1015- Rudder- p.7-6 step 11-12

Rudder - 1 hrs 58 mins (Rudder 13:34, Empennage 28:46, Total 41:06)

Dimpled all the rudder skeleton pieces. Almost forgot to scuff, but caught myself after two pieces. After everything was scuffed and dimpled, the next step calls to countersink the trailing edge. The wedge proved troublesome. I needed to make it parallel to the drill, so I clecod the other wedge to the back. Upon attempting to drill with the press, found out the the nub on the bit wouldn't go clean through. The match drilling calls to be perpendicular to the chordline, so the angle was now off by 6 degrees. What a pain. Researched a little online and went with the technique of using the deburring bit without a nub. I had to be extra careful using the countersink cage to make sure I was centered on the holes. Guess I'll find out when it's time to start riveting whether this worked or if I'll be ordering a new piece. Rudder is now ready for priming.

I looked ahead at the Horizontal Stab section and found out it calls for priming in batches. I plan to work ahead and get the next two pieces on the HS assembled so I can prime them along with the Vert Stab and Rudder. -M

1014- Rudder- p.7-6 step 10-11

Workshop- 33 mins (Workshop 12:20)
Rudder - 1 hrs 37 mins (Rudder 11:36, Empennage 26:48, Total 39:08)

Spent the first part of the night making a platform for the C-frame dimpler to help hold the larger skins. It worked out great!

Finished up deburring the skins and then dimpled them. It was a simple, albeit painfully repetitive, night. -M

1013- Rudder- p.7-6 step 6-10

Rudder - 2 hrs 33 mins (Rudder 9:59, Empennage 25:11, Total 36:58)

I got my answer from Van's this afternoon and was able to work on the rudder again after 4 days of not. Match drilled the skins and then disassembled the whole thing for deburring. Tonight was one of those nights that after 2 hours of work it feels like nothing was done. However, in the grand scheme each minute adds up. I crossed the 25 hour mark tonight! On a nominal 2500 hour build for the project, I can now say I am 1% complete!

I still need to deburr the holes on the skin tomorrow, and then I can start scuffing and dimpling the skins and ribs. With the rudder nearly complete, this weekend is looking like an excellent time to break out the alodine and primer. I'll have to get -L to help!! This also means the first rivets should go on next week! -M

1012- Rudder- p.7-6 step 3-5

Rudder - 2 hrs 4 mins (Rudder 7:26, Empennage 22:38, Total 34:25)

First things first. PPL is complete! I'm one step closer to being able to fly this beast one day. Only managed about 7 hours of RV work this week with the extra studying, and I'm gone for the weekend, so it will be time to turn things up a notch next week.

Today was a boring day. I'm starting to get into a rhythm when it comes to the repetitive clecoing, and also noticed the same previously for steps with drilling and deburring. It's a strange meditative process. Won't go so far as to say it's therapeutic, but definitely something to it. I'm sure it will come in handy for the large pieces like the wings and fuselage skins.

Started by peeling vinyl from skins. I spent way too much time with the ruler and gave up halfway and just winged it. No sense wasting time anymore in the future. Deburred edges on skin, then attached them to the skeleton along with the trailing edge after cutting it. The skin was not clecoing to the rudder horn for some reason, and I found out that one of the clecos holding the bottom rib together was attached in a way that it was interfering. Easy fix. There is still another area where the clearance isn't quite right, so I will have to email Van's about it. I'm guessing the answer will be to file down the edge of the hole in the skin that the rudder horn sticks out from.... -M

1011- Rudder- p.7-4 step 5, p.7-5 & p.7-6 step 1-2

Rudder - 1 hr 4 mins (Rudder 5:22, Empennage 20:34, Total 32:21)

Light work today. A lot of easy steps. Countersink the striker plates that were assembled yesterday. I really need to invest in another countersink cage so that I can keep the #30 in one permanently. The adjustments are taking their toll. I also got tired of picking up the large plastic bin to sweep the aluminum shavings into, so I made a scoop out of half an old detergent bottle. It works much better.

Next step was to assemble the stiffeners and shear clips, and I screwed up by initially putting the shear clips upside down. I didn't notice until after match drilling. Thanks to modern technology and the symmetry of Van's pre-punched holes, it was an easy fix. Crisis averted. I attached these to the spar followed by two reinforcement plates. Then assembled the top rib and attached it and the counterbalance rib to the spar. Really easy work all around.

I'm stopping early tonight in order to study up for my FAA PPL checkride tomorrow morning. I'll hopefully be celebrating success tomorrow with assembly of the rudder skins! -M

1010- Rudder- p.7-2 &7-3 deburr & p.7-4 step 1-5

Rudder - 2 hrs 52 mins (Rudder 4:18, Empennage 19:30, Total 31:17)

I deburred all the pieces that were cut yesterday in addition to the rest of the rudder pieces not to include the skins. That was boring yet very necessary.

Afterwards, began rudder assembly with the bottom rib, horn, spar, and plates. Drilling and clecos. A simple yet time consuming night. Not much else to report. -M

1009- Rudder- p.7-2 & p.7-3 Cutting

Rudder - 1 hrs 26 mins (Rudder 1:26, Empennage 16:38, Total 28:25)

I decided to skip ahead to the Rudder and hold off on priming parts until a larger batch is ready to go. So I'll be working on this and perhaps even more sections for a few weeks before moving on to priming during a weekend when I have a lot of time available.

