Dec 28-30 -- Rear Spar and Ribs

Puttered at replacing the parts that I messed up the other day, and some "work work" that ate almost two full days. Then went back to the main wing ribs to make certain that they were square in all dimensions. Used a machinist's square, the flanging tool, and also a fluting tool.

Oh, and you can see my high-end storage approach to the spars. Am still trying to avoid building the stand for these spars, in hopes that my garage will somehow get bigger via positive thinking.

Next up is drilling holes for conduit in the ribs. But first I need to figure out how many conduit and pitot runs are required for all the various systems. Realized today that I even need to pick out an autopilot, because its time to install servo mounting brackets. Leaning towards a Dynon, but am going to bounce this off others before deciding.

Lots of deferred decisions are suddenly rearing their heads. Suppose that's a sign of progress!

Total Time: 5 hours

Dec 19-27 -- Rear Spar

Been working on the rear spar for days, yet it seemed so simple...

Initial challenge was priming parts outside in the dark. A total of five nights -- each time going back to touch up one more spot. Finally had some daytime on Dec 23rd when I came home early. Should have just waited :)

Then there was the matter of working on the plane while quite sick with a bad cold that made me woozy. Lesson learned: don't.

So I also managed to screw up a couple of parts, which I am now waiting for from Van's. These were installed and looked very nice indeed! Until I discovered (a) a missing row of dimples, and (b) that I has countersunk the wrong holes in the doubler. Oh well, now an expert at drilling out rivets...

These are the parts that are in the top of the lower right photo. New parts will be here in a day or two.

Total time: 6 hours

Dec 18 -- Drill and Prime Rear Wing Spar Doublers

Hard to believe that it took all day to accomplish this, but it did. 9:30-5:30 to be precise, with a couple of breaks for things such as eating.

Shaped and match drilled the various doublers for the rear spar, with a oblong hole for the ailerons accounting for quite a bit of this time. Also dimpled and countersunk a number of holes.

Then used ScotchBrite to scuff the doublers and both rear spars. Had hoped to prime today; however by the time that I finished all of this, it was too dark outside to paint.

The result doesn't look a heck of a lot different than the previous post, does it?

In the end I decided that even a bad prime job was north of not even trying. So I set things up to prime where some light is afforded by the fixture on the front of the garage. Might have to touch up the front of the house if overspray "decorated" the garage door, but it's worth that amount of bother.

Total Time: 7 Hours

Dec 17 -- Deburr Rear Wing Spar and Doublers

Deburred the rear spar channel (W-907A), doubler plate (W-907B), and all related doubler plates (W-907C, W-907D, and W-907E).

Total Time: 2 Hours

Dec 16 -- Final Nutplates on Main Spar

This is going to seem like a weird post because the only progress is 6 nutplates. However they were a Big Deal in terms of hassle.

For starters, the nutplates are on the drawing but I can't find any reference to them in the instructions. Other RV-9 blogs voice a similar concern. So hopefully they are installed correctly!

The countersink cage wouldn't fit into some corners, and I spent several days and trips to the store looking for creative workarounds. Then I found the tool. In my tool box! Doh... There's a photo of the bad boy below.

Also, some of those rivets look funky. However when I carefully checked them, they are actually just fine other than one that is countersunk 0.001" deep.

At any rate, we'll call this 3 hours of work, but that's a lie on the way low end of time wasted. Looks like it's on to the rear spar next.

Total Time: 3 Hours

Dec -- Install Aileron Bellcrank Brackets & APEX Plates

This seems like such a small thing, but took a fair bit of work for the details. Installed the aluminum APEX parts to act both as a tie-down ring mount point, and also to hold the aileron bellcrank brackets.

Torqued all AN-3 bolts to 25 inch-pounds.

Total Time: 3 hours