Van's replied to my email today to say that the stiffener issue from yesterday is a non issue. "Build On" was the message.
Tedium tonight... Drilled out all the holes in the skin for the stiffeners (the ones that officially need to be clecoed together and then match drilled). Per yesterday, I am counting on CNC fit to make things "just fit". History says that they will.
Next came manual de-burring of each side of each hole. At least it's done now.
Seems like some errors in the instructions for the next few steps on this assembly, so going to surf some other builder sites to see what I can see.
Total Time: 1.2 hours
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Feb 16 -- Left Elevator Stiffeners
Continued work on these tonight. First I cut the majority of them down to the correct length for this elevator (they need to be shorter because the trim tab). As I cut each one to length I also tapered the rear edge of each stiffener to match the taper on the original (longer) ones. Doh! They don't need the taper! Gonna have to check in with Van's Aircraft to see if this is worth re-doing...
Also drilled the pilot holes in each stiffener out to #40. I didn't cleco things together first, because these CNC holes are so accurate that there's no point in aligning to match drill. Put another way, on the other elevator I did more damage via kinks in the skin when I tried to open it wide for all the stiffener work.
Next I scuffed the pieces with Scotchbrite pads (a lot easier than after dimpling), and finally it was time to dimple each stiffener.
Total Time: 1 hour
Also drilled the pilot holes in each stiffener out to #40. I didn't cleco things together first, because these CNC holes are so accurate that there's no point in aligning to match drill. Put another way, on the other elevator I did more damage via kinks in the skin when I tried to open it wide for all the stiffener work.
Next I scuffed the pieces with Scotchbrite pads (a lot easier than after dimpling), and finally it was time to dimple each stiffener.
Total Time: 1 hour
Monday, February 14, 2011
Feb 14 -- Left Elevator Stiffeners
Celebrated Valentine's Day in the garage. (We never celebrate it...)
Tonight I spent 45 minutes making stiffeners, which meant pulling off the protective plastic, cutting them, and deburring the edges. This elevator requires that most of the stiffeners be cut to a shorter length, but that was out of scope for tonight.
Total Time: 0.75 hours
Tonight I spent 45 minutes making stiffeners, which meant pulling off the protective plastic, cutting them, and deburring the edges. This elevator requires that most of the stiffeners be cut to a shorter length, but that was out of scope for tonight.
Total Time: 0.75 hours
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Feb 13 -- Left Elevator
Match-drilled the spar, and ribs for the left elevator, then deburred, dimpled, countersunk, cleaned, dcuffed, and primed a number of parts. deburring is easy using the Scotchbrite wheel; albeit a bit tedious. (Dimpling is really tedious. And as you can see in the photo, lilac bushes are there primarily to hang parts from.
There is a doubler for a recessed area that holds the trim servo. I managed to make two oval holes while counter-sinking for nutplates, so a new part is on order from Vans.
Finally riveted together the counterbalance ribs. A bit ahead of myself there, because there is still a lot of work to do with stiffeners and the skin.
Total time: 7 hours
There is a doubler for a recessed area that holds the trim servo. I managed to make two oval holes while counter-sinking for nutplates, so a new part is on order from Vans.
Finally riveted together the counterbalance ribs. A bit ahead of myself there, because there is still a lot of work to do with stiffeners and the skin.
Total time: 7 hours
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Feb 9 -- Start Left Elevator
Fixed one last rivet on the trailing edge of the right elevator, then started the left one. Actually, I did just a bit of work on the spar the other day (deburred the edges).
Tonight I pulled the blue plastic off the inside of the skin, and then used a solder gun to met strips off the outside where rivet holes are. Next came deburring the edges of the skin (wicked sharp!). Finally started clecoing parts together.
Only 6 weeks until I pick up the wing kit -- gotta get my butt in gear!
Total Time: 1.75 Hours
Tonight I pulled the blue plastic off the inside of the skin, and then used a solder gun to met strips off the outside where rivet holes are. Next came deburring the edges of the skin (wicked sharp!). Finally started clecoing parts together.
Only 6 weeks until I pick up the wing kit -- gotta get my butt in gear!
Total Time: 1.75 Hours
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Feb 6 -- Right Elevator Trailing Edge
First things first. That epoxy on the trailing edge was an awful idea. What leaked out was hard to get rid of, it goobered up rivet holes, and didn't really adhere to the aluminum that well. OK, the adhesion issue was most likely my failure to remove primer from the subject surfaces...
Pounded in all the rivets, but frustrated and quit for the day. Will finish the rivets and making certain that it's straight with no epoxy in a fresh session. Suspect that 25% of the rivets need to be drilled out because the shop heads tipped over. :(
Did start on a bit of drilling and deburring for the other elevator while waiting for 24 hours on the epoxy...
Total time: 1.5 Hours
Pounded in all the rivets, but frustrated and quit for the day. Will finish the rivets and making certain that it's straight with no epoxy in a fresh session. Suspect that 25% of the rivets need to be drilled out because the shop heads tipped over. :(
Did start on a bit of drilling and deburring for the other elevator while waiting for 24 hours on the epoxy...
Total time: 1.5 Hours
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Feb 5 -- Finish Rudder, Work on Elevator
The rudder had to sit for a week, in order for ProSeal to finish curing. That was OK, because it was a rough week at work, and there was no opportunity to work on the project anyways.
Today I pulled the rudder off the angle iron (straight as an arrow!) and installed the trailing-edge rivets. That angle iron made a really nice surface to rivet against. Also discovered that in one place where I needed to install an "oops" rivet (hole was enlarged for some reason) that the result was almost a perfect flush surface on the shop head side. Wonder if this is a best practice!
Next up was the elevator. After the first debacle with a screwed-up wedge, I made a jig for countersinking holes this time. See the photos below, but laid the bad wedge in the jig first and then inserted the new wedge. Result was that everything is level and stable for drilling.
Next came dimpling on both skins, using a vise-grip dimpler. Finally I used marine epoxy from Home Depot to glue the wedge between the skins, with everything clecoed down to an angle iron. Should be dry enough to rivet tomorrow night.
Total Time: 6 hours
Today I pulled the rudder off the angle iron (straight as an arrow!) and installed the trailing-edge rivets. That angle iron made a really nice surface to rivet against. Also discovered that in one place where I needed to install an "oops" rivet (hole was enlarged for some reason) that the result was almost a perfect flush surface on the shop head side. Wonder if this is a best practice!
Next up was the elevator. After the first debacle with a screwed-up wedge, I made a jig for countersinking holes this time. See the photos below, but laid the bad wedge in the jig first and then inserted the new wedge. Result was that everything is level and stable for drilling.
Next came dimpling on both skins, using a vise-grip dimpler. Finally I used marine epoxy from Home Depot to glue the wedge between the skins, with everything clecoed down to an angle iron. Should be dry enough to rivet tomorrow night.
Total Time: 6 hours
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