Picked, Inspected, and peeled all the parts. Cut the parts on the band saw that needed to be separated. Deburred, and scuffed everything.
Used the template from the plans to drill the ends of the elevator push tubes. Match drilled the rod end fittings to the tubes.
Everything ready to prime.
| Today’s Time (hours): | 2.0 |
| Fuselage Time (hours): | 204.0 |
| Total Time (hours): | 658.5 |
Drilled and tapped the aluminum tubes to accept the 1/4 threads of the rod end bearings. Assembled the AP pushrods. Fabricated the spacer for the roll servo.
Installed the roll servo into the right wing.
| Today’s Time (hours): | 2.0 |
| Wing Time (hours): | 266.0 |
| Total Time (hours): | 418.0 |
Same drill for the right flap… Just barely set the trailing edge rivets with the squeezer then set the shop heads flush with a mushroom set in the gun and a back riveting plate. I riveted the bottom skins with blind rivets. Then I installed hardware.
Flaps complete!
Emailed Van’s about my tank skins and heard back on Friday. The right skin is back ordered so they estimate that they will ship end of next week. I’ve got plenty to keep me busy until then… On to the Ailerons.
| Today’s Time (hours): | 1.0 |
| Wing Time (hours): | 167.0 |
| Total Time (hours): | 378.0 |
Worked on both left and right flaps simultaneously; performing each step on one then the other. Riveted the top skins and nose skins to the spars and then to the ribs. I back riveted the aft-most two holes in each rib.
Clecoed then riveted the bottom skins and nose skins to the spars. I had to stick my arm down between the skins, slightly pulling back the bottom skin