Elevators - 2 hrs 1 min (Elev. 19:57, Empennage 124:22, Total 138:18)
Rivet count: 0 (Total 2,154) I finished the second half of the deburring portion for the elevators! Now on to the dimpling starting tomorrow. Amazingly, part 2 took me exactly the same amount of time as part 1. Consistency!? Earlier today, I also submitted the order for the RV-10 wing kit. It may be ever so slightly too early, but I wanted to take advantage of the lower prices before they increase tomorrow. Things are getting exciting around here! -M
Elevators - 2 hrs 1 min (Elev. 17:56, Empennage 122:21, Total 136:17)
Rivet count: 0 (Total 2,154) Step 8: Deburr all the holes. Four words that are going to take me four hours. How depressing. At least I'm half way after tonight. I'm also thankful for the electric drill-mounted deburring bit because this would have taken me much longer otherwise. I did all the parts for the left elevator tonight. Right elevator next week before I spend a few days scuffing and dimpling. Here's the video of me drilling away... -M
Elevators - 14 mins (Elev. 15:55, Empennage 120:20, Total 134:16)
Rivet count: 0 (Total 2,154) I'm exhausted. So much so, that this is it for me tonight.... I can't believe I'm spending almost as much time writing this post as I spent working on the project tonight. So all I did tonight was dimple 14 nutplates, but I learned a bit in the process. Here's the pic, then I'll explain myself for those who are bored and looking for something to read.
I had previously ground the edge off the female #40 die as you can see in the pic. As explained by Chapter 5 of the Van's handbook, this allows the nutplate clearance to get the edges dimpled without being crushed. The "After" example is on the right in case it wasn't clear. I removed the spring from the dimpler to allow the two die halves to rest against the nutplate for better control. What I learned was about efficiency vs. quality. Specifically dealing with the hammer used on the dimpler. I started off using the rubber mallet. That seems to work really well for the aluminum pieces that bend so easily. The mallet is forgiving and quieter. However, for the harder steel such as that on the these nutplates, the mallet was just bouncing off the dimpler. It was taking 3 or 4 strikes to get the steel to even start bending, and even then it wasn't fitting evenly between the two dies after (only half dimpled essentially). Additionally, the dimpler was starting to damage the head of the mallet too. I switched to a regular steel hammer and it made quick work. Just one strike was good enough, though I gave it two just to be safe. The nutplate was flush with the dies, and the "fit test" on the elevator plate was perfect. Of course, just one drawback, the hammer requires more precise striking and also requires each "whack" to be pre-positioned making the work much slower. So it's a classic case of quality via slow work, or quantity via assembly line output. None of the above is anything groundbreaking, but it is still amazing to me to see just how much or how little attention to the details can be focused on such a large project as this. I'm sure this will be one of many learning points in the coming years, but for now, it's bedtime. We start deburring all 18 billion holes on the elevator tomorrow.... -M
Elevators - 2 hr 22 mins (Elev. 15:41, Empennage 120:06, Total 134:02)
Rivet count: 0 (Total 2,154) Finished the last bit of drilling today (not counting the quick steps with the trim tab of course) by attaching the anchor brackets to the cover plates. Of course the brackets are steel and having to drill holes in them meant that I killed my #30 bit in the process. Chalk up a $1 piece to make 8 holes. That's likely the first of many extraneous expenses in the years ahead for this plane anyway... Then I made the mistake of going full monkey-with-a-banana mode and following the directions step-by-step to dimple the cover plate and reinforcement plate. I didn't deburr holes or scuff the pieces first. Meh, i'll scuff them last since the dimples will tear up the scothbrite pad when i do so. Last, disassembled and labeled everything. Pretty long two hours for minimal work I'd say. Next steps are to deburr all holes and edges, as mentioned, I think slightly out of order. At least two hours of deburring, and looking ahead, nearly every piece is getting dimpled as well. Onwards. -M
Elevators - 2 hr 49 mins (Elev. 13:19, Empennage 117:44, Total 131:40)
Rivet count: 0 (Total 2,154) Well, after a long week of no worktime for the plane and quite the cold, I made it out, only to spend three hours match drilling. At least its better than deburring, which will be coming up soon... I attached the elevator horns to the assembly, then proceeded to match drill all the skins. The process took at least an hour longer than it needed to since Van's tells us to start at the center of the two spars and work outward, clecoing every hole. That equals a lot of back and forth between the clecos and the drill. But hey, its done! One step closer... Enjoy the boring video, and apologies in advance. -M
Elevators - 1 hr 57 mins (Elev. 10:30, Empennage 114:55, Total 128:51)
Rivet count: 0 (Total 2,154) After assembling all the major parts and pieces yesterday, today it was time to add all the little ones that will ultimately add to strength and stability. First, the reinforcement plates for the trim cable access plates. This is the first of a series of pieces that will create an access door for attaching and adjusting the elevator trim cable and tab attachment. For my family: trim refers to the act of micro-adjusting the control surfaces to allow the airplane to fly with minimal control surface pressure. When you speed up or slow down, the plane makes more and less lift and the nose tries to climb with more lift. So instead of flying while constantly pushing down, you trim it so you can fly easier. Think of a car that pulls to the left and being able to make the steering wheel trim to the right to counteract it instead of constantly "steering" right. Then there where two tiny elevator gussets that add strength to the skeleton. The holes start off as #40 but get drilled to a larger #30. I did a double take at this and even looked ahead to make sure it wasn't a misprint. Then I got to attach the tips of the elevators where the counterbalance is. Now the parts really look like elevators. Then, I attached the top skins and cleco'd them in place. Last, I measured and cut the two trailing edge wedges and cleco'd them as well. Another page in the plans complete. It was a short work week with only two nights in town. Gone once again for the weekend. I really want this wedding planning stuff to be over already. -M
Elevators - 1 hr 51 mins (Elev. 8:33, Empennage 112:58, Total 126:54)
Rivet count: 0 (Total 2,154) Today was a fun day. All the bits and pieces that were laid out are coming together into something recognizable as the elevators. Started by match drilling the front spar and the braces. Then I got to bust out the uni-bit to drill two cable routing holes in the spars. I used the drill press for far better control over the hand drill. It was disconcerting drilling that 5/8" massive hole in the piece. But they came out pristine. Next, I cleco'd together the skin and front spar. Of course I reversed it and initially installed it wrong, but luckily, once again, I caught my mistake early. Then cleco together the 16 ribs, 2 root ribs, 2 rear spars, and two of the brackets. Light on the drilling tonight. Only match drilled on the spars, where the skin wasn't involved. That bit comes later. Lots of visual progress on the parts! I stopped early after finishing two whole pages of work. The next two pages won't be so quick. -M
