Got some flights in this weekend as well as some RV building. While Tad is working on the Right Wing rib prep work and priming the tie-down pieces, I matched drilled all the holes in the Ribs for the left wing to both Front and Rear Spars.
It went pretty smoothly and all the holes lined up better than I remember from the last trial-fit. Anyway, that is done now.
Need to clean up the holes for the Pitot tube grommets and then drill the Conduit Holes for each rib. I'll probably measure out one and then cleco each one to the master and just match drill it with a smaller drill size. Then I will go back with the Step Drill and enlarge them.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
NutPlates for Wing Spar
no updates for a while, i know. i have taken on a new job so time on the RV is getting a little more difficult. PLUS, i bought a little Citabria and am busy getting my tail-wheel endorsement.
i have been spending time on the Wings but just haven't posted much!
Finally we have all the nut-plates riveted on and have done a lot of deburring on the ribs. Tad stopped by the other day and we assembled and riveted both rear spars together.
the left wing is now ready for match drilling the ribs to spar and will need to drill the conduit hole as well. most likely going with the 3/4" from Van's or something else if we can find it locally!
I sent Tad home with the right wing main ribs for homework:) I want to make sure he doesn't miss out on any of the fun of deburring! Good work Tad!
i have been spending time on the Wings but just haven't posted much!
Finally we have all the nut-plates riveted on and have done a lot of deburring on the ribs. Tad stopped by the other day and we assembled and riveted both rear spars together.
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
the left wing is now ready for match drilling the ribs to spar and will need to drill the conduit hole as well. most likely going with the 3/4" from Van's or something else if we can find it locally!
I sent Tad home with the right wing main ribs for homework:) I want to make sure he doesn't miss out on any of the fun of deburring! Good work Tad!
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Countersinking Wings
Through the past week or so I've been working away on getting the countersink holes done on both wings for the nut-plates. Here is a test of ONE of the different methods i tried. I ended up using a slightly modified one. This is basically a test to keep the #8 hole concentric.
Here is a pic of the way i ended up doing it...
For the #40 rivet holes, they were pretty straight forward and just took time to do. I believe there is about 248 of those.
The 'painters tape' is to prevent chips falling between the doubler and the spar. They are difficult to get out if they get in there.
The #8 countersinks were a little more tricky... i read numerous accounts on how other had done these. Luckily Tad had a #21 cutter so in the end after trying different methods(using the #30 cutter with nut-plate attached), we settled on using a thick piece of wood cut down to act as a pilot guide for the bit. This method worked really well and i now have the left wing complete now minus the #6 access plate holes. I'll do those this coming week.
Next i will prime those countersunk holes to prevent any corrosion from happening. Tad dropped off the required materials for that. Things are getting close to getting some rivets in now. I hope to have some of that happening when Tad and I have a few days off over Christmas.
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
Here is a pic of the way i ended up doing it...
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
For the #40 rivet holes, they were pretty straight forward and just took time to do. I believe there is about 248 of those.
The 'painters tape' is to prevent chips falling between the doubler and the spar. They are difficult to get out if they get in there.
 |
| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
 |
| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
The #8 countersinks were a little more tricky... i read numerous accounts on how other had done these. Luckily Tad had a #21 cutter so in the end after trying different methods(using the #30 cutter with nut-plate attached), we settled on using a thick piece of wood cut down to act as a pilot guide for the bit. This method worked really well and i now have the left wing complete now minus the #6 access plate holes. I'll do those this coming week.
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
Next i will prime those countersunk holes to prevent any corrosion from happening. Tad dropped off the required materials for that. Things are getting close to getting some rivets in now. I hope to have some of that happening when Tad and I have a few days off over Christmas.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Wing Ribs, Rear Spar
Long time without posts:(
I have been very busy with work lately and just haven't had much time. This past week i managed to get a few hours in and concentrated on cleaning up the ribs as this is very time consuming and work that i can do on my own.
i have worked on the rear spar and doublers for both wings, as well as the tie-down 933 for the left.
i did some organizing of the parts and hardware too. trying to get them all out of the brown little bags and labeled into a container where i can see them. half way through them now.
i think tad and i need to make some decisions about the pitot as well. we will install the wing conduit as per the van's guidelines but if we go with another type of instrument in the panel we may need to get something different for the pitot. just not sure yet.
I have been very busy with work lately and just haven't had much time. This past week i managed to get a few hours in and concentrated on cleaning up the ribs as this is very time consuming and work that i can do on my own.
i have worked on the rear spar and doublers for both wings, as well as the tie-down 933 for the left.
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
i did some organizing of the parts and hardware too. trying to get them all out of the brown little bags and labeled into a container where i can see them. half way through them now.
i think tad and i need to make some decisions about the pitot as well. we will install the wing conduit as per the van's guidelines but if we go with another type of instrument in the panel we may need to get something different for the pitot. just not sure yet.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Wings!
