldn’t find any in 6’) for the trailing edge of the rudder, which will be coming up very soon. I’ll also be fabricating a rod end bearing tool from PVC a bit later. I wanted to measure the bearings first to make sure I get the right sized pieces of PVC. I think ¾” will serve the purpose. You can see a fabricated tool here at Mike Bullock's site.
Tonight I finished the last several holes in the ribs and I've posted pictures of the process below. After that, I cleaned and primed the ribs then moved on to installing the reinforcement plates with plate nuts and riveting them. I’m stopping here for the night. I’ll pick up here tomorrow and get into it now that I have the other parts ready to go.
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| 1/4"x1 1/2"x3' Steel Bar with 3/32" Countersink |
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| Put in the Male Die, 3/32" in This Case |
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| Whack As Needed! 3-4 Blows Works. You'll Need to Hold the Die My Hand Was Removed For Clarity |
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| There You Have It! |
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| Ain't It Perty? I Feel Good Now |
Day Total: 1.8 hrs HOBBS Meter – 82.6 hrs
Tuesday, July 31 – Van’s Redo! Tonight I started out by drilling out 2 rivets in the upper reinforcement plate as they were a little off kilter. I replaced those with no problems. Next, I spent 45 minutes redoing a process to drill holes in the R-710 rudder brace. That’s right, in the plans, you trim the excess off then fit the part where it’s supposed to go, drill the #30 holes then disassemble everything. If you’re not paying close attention and are following the plans explicitly, you'll miss the fact that the rudder skins overlap part of the brace. You’re supposed to match drill through the skin and drill new holes into the rudder brace. AARRGGHH!! So, I put the rudder all back together to that point
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| Notice Anything Missing? 4 Holes From Upper Right to Lower Left on the Left Side of the Brace |
just to drill those 8 holes (4 on each side).The plans I have are dated 6/13/11. You’d think someone before me would have brought this to the attention of Van’s for correction. It’s called LESSONS LEARNED people! *steps off soapbox* Ok, I’ve read through other builders’ blogs and I see things like this from time to time. I’ve even seen blogs dated well before 2011 and this info hasn’t been incorporated into the updates. It’s aggravating. Maybe people think “I’m sure someone has reported this information to Van’s so I don't need to.” and it never actually get’s brought to Van's attention. I’d hate to think that. People, other builders have helped pave the way for us and we owe it to our followers to do the same! I’ll be calling the tech folks at Van’s to get the story or maybe even give the story. I’ve even heard that we as builders should not look at other blogs as we may take away bad ideas or incorrect methods which may cloud our own judgment, but I know that a lot of ideas are gleaned from that. It can be a great benefit. But I do see the benefit to making sure you only follow the plans and if you have questions, call Van’s. I think they like it that way and it’s safer. That's why they have people to call about things.
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| The Step is Clearly Missing From the Plans :o( |
Moving on. I riveted all the R-904 rib and associated parts per the plans. I’ve seen where a lot of people have had to use pull rivets after the fact because they ended up painting themselves into a corner. Who knows? Maybe they just don’t have the right tools. Ok, I shouldn’t assume. Apologies. I was able to squeeze with the pneumatic squeezer or with a gun all the rivets in that section. It’s a good feeling when you can pound ‘em rather than use a puller. I just hope I didn’t screw myself and overlooked something where I'll need to drill something out later! I put the CB rib on and riveted it then cleco’d the CB skin on. I stopped here for the night. Take Care and Thanks For Reading!
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| All R-904 & Assoc Parts Riveted Together |
Day Total: 2.3 hrs HOBBS Meter – 84.9 hrs
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