Vertical Stabilizer
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| Looks simple enough. How hard could this be? :) |
September 8, 2015
Well...finally jumped off the porch and started putting parts together. I am starting with the empennage section of the kit. This section includes the; Vertical Stabilizer, Rudder, Horizontal Stabilizer, Elevator, and a small portion of the Fuselage. I am starting with the Vertical Stabilizer.
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First hole drilled! This is the forward spar of the vertical stabilizer.
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This was the first cut. Also on the forward part of the vertical stab. Didn't really want to use the hand band saw, but haven't yet added a bench top band saw to my tool inventory. Turned out ok, but looking back, should have waited, or even used a hack saw for this cut. I got a little closer to my line than I was planning, but got lucky...this time. Note to self..right tool for the right job:)
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| Here's what we ended up with by the end of the evening. Not much, but we took our time and just worked on getting a feel for reading the plans and applying them to the parts. Had fun! |
September 9, 2015
My neighbor Scott and I continued our slow cautious approach of the vertical stab assembly. I know mistakes will be made, we're just trying to avoid doing something silly in the first few days of the build:).
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| For those following along: Here we're final drilling the holes for rivets that will attach the doubler (the part with the V) to the rear spar. |
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The vertical stab skin gets "trial" fitted before we cleco in place. First, however, we still need to de-burr the edges of the rib flanges to make sure they fit smoothly against the skin. Also, the ribs will be fluted which "straightens" them (if needed) to ensure the pre-drilled holes in the rib match the pre-drilled holes in the skin.
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We learned from reading Section 5: General Information section of the Van's manual, the rib flanges may need to be modified (faceted) slightly in order for the skin to fit properly over the forward edge. We also researched this from other builder blogs and discovered several options to accomplish this. Most seem to use a combination of light trimming and "rounding" of the forward corners to make for a nice fit. Don't get too crazy with the trimming though. There is a #40 hole that gets match drilled from the skins to this nose rib. Edge distance for a dimpled hole can get close here.
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Scott giving final QA check before we wrap up for the day.
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September 11, 2015
Only a couple hours of work today, but ended up with a part that looks like it actually may be for an airplane. As stated above, we discovered the forward portion of the upper rib flange for the vertical stab would need to be "modified" slightly in order to get the skin to fit nicely. I was a little hesitant about cutting on this flange and was putting way too much thought into it. We clearly needed some encouragement. I asked experienced builder Mark (RV-10, RV-8) if he could stop by after work. He did, and within the hour, this is what we had. We discussed edge distance required for a rivet hole that will be in the forward part of that flange..took some measurements, and then cut about 1/8" off the tip of the rib using hand shears. We then put a small radius on the square corners and test fit the rib in the "pre-bent" skins. Fit like a glove.
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| Here's the parts of the vertical stabilizer clecoed together. Next step will be to finish drill the holes for the rivets. The RV-14 kit comes with most all the holes pre-punched. This is a huge help because the clecos are placed in these "factory" holes assuring all the parts fit together perfectly before final drilling is accomplished. |
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| Once final drilling is completed; all the clecos will be removed, the parts disassembled and the freshly drilled holes "de-burred" to remove all the rough edges that could cause cracks later. The holes that will receive flush rivets will then be dimpled so the rivets will be flush with the outer skin. |
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September 17, 2015
It's time to Deburr!
Like I mentioned above, after the parts are assembled with clecos and the pre-punched holes final drilled to the correct size, the assembled part is taken apart and the freshly drilled holes are de-burred. Also, edges of that have been cut or have a rough edge are deburred De-burring, "smooths" the rough edges that could possibly lead to cracks down the road.
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| Here's how the drilled holes are deburred. |
September 20, 2015
Spent a couple hours tonight finishing up de-burring of the vertical stab parts...mostly just the edges. Used my new $6 die grinder from Harbor Freight. Worked great with a de-burring stone.
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| Here's the die grinder and a scotchbrite pad. |
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| Using die grinder with de-burr wheel to smooth the edges of a rib for the vertical stab. |
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| Neighbor Scott does a good job looking ahead in the plans to catch any "gotcha's" that might be caught early. |
September 21, 2015
Dimpling - Dimpling is used to allow "flush" head rivets to sit flush with the material they are holding. This is typically used when working with the thinner pieces of aluminum. The thicker parts are countersunk using a process that actually cuts away a cone of material allow the rivet to sit flush..