It's been a bit of a slow start to the wings. Tad dropped the parts off a few weeks ago after we inventoried everything. We were only missing one small bag of parts which Van's shipped out without any problems.
Over the last couple of weeks I have been cleaning up the Ribs and Rear Spars and doublers. It is a lot of repetition but it needs to be done. So while we haven't had many building sessions I've been in the shop every couple of days doing a bit of work.
Tad stopped by yesterday night and I showed him the work so far on the wings. We spent the rest of the time planning out a few details on what we want in the plane and then got all the main ribs fluted.
Over the last couple of weeks I have been cleaning up the Ribs and Rear Spars and doublers. It is a lot of repetition but it needs to be done. So while we haven't had many building sessions I've been in the shop every couple of days doing a bit of work.
Tad stopped by yesterday night and I showed him the work so far on the wings. We spent the rest of the time planning out a few details on what we want in the plane and then got all the main ribs fluted.
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
Friday, October 30, 2009
Emp. is Finished for now.
We have closed all the trailing edges on the tail section and they have turned out pretty good. It has taken us 148.5hrs. to get that far on the Tail Kit.
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Closing Rudder Trailing Edge
Well, things got busy over the summer and August and much of September was a right off for building.
We now have our wing kit and will be starting that very soon. Last week Tad and I got the Aluminum edge fastened to the bench and pro-sealed the trailing edge of the rudder. Hopefully this week we'll get the rivets in and see how it looks. Then we'll get the elevators done.
I have also spent some time extending the shop area to accomadate the wings. I was thinking of building and closing in my carport but building inside during the cold winter months is much more appealing. Maybe next year I'll get that project done.
We now have our wing kit and will be starting that very soon. Last week Tad and I got the Aluminum edge fastened to the bench and pro-sealed the trailing edge of the rudder. Hopefully this week we'll get the rivets in and see how it looks. Then we'll get the elevators done.
I have also spent some time extending the shop area to accomadate the wings. I was thinking of building and closing in my carport but building inside during the cold winter months is much more appealing. Maybe next year I'll get that project done.
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Right and Left Elevator
Well, it's been slowing down lately as we only have the trailing-edges left to do. Tad and I managed to pretty much finish off the left elevator and it is now ready for the trailing-edge drilling and riveting. I worked on the right elevator and got that one ready as well.
The week before we decided to shoot some more primer inside the elevators so that they are completely primed inside now. We just wanted to be sure there weren't going to be any issues later on.
We'll be using the Pro-seal, angle aluminum method so i think that will happen on the next building session. First we'll match drill through the trail-edge, the wedge and then we'll countersink the wedge and dimple the skin. I'm thinking now that getting the dimple dies in there could be tricky.
Received the confirmation letter from Van's about the wings. should be here sometime mid-august! AND the dollar is doing better each day, in fact, the best it's been since last October. a good time to order $6800us in airplane parts!!
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
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| From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build |
The week before we decided to shoot some more primer inside the elevators so that they are completely primed inside now. We just wanted to be sure there weren't going to be any issues later on.
We'll be using the Pro-seal, angle aluminum method so i think that will happen on the next building session. First we'll match drill through the trail-edge, the wedge and then we'll countersink the wedge and dimple the skin. I'm thinking now that getting the dimple dies in there could be tricky.
Received the confirmation letter from Van's about the wings. should be here sometime mid-august! AND the dollar is doing better each day, in fact, the best it's been since last October. a good time to order $6800us in airplane parts!!
Friday, July 10, 2009
Finishing the Empennage
Tad stopped by yesterday evening and we finished off the Vertical Fin. We used the pneumatic squeezer but had to modify the tip of our 'no-hole yoke'. it just wouldn't fit nicely past the existing rivets on the spar. We had to drill out a few rivets as they weren't setting nice and straight. After the modification to the yoke we didn't have any problems. Spent about 2hrs. finishing that off.
I continued on with a few rivets on the Horizontal Stabilizer. there are 200 rivets on the rear 'skin to spar' so i setup the squeezer and did about a 100. Tonight i finished those off and the two outward rib-to-spar rivets. only rivets left on the stabilizer are the 6 inward ones. plans call for a 4-6 but it looks a little short.
i'm going to leave those and let tad have a look.
So, except for those 6 rivets we've got two pieces done.
I continued on with a few rivets on the Horizontal Stabilizer. there are 200 rivets on the rear 'skin to spar' so i setup the squeezer and did about a 100. Tonight i finished those off and the two outward rib-to-spar rivets. only rivets left on the stabilizer are the 6 inward ones. plans call for a 4-6 but it looks a little short.
i'm going to leave those and let tad have a look.
So, except for those 6 rivets we've got two pieces done.
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