Horizontal Stabilizer - Spars Take Shape

 I apologize for not having any update recently.  I have been hard at work with the school year starting for my kids, the yard work, and work obligations.  I finally got some time to get outside and prepped the Horizontal Stabilizers.  But enough excuses, back to the build.

I finished getting the spar caps cut and deburred.  This wasn't too bad but required alot of drilling once done.  I matched up the parts to the spar and started match drilling.  A lot of the holes were not predone so it took a little bit of time.  I got the flange done, removed them, cleared the piece, and then was able to get the web side finished.  This was a bit tedious but was enjoyable to finish up.  

Spar Cap Match Drilling

After the spar caps were finished up and drilled, I finished out the doubler drilling.  This was rather straightforward, similar to the one on the Vertical Stabilizer.  The one doubler was a bit stubborn to straighten out but I had it near perfectly straight when I finally finished up.   The next part was to cut the horizontal spar attach brackets from same angle aluminum pieces.  This was a bit of a complicated portion as you had to make angled cuts on a piece of metal that is hand measured and cut.  The numbers were pretty precise and took awhile for me to get right.  After getting these done, I had to deburr and round off the edges which took some time.

Measuring the Stabilizer Attach Brackets

 

Bracket cut and marked for drilling.

After the brackets were all done, I was able to finish up the second doubler and drill the brackets.  The brackets get one hole drilled by measurement, and then they got match drilled to the doubler and spar.  This wasn't too hard, but with three pieces of some thickness, I noticed the bit wanted to wander a little.  I was able to minimize it and was happy with the final results.  I utilized a trick from Austin Manke to lift the spar off the table, I had prebuilt the stabilizer stands from a later step while I waited to paint.  This allowed me to lift the stabilizer and rotate it around, making it easier to work with.

Drilling Spar Caps with the Stands holding it up.  Makes it alot easier.

Stabilizer Attach Brackets Mounted to Angle Iron for Drilling

After completing the match drilling, it was to to do everyones favorite part and disassemble and deburr.  It took a little time to deburr all the pieces and holes, but its a rather straightforward task.  Using the electric screwdriver,  I was able to deburr a lot of the holes in short order.  I used other tools for the lightning holes and edges.  It was tough to deburr the spar lengths on the deburring wheel simply due to the length, but it was finished nonetheless.  Then it was on to painting next, but a small project to finish first.

Once I finished the deburring, I was bothered by the way my Air connection was mounted.  The connection drops from the ceiling and is screwed to the wall with some drywall screws.  However, the screws weren't holding well and they were coming out of the sheetrock.  This was bothering me and I didn't want to damage the air connection or wall further.  I ended up heading to Lowe's to get a small board to reinforce the screws.  I picked up some drywall anchors to screw the board to the sheetrock, and then screwed the air outlet to the board again.  The wood was a perfect anchor point and it looks so much better, and isn't pulling off the wall anymore.  Now we are ready to paint.

Reinforced Air Outlet

It took a few days for me due to the crappy weather we have had in New York Lately.  But we finally got some warm weather on Wednesday which was just enough to prime and the winds were calm.  So I broke out my painting racks and went to work.  After I used up my remaining EkoEtch, it was time to get painting.  I really like the Stewarts Systems products as they aren't extremely hazardous like others and simple to use.  I got the painting done in short order and was ready to start riveting after lunch.

Priming  and Riveting the Horizontal Stab Spars

After the Stabs were all dry, we were off to riveting once again.  Luckily, the spar is perfect for squeezing, so I was able to utilize the squeezer for everything.  This provided clean rivets and I was able to get alot done in short order.  I am about 90% done now with the riveting and can move onto the ribs and skins next.  Until next time....

Section 7 : Complete!

It's crazy to think that only a year ago I started this process of building.  Despite some breaks in progress for work, family, and other things, I am amazed that we have completed two sections at this point.  Now that we have finalized much of the "Workshop" setup, Storage arrangements, and time allocation, its time to get the ball rolling.