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| Scott using the DRDT-2 to dimple the skin of the vertical stab. |
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I'm using a hand squeezer to dimple the the forward spar for the vertical stab. The dimples on this part will "match up" with the dimpled holes for the vertical spar skin. This interlocking also adds strength to the already strong connection made by the rivet.
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| Hand Squeezer with dimple die in place. |
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| Squeezing a dimple in a the vertical stab spar. |
Coming up next: Priming!
Speaking of priming, there seems to be an endless debate among builders about priming aluminum aircraft parts. In fact, it's a subject that has come to be known as the "primer wars" because there's so much discussion and disagreement about it in the online forums, among builder groups, etc. It's not only a matter of deciding which primer to use, but how to prepare the surface before using it, and even whether to use it at all! Most of the parts, as they come from Vans, have an alclad surface. This is a very thin layer of pure aluminum laid down over the alloy that the part is made of. The alclad very quickly oxidizes to form a tough durable aluminum oxide coating that's actually quite resistant to corrosion. While Van's states priming is not required, it seems that most builders do in fact prime. Priming does add time, weight and money to the build, but I am giving into to peer pressure and will be priming.
I will be prepping the parts for primer using "
"Prekote". This is an environmentally friendly product that will allow the primer to properly bond to the aluminum. From my research, it does appear that this product does require a little more elbow grease than the non-environmentally friendly option of an acid etch followed by a chromate conversion product (alodine). The acid etch/chromate option simply requires the parts to be dipped in the solution then dried and primed. The Prekote option require the parts to be scrubbed using a scuffing pad and water, then dried and primed.
I'm not a chemistry expert, but from my internet research, the acid/chromate process just wasn't for me considering I live in the burbs and would be using these chemicals in close proximity to people and pets. If I were in a different location, and used basic precautions, I believe the acid/chromate process would be the way to go.
September 23, 2015
Time to prime!
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Primed parts for the Vertical Stabilizer.
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October 1, 2015
Today I start putting the primed parts of the vertical stabilizer together. I asked Mark to stop by and give me some last minute pointers before I drive the first rivets of the project.
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Here's the technique that Mark recommended we use to rivet the stiffener to the vertical stab rear spar. We are back-riveting using the C-Frame. Rivets turned out great. I'm glad I asked Mark, I was planning on using the hand squeezer to set these rivets. Update: If I had this to do over again,I would do one thing different. The plans say to place the manufactured heads of the rivets that attach the doubler to the spar on the aft side to help with setting the skin rivets later. However, there are several rivets on the lower portion that are flush on the forward side, so the shop heads are aft for those rivets. If I did over, I would continue to put the shop heads aft up to and including the VS-704 root rib flange. This would follow standard practice and place the manufactured head on the thinner material (spar web) and the shop head on the much thicker doubler. Above the VS-704, I would follow the plans and place the manufactured heads aft. Check it out for yourself and see what you think.
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Here's Mark as we start to join the ribs to the forward and aft spars of the vertical stabilizer.
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When the vertical stab sub-assembly was completed, we attached the skin. Rivets in the "field" of the skin were set using a pneumatic rivet gun and tungsten bucking bar. While the rivets are fairly accessible it helped to have two people, especially with my limited riveting experience. Mark held the bucking bar while I operated the rivet gun.
The rivets around the edges I set with the hand squeezer. Those also were fairly east to get to and most were easy to set. There are a few on the aft spar that can be be a little tight for the squeezer head due to the rudder hinges and the universal rivet heads we set for the spar doubler. The tip of the "C" of the non-moving part of the squeezer is just a little thick in those areas. The first one I did, I ended up squeezing the rivet a little crooked. I drilled that one out and used a tungsten bucking bar with a small offset to set the others in those areas. It worked just "ok". Might be a better tool for the job in those areas.
October 3, 2015
Today, with a little help from my daughters, I finished riveting the skins to the vertical stabilizer!
Vertical Stabilizer complete!
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