Rudder Spar Complete

 So there was a small break in building to allow for some family time.  The family and I visited one of our most favorite places, the Walt Disney World resort.  After a nice week away and lots of great memories, it was time to return home.

After getting back, I immediately got back to finishing up the spar.  I started riveting the rudder spar to the skin and realized that the 3" yoke on my squeezer wasn't going to cut it.   I was happy with the results of the squeezed rivets so I returned to my trusty Cleaveland Tool for a new 4" yoke.  It took a few days to come in, but I was ready to go.   I finished up the spar rivets and everything turned out great.

After the spar was complete, it was time to tackle the counterweight ribs and skins.  I set the pop rivets and set the first two skins and realized there was an issue.  I noticed a gap in between the skin and rib that was ever so slight.  I wasn't happy and realized something wasn't right.  I took a look and phoned a friend, (Thanks Christine, AKA Plane Lady) for realizing my error.  Sometimes when you are looking at something for long enough, you tend to just not notice the small nuances.  I somehow missed the holes on the side of the counterbalance rib, and never dimpled them during the prep phase.  Once we figured it out, I was honestly mad at myself for such a simple mistake.  But it shows the humanity of a homebuilt and truly teaches a lesson.  I had to drill out the few rivets I already set, and then drill out the two pull rivets holding the rib to the spar.  I had not done this before, so a review of section 5 and a trip to the hardware store for a punch resulted in a perfect outcome.

Original Set, Notice The Small Gap....

I got everything dimpled and cleaned up after it was removed.  This then allowed me to reset everything cleanly without any damage.  The second time, the skin was nice and tight to the rib and looked much better.  I know am ready to rivet the trailing edge.

All Fixed and Skin Tight.

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.

Trailing Edge Cleaned

 So the kids were off from school for a few days and things have been hectic at work.  I finally got around to removing the primer from the trailing edge area of the rudder skins.  A little MEK, a rag, and some elbow grease and it took about an hour to do.  I will definitely not make that mistake on future parts because I don't want to deal with that again.  Now to start back riveting this coming week!

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.

A New Tool, More Priming, and an Oopsy...

 Building has continued as of late and this past week was expected to be in the 50's and low 60's which is totally out of the norm for New York in mid winter.  As such, I made a decision to make sure I was ready to prime before the super warm day yesterday.  I had finished up all of the match drilling and had taken apart the rudder assembly.  The last step remaining was to countersink the trailing edge wedge.  Some builders reported doing this with a drill by hand, but that is a lot of holes to do.  In my cleaveland kit there was a jig designed for a drill press.  This allows you to setup a drill press, configure the countersink cage, and then repetitively drill through the wedge more quickly and efficiently.  And the wedge is kept perfectly at the appropriate angle to drill.  However, I don't own a drill press.... yet.

I had a nice gift card for Lowes leftover from Christmas and decided that it was time to put it to good use.  I went to Lowes and picked up their countertop drill press from Porter Cable.  I already have the band saw and grinder, so it fit in perfectly to my collection.  I got it home, took some time to assemble, and was ready to start countersinking soon enough.  Add in some small clamps and I had the press all rigged up and ready to go.

Drill Press with Trailing Edge Jig

It took me two sessions to do, but I slowly made my way through both sides of the trailing edge wedge.  This part is thin but has an important job of joining the two skins together when I do the final assembly.  I took my time getting the first few holes setup and making sure they fit my test dimple plate perfectly.  After fine tuning the cage, I was off to the races to finish the rest of the wedge.

Nice Countersink Holes

Now that the wedge was finally countersunk, I was all ready to get started priming on Thursday.  I woke up to the temperature already in the high 50's and got setup early.  I used the same setup with my priming racks over the 2x8's.  After getting the kids off to school, it was time to bust out the Ekoetch and start scrubbing.  The etching is very time consuming and tedious work to get done, but its nice cleaning everything up.  Again, its not a big deal to have lots of scratches as this helps the primer bond to the surface.  The unprimed outer parts will eventually be sanded and scratched up when they are ready to paint.  As long as we have no large and deep scratches, we are good to go.  I have to figure out the best way to protect the skins a bit when moving them around the racks.  My racks have chicken wire on top and make some small scratches.  