Today I removed the vinyl off all rudder parts and then measured and cut all pieces as needed. Tomorrow will be a long evening of deburring edges on all parts of the rudder. It's bedtime for now with work starting early tomorrow. -M

1008- V.Stab- p.6-3 step 8-11 & p.6-4 step 1-4

Vertical Stabilizer - 1 hrs 30 mins (V.S. 12:31, Empennage 15:12, Total 1:02:59)

Final assembly of the front spar doubler and countersinking. Dimple and c'sink the rear spar. I totally messed this up. I was 3/4 done and realized I had the die set for for a 3-X rivet and not for a #40 dimple. Luckily it was underset and an easy fix. Miscellaneous drilling of holes and deburring all around. Finally, the rudder stop attachment. I need to swing by the hardware store for some PVC to make a drying stand and then its time for priming tomorrow! -M

1007- V.Stab- p.6-3 step 6-7

Vertical Stabilizer - 2 hrs 25 mins (V.S. 11:01, Empennage 13:42, Total 25:29)

Scuff and dimple the VS skin. Got to try the C-frame dimpler, squeezer set, and pop rivet set. My forearms are on fire. For the C-frame, I also fabricated a platform out of spare wood from the empennage crate and a 2x4 scrap to hold a piece up at the same level as the dimple die. It's going to come in really handy during the build.

Disassembled the skeleton to deburr and dimple. Forgot to scuff two of the pieces before dimpling, but corrected myself. Dinner time, I'll be back for round two later tonight... -M

1006- V.Stab- p.6-3 step 4-5

Vertical Stabilizer - 1 hrs 17 mins (V.S. 8:36, Empennage 11:17, Total 23:04)

Simple and straightforward. Drill holes in the VS skin, swap clecos, drill the other half of the holes.

Remove skin and deburr everything. Also mark some holes that won't be dimpled later on. I'll do the dimpling tomorrow. -M

1005- V.Stab- p.6-2 step 4-6 & p.6-3 step 1-3

Vertical Stabilizer - 4 hrs 31 mins (V.S. 7:19, Empennage 10:00, Total 21:47)

Well, I got a bit carried away tonight and lost track of time. Even got ahead of the plans and did some deburring ahead of time. A lot was accomplished and the reward of an aircraft-looking piece to show for it!

Started off by finishing the assembly of the VS rear spar and match drilling it. Disassembly followed and it was time for countersinking. I had a spare spar from someone at the airport that screwed up their assembly and was able to fine tune the depth with it. This step was really frustrating and I now see why people invest in multiple countersink cages to be spared from having to do that step repeatedly.

After deburring, I reassembled the spar, and then deburred all the other parts of the VS in preparation for putting the skeleton together. I got the skin ready for attachment and this is when things got fun. I had forgotten to file down the ends of the nose rib pieces so they wouldn't dent the skin ($90 to reorder), so I took everything apart to get to the pieces. In the process of catching an error, I committed another by putting the pieces back together with the front spar facing the wrong way. I didn't notice until after putting everything together and instead of starting over I undid the skeleton with the nose ribs still attached to the skin. It was a pain, but I got it done without any damage. Finished clecoing and now I have a complete VS. -M

1004- V.Stab- p.6-2 step 2-3

Vertical Stabilizer - 1 hr 58 mins (V.S. 2:48, Empennage 5:29, Total 17:16)

Good progress tonight! Even though it took 2 hrs to attach 3 pieces, it was 148 holes drilled and 592 holes deburred. There is no way I will keep track of minutia like this as we go on, but it is a good perspective to look back in few years and see that this whole endeavor started with a simple task repeated ad nauseam. 
Lesson learned- deburring sucks. The deburr bit attached to the drill makes life a bit easier at least. It is a real pain to have to clean up the shavings as often by hand. Aluminum sticks to the tabletop brush too readily. The shop vac is too powerful and I'd be afraid of ingesting bits, clecos, or actual pieces. I need to invest in a handheld vacuum for the shop...
Tonight I attached the spar caps that were previously fabricated to the VS spar, then match drilled the three together along the web, and then along the flanges. Simple. Straightforward. -M

1003.5- Vertical Stab- p.6-2 Step 1

Vertical Stabilizer - 50 mins (V.S. 0:50, Empennage 3:31, Total 15:18)

Well, I'm officially an RV-10 builder! It's been rough holding myself back the last few days waiting for tonight. The fact that I busted my finger on Tuesday working on a wooden porch glider helped. See pic below, the swelling has subsided quite well. The 10th day of the 10th month to start the RV-10!!... 

Fabricated the V.S. spar caps by cutting the angles per the plans and then deburred all edges on them. Already learning a few tricks, too. The scotch brite wheel is going to get used up fast unless I make sure to make a few passes with the edge deburring tool first. Three firm passes seems to do the trick. Followed by two quick passes on each "corner edge" with the wheel. Also developing a habit that is working well for the actual corners of the stock pieces. I wonder if I'll be this detail oriented in a month's time?

Now I get to put the project on hold again. Going to visit -L's family in PA for the long weekend. More to follow on Tuesday. Cheers! -M

1003.3- Practice Toolbox

Between yesterday and today, I spent about five hours getting the practice toolbox together. I continue to make mistakes, which I consider to be a good thing while it is on pieces that don't matter. Tonight, I let the bucking bar slip twice and made pretty ugly dents. I was probably trying to go too fast. This is something I definitely need to consider as erring on rivet #82 of a skin would require ordering the whole section again, as I do not see myself drilling out 81 rivets at once.