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

Continued Work on HS

Tad stopped by after work today and we got 3.5hrs in on the Horizontal Stabilizer. Now both sections have been assembled and match drilled. Need to debur and dimple and then decide on the priming we want to do.

Emp. Kit progress

Yesterday Tad and I got 7hours of work done on the tail kit. I had mostly done a lot of deburring beforehand so we only spent a couple of hours match drilling a few areas, like the forward attachment brackets (908's) and cleaning up one last rear spar. I had to leave some of it for Tad to work on after all... he's half owner in this too!!

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

After all the Ribs, Spars, Doublers were match drilled and deburred Tad went to the shop to cut out the Jig Cradles for the Horizontal Stabilizer. He came back with them perfectly cut out and ready to be fastened to the workbench. We made sure everything was level and then dropped the first skin into the Jig. We managed to get all the nose ribs clekoed in and a few of the ribs. still have to cleko the skin to the spar and drop in a few more ribs. Then we'll match drill this and then debur and dimple / countersink where needed.

We are happy with the progress so far. Getting the nose ribs on the inward side was a little tricky but a small flute allowed it to drop in quite nicely. No issues so far and everything is lining-up really well.
Next build time will be tomorrow (Tuesday night) ....

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

Practice Kit Work...

I worked on the Practice Kit some more from Van's and have made some good progress now that I have some the proper tools required.

I had a hard time with the countersinking on the spar and later discovered the thickness wasn't enough to use the Machined Tool for it. Too late for the one side. So I made them 4 size and continued on. On the other side of the spar i used the hand dimpling tool and then manually used the speed deburring bit to take just a little more out...testing with a 3 size as I went. It didn't need too much more after dimpling it.

So now i have the skins dimpled and 3 of the 4 skin stiffeners riveted on. It's coming together!!

I also drilled the trailing edge at the required angle of 84 degrees. Still need to counter sink the trailing edge stiffener.

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

Kit Progress

it's been a bit since i last posted. basically i haven't done too much on the practice kits since i'm waiting for a few more tools to arrive. a dimpler for one so i can get the skins done.

in the mean time i've built another bench for the grinder and drill press. the grinder works very well for the deburring. needed to remove all the covers on it so i can debur long pieces a little easier.

i've worked about 4hrs. so far on deburring the tail kit... mainly the HS spars and all the ribs. match drilled the spar doubler plates as well. i've probably spent more time just reading the notes and studying the drawings to try to get a good understanding of the process. it's been a slow start but once the rest of the tools arrive, then tad and i will probably spend a few good hours working on it.

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

Did a XC solo flight to Fairmont... a pic of the Rocky Mountains off my right wing...

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

Projects

so i have been working away on the practice kits supplied from Van's. they have been great in helping me understand the process of aircraft construction.
like others have wrote, the toolkit was pretty basic and more a matter of getting used to all the tools involved. riveting, dimpling, de-burring, etc.
with the second kit underway, i've had a chance at some countersinking in a piece of angle aluminum. flush riveted and universal rivets were used to secure it.

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

i discovered i will be needing a c-frame or DRDT-2 to get the skins dimpled in the next project and a pull riverter. also need to acquire a bench grinder to mount on the 3M scotchbrite wheel for deburring. a vixen file would be handy too!

i will post up some photos of the kits so far!

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

Van's Test Flight

OK... the weather was somewhat rainy and cool but Tad and I managed to get down to Aurora to visit Vans Aircraft. We went on the little tour they give and talked airplanes for the entire morning. Joe was able to give us both a ride in the 9a and Tad and I were completely amazed by just about everything that plane has to offer. We did some slow flight, simulated go-arounds with full flaps(amazing climb out) , a couple of wing overs and a real nice short field landing! i was blown away by the range this plane has. How about the feet on the floor stalls, turns....hahaa amazing really!
As you can see by the smile on our faces!

Needless to say we came home with each a share in the tail-kit!