So back to the headline, the Rudder is done!  We last left off where we completed the trailing edge, mounted the counterweight, and now we finished the leading edge.  The leading edge is where the two skins are rolled together to allow the rudder to maintain its aerodynamic efficiency.  Section 5 which describes many of the basic techniques that are used in the build has a rather small paragraph about how to roll the skins together.  It essentially says to duct tape the skin to a pipe, roll downwards, and keep pressure on the spar.  After making the basic roll, you manipulate the skin to finish the roll.  After rolling it, you match drill the holes, debur, and rivet together.  It really makes it sound extremely simple, but I didn't find it as such,

Rolled Leading Edge Section

The RV-10 directions describe this step pretty simply, by telling you to do it in sections and use a 1.25" pipe.  That was about all the notes it provided.  When we did this at Synergy, it was on a small test kit which used a small broom stick.  It was all the same chord and didn't variate along he spar in width, the RV-10 spar varies along the length.  So suffice to say the practice kit wasn't as realistic as I would of hoped.   I tried the tape with a pipe, used a broom, and than man handled it a bit.  It ended up coming out pretty decently, and I was able to cleco the skins together.  I let them all sit for a little while in the form of the rolled joint, and then drilled them.  It was definitely not as simple or smooth as I would of expected based on some feedback online. 

Rolled Leading Edge With Cleco's

After riveting everything together, it was off to the races to clean up the skin.  I quickly wiped down all of the surfaces with some acetone to remove any oils before storage.  The Rudder is now moved into storage along with its counterpart, the Vertical Stabilizer.  I also removed the Horizontal Stabilizer parts from storage.  It was quite interesting since the Horizontal Stabilizer spars are significantly longer than the parts I have dealt with so far.  I ended up having to put them through the rear window of my pickup truck and hold onto them for the short ride home.  After some redesign of my workspace and cleanup, we are prepped to get ready to go on the horizontal stabilizer in the coming days.

Horizontal Stab Spar Ready To Go

Rudder Trailing Edge and Counterweight Completed!

 So June was quite the whirlwind.  Between school wrapping up for the year, the kids being home part of the month, and work being extremely busy with summer travel starting, there was just not much time to build and keep my sanity.  I ended up taking much of the month off to spend time with the kids and focus on the things that needed the most attention.  Finally, after some time away and finding a free moment, I finally got to the trailing edge of the rudder this week.

Backriveting the trailing edge

My Cleaveland Tool kit had a squeezer attachment for the trailing edge included in it. I've heard some mixed opinions about the tool from the forums and other builders online, but I wanted to give it a shot myself.  I took the first rivet and tested using the squeezer attachment only and wasn't 100% happy with the result.  So I then went to the old fashioned method which was taught in the Synergy class and riveted with the mushroom set on some steel angle.  The steel angle made it easy as I didn't need to constantly reposition the rudder assembly over the small backrivet plate.  This allowed me to basically do one entire half at a time.  

Squeezing a few of the rivets that needed it at the end.

So my final setup to do this was the angle iron of steel on the table edge, the rudder over that, and then my wood and block on top to hold the rudder down.  This worked really well and I had mostly great results.  When I finished the normal back riveting, I noticed a few had a little proudness on the shop head, so I squeezed those and it finished setting them perfectly into the dimples.  So I think the final result was a hybrid of backriveting first and then squeezing to clean up the final result.  This seemed to be the best result, and sounded pretty much like what Austin did from Youtube.  

After taking on the trailing edge, I moved onto the rudder counterbalance arm.  This involved installing a counter weight, drilling my first nutplate, bending the skin to cover it, and then final assembly.  The directions spell out the method pretty well, but it takes a little finesse.  I bent the skin like it said, clamped the wood on it, and did the hammer method.  I wasn't thrilled with how many hits it took to get the bend desired, but it stated an 85% bend in the manual.  I got about there and then started working on the final bend and nutplates.  Using the screws to dimple the skin for drilling was a simple process that is pretty smart when you think about it.  I made the drill holes and dimpled everything up.  After I figured out how to drill the nutplate, it was smooth sailing.  Overall, I am happy with the final result, I am not sure if I should of made the skin a bit tighter to the weight, but I guess I'll find out down the road at final assembly.

