Vertical Stabilizer

Well we have completed the Vertical Stabilizer(at least as far as we can go for inspection reasons).
We had a couple of rivets we weren't completely satisfied with so we took those out and have replaced them. The VS went together fairly quickly...always takes lots of time to match drill, debur, prime,etc. We basically assembled the entire VS in two evening shifts. One for the Rear Spar and Skeleton and one for the skin.
We just have two small 3.5 rivets on the Nose rib to do as we don't have a proper, ie small enough, bucking bar to reach in there.

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

Trying to protect the surfaces from scratching.

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

Parts are ready for primer.

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

Rear spar Riveted together.

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

Almost finished... leaving rear spar off and will cleco it on(for inspection reasons)

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

Next will be Shaping the stiffeners for the Rudder assembly! Tad will probably take those to his shop to shape them up.

Almost finished it off...

Well, another day in the shop...
We riveted the skin to spar and ribs and almost have it all completed now. We still need to drill out the rear hinge bracket assembly and then it will be ready for inspection. The rear spar is just clecoed on for now.

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

I have the Vertical fin on the bench now, getting ready to match drill that and then the same process... drill, dimple, prime, rivet.

FIRST RIVETS!!!!!!!!

Well, we have made some great progress on Sunday January 11, 2009. We riveted our first rivets on the RV-9a plane today!

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

Tad did a great job on the primer work in his shop and magically arrived on Sunday morning with everything ready for assembly. he spent a couple of hours doing that work so that will be added to the log.
We took a bit of time to read the plans again and dial in the pneumatic squeezer i got from Isham Tools. I don't have the adjustable one so after a few washer settings we gave a shot. At first, we took our time doing them and making sure we have proper shop heads on the rivets. The really nice thing with the squeezer is once you have it set, it provides nice consistent rivets throughout. We drilled out a few(or Tad did) as we didn't get good countersinks and the factory head was slightly high. We just manually did a quick turn of the deburring tool to take it down a bit, then rivet again. Tad was good at getting them out... perfect everytime.

We got as far as assembly of the nose ribs in the skin, then clecoed in the spar and ribs. Hopefully tonight we'll finish off the riveting on the left side!!
I'll post up some pics later when i get them off the camera!

So far we are pleased with the results we are seeing after all the preparation!

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

Doublers

Spent some time working on countersinking the spar doublers, getting the parts ready to prime!! :)
Next will be some riveting!

Deburring and Dimpling

It's been a while since our last posting. We have been researching the primer type and where to buy this stuff in Cranbrook. Not easy to find.
Tad came by a few days over the holidays and we got more work done on the Stablizer. Also, Tad built a new C-Frame table-top and Curtii was nice enough to give us some carpet for the top. We got both skins dimpled and pretty much ready for primer.

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

Next up will be coutersinking the spar doublers and then prime the parts!
So far over the few days that Tad has come by(Dec 30 and Dec 31 both 3hrs. each), we have put in about 11 hours to be added to the overall.

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build