I had one hiccup or oopsy during my etching session.  One of the last pieces I etched was the trailing edge wedge.  Now doing this was a mistake because we don't want to prime this as it can effect the adhesion of the Proseal when I build the rudder.  But as I was scrubbing the wedge with the scotchbrite, the wedge literally snapped in my hand.  The wedge is so narrow, just gentle pressure caused it to bend and snap.  I now have to recut and redo the countersinking. I am not looking forward to shipping a piece of trailing edge by itself.  I might wait until I order the fuselage and include it in that if I don't have enough pieces.

Snapped Trailing Edge

Priming wasn't too big of a deal.  I gave everything a very thorough stir and made sure to mix it well.  I still like my little detail paint spray gun, but as we get into bigger assemblies, I might need something larger.  I had to replace and refill the spray tank once during the session.  I'd prefer to avoid doing that mid spray if I can.  After everything was done, I broke it all down and got everything cleaned up.  Next week I will start riveting together the rudder pieces for the final time.  This section will be an introduction to back riveting and my first time using Proseal.  I look forward to the new processes.

Let There Be Heat! And Building Resumes...

Heat in the Garage

 Well after a two month hiatus due to bitter cold temperatures, my workshop has received an upgrade.  We have run a fresh line for power and installed a mini split in the garage.  Now my garage is not 100% insulated as the outer walls are not shared to living space, so I had to insulate whatever I could.  I insulated the ceiling space, front doors, and cleaned up the weather stripping to insure I am as tight as I can be without drilling into the walls.  After that was done, my HVAC friend came by and installed our new mini split.  I am not expecting 75 degrees in the winter, but keeping the room above 60 makes it comfortable to work out there and not be freezing.  I gave it a quick test the other day and I am quite happy so far.  It will also be nice in the summer if its scorching as I can cool the garage as well.  Back to work now!

Let there be heat....

Christmas Tool and Workshop Additions

In other news, Christmas came and I added some new tools to the collection.  I know there are plenty of tools and parts that I will purchase over the life of my build, so I have started to compile a list of everything I will need over time.  I am starting with some basic tools and will buy some parts as I approach needing them.  However, my family has come through and picked up some basic tools for Christmas.  I now am a proud owner of a soldering iron, label maker, 12" offset back rivet set, and some extra countersink cages.  These will all be quite useful and helpful as my build continues.  I am going to continue updating my list of things and hope that my future birthdays and Christmas' will help lighten the hit to my wallet.  

My Wife's Christmas Gift to Me.

One thing that I was super excited about was a surprise gift from my lovely wife.  We all know that the spouses will either make or break any home build, but mine has been amazing.  From the minute I asked to do it, she has been supportive and willing to help anytime I need.  Now, I haven't had to have her crawl into the tail cone yet, but I think she will do so without issue.  She purchased me a sign for the workshop that I cannot express my gratitude.  I am so happy and have mounted it on the wall right above my workbenches.

Building Resumes....

I've continued to build on the rudder section.  I began where we left off with match drilling the entire rudder skins and substructure.  I have now disassembled and labeled the skins.  I got to break out a new tool and play with that tonight.  The new tool is the Cleaveland Edge Forming Tool.  I broke it out of its plastic finally and played with it on the scrap pieces I have.  The directions were not very detailed, it only said don't over do it, but the website for Cleaveland had a short video describing how to adjust and do it.  I still am not overly thrilled by the video, but it is good enough.  The real question is trying to determine how much is overdoing it.  I might reach out to my tech advisor to discuss this briefly before doing it.  So thats where we will continue next, edge forming and deburring for priming.

Rudder structure all built and match drilled...  Time to take it apart now...

Workshop Cleanout and Electric

 So we last left off trying to figure out storage and heating solutions.  Well, we have made progress on both tasks.  My new storage unit is setup and I just moved the large crates into the storage unit for the time being.  This frees up all of my floor space in the garage, which may not be important for now, will make a major difference as I get into the larger parts.  I also just had the 240V line run for my new mini split unit that will be installed this week.  So despite a lull in build time due to the bitter cold, I am hoping to be back on the bandwagon next week.  I am looking forward to a great 2023 build year!