Bending the skin around the Counterbalance Weight

Hammering the skin crease in.

After I finished the counter weight skin, it was time to roll the leading edge, the last step of the Rudder assembly.  Section 5 calls out for a 1 inch pipe, but the RV-10 manual says use a 1.25 inch pipe.  So a trip to Lowes was in order to get the correct pipe.  My reading, Youtube review, and other resources all have very mixed opinions on the pipe size and method.  I have seen some use clecos, some use duct tape, and others use brute force to get the roll.  It's not the most simplistic idea when looking at it, but I am sure I will figure it out.  So off to Lowes and then we will close out the Rudder for good.

Stiffeners Riveted and Trailing Edge Work

 The last month has been a bit busy with school breaks and getting the house ready for spring.  Lots of yard cleanup, Easter, and the kids being off have slowed down my time.  I finally got around to back riveting for the first time on the plane.  I utilized my two backing mats and put the back rivet plate between them.  This kept the parts at a good height without any major bend going over the side.  I see why some people like having a bigger plate or sink it into their table, but I think the ability to move the plate is more beneficial.  I noticed as you got to the ends of rudder skins, it was beneficial to just slide the plate down the table instead of the part.  Otherwise, you have a huge section hanging off the end.  Back riveting was pretty straight forward.

After I finished the back riveting I was rather impressed with how everything looked.  Time to start prepping for sealing and rivet the bottom rudder horn into place.  I took the recommendation of many people and ended using a pull rivet for the very last hole on the training edge of the horn.  It was way too tight and I tried more than once to buck and indirect rivet it with terrible results.  That was just way too tight a spot and I didn't want to slaughter the horn itself beating on it with the rivet gun.

After some time away from the project for the housework and the lack of a second set of hands, I finally got my father to come over.  He was going to be my second set of hands to hold the rudder skin while I joined them together.  The directions were pretty clear in describing the process, and we read through it a few times.  I ordered the cartridge style proseal figuring that one would be the perfect amount to utilize, but mixing that thing was a royal pain!  It took forever it felt like to mix thoroughly through using the little dowel and mixer in the cartridge.  After what felt like an eternity, we were ready to rock and roll.

Setting Pop Rivets in the stiffeners

I started with joining the base as instructed and pop riveted the first stiffeners.  Its pretty tight without severely bending the skin back, so it was easier to use a manual pull riveter.  I was really careful and layered the proseal as thinly as I could per the directions.  I tried to use a little roller at first, but that just gummed up and didn't do anything.  I ended up using a few popsicle sticks which I stole from my daughters craft bin.  That worked well and I had one which was snapped in half, so the pointed end was great to get into the tight corner against the skin.  After a long session of cleco's and pop riveting, the skins were joined and the trailing edge sealed.  

Trailing edge secured and curing

I utilized a technique that my Technical Advisor has suggested and others I have seen do online.  This was to go purchase a piece of aluminum angle iron.  This is a great and thicker straight edge which I used to support the trailing edge.  I utilized one rudder skin and marked all the holes and drilled the angle iron.  Afterwards, I deburred it and checked it to make sure everything matched.  This gave me a straight and stable edge to cleco the entire trailing edge to while I prosealed it.  Upon completion, I had it completely clecod to the angle iron and left it to cure for a few days.

The kids have been off this past week so no work has been done.  It was a good time to let the edge cure and solidify before I start cleaning out the holes.  Next week I will clear out everything and get to finishing up the rudder.  I'm hoping I can finish the rudder up before my trip next month, and then I will jump right into the Horizontal Stabilizer upon getting back.

Rudder Riveting Has Begun!

 So now that the priming is done, I have begun riveting the rudder together.  It began with the rudder horn and base pieces for the rudder.  This included riveting my first nutplate on which was neat.  I always contemplate which direction to put the rivets as the plans don't show it.  I know they tell you to put the manufactured head on the thicker piece, but many times the two pieces of metal are the same, so it is strictly just appearance?  I looked at a few other builders online and it seems like many times it didn't matter.

The rudder horn was pretty straightforward with the squeezer.  The squeezer is so nice to use, especially when doing multiple rivets of the same size.  You slowly tighten up the first one, and once you figure out the right depth, its rapid fire to get the rest done.  It easily repeats the precision of the first one and you can bang out a whole line rather quick.  If you have a second hand to remove the clecos and pop rivets in, it can be extremely fast.  

When I got to the rudder spar, I did have to drill out on rivet which I was not happy with.  The rivet was set and looked like it squeezed one side more than the other.  I am not sure if this is just squeezer being misplaced or not level perfectly.  I have to be a bit more careful to make sure I am dead on lined up as I go.

Rudder Horn and Spar Riveted

Rudder Skin Primer Removal (Oops!)

In other news I had explained my oopsy during the priming session in the last post.  I had broken the rudder trailing edge wedge and accidentally primed the entire skins.  My research showed I should have left the little edge unprimed to allow for better cohesion between the two skins, wedge, and proseal.  So I spoke with my tech advisor and he advised two options, first was to try scratching it off with bare scotchbrite.  I thought about this and remembered I had the scotchbrite wheel on the drill bit, its about a 1 inch wheel.  I took this and was happily surprised how the primer came off fairly easily.  However, it took me awhile and is very difficult to be exact as you go.

Scotchbrite Wheel Trial

So above is the piece I tried to clean up using the drill mounted wheel.  It really didn't go that great where I'd want to continue doing it for both skins.  It's a long piece and will take a really long time.  Option 2 presented was to get a can of MEK and use that as a solvent to help rub it off using scotchbrite by hand.  I am thinking of trying that option now as it might be easier to do.  It doesn't help that the dimples are a bit interesting to work around.  I will report on how this goes next week once I get some MEK and give it a try.  In the meantime, I am going to continue with getting ready to back rivet the skin stiffeners and get things ready to mount.  I am looking forward to my first back riveting and pull rivets on this coming up soon.

Chapter 7 Begins : The Rudder

 So we have completed the last remaining step of chapter 6 and have officially broken ground into chapter 7.  Chapter 7 is the Rudder, which will be mounted eventually to the back of the Vertical Stabilizer from chapter 6.  This piece uses some different and new building techniques which I did not get to use in chapter 6.  During this chapter I will do a bunch of backriveting, some pull rivets, rivet a trailing edge, and roll a skin.  I am looking forward to this, the only thing I didn't do in my fundamentals class was the actually adhesive that goes in the trailing edge.  On that note, I should go order that soon so its here when I get to that point.

Today I pulled out the beginning parts and got organized.  The first few steps of chapter 7 have me labeling the cut lines for separating the pieces.  Many of the pieces come together as on larger piece, and some need to be cut apart or trimmed down.  The directions are very clear and make the process easy, its just a tedious job making sure to line things up.  I wish I had a metal break as the did in Atlanta, but the cost isn't conducive to my light use.  Here are the pieces I had marked up which are ready for cutting.  This took me a little over an hour to get done.  Next session will be cutting and deburring all of these parts down. 

Marked Rudder Pieces - Pre-Cutting

Marked Rudder Pieces - Pre-Cutting

Another item on my to do list is to finish organizing the parts.  I have honestly been debating getting a storage unit but that is going to be about $150 a month.  I really don't want to do so yet but spaces are limited around my area and I don't want to miss out on the right size one.  Optimally, the unit will be large enough to store the bigger pieces as I finish them and other parts I don't need yet.  This will also free up much more garage space to allow for work once I get to the tail cone and bigger pieces.  I have to make some calls and see what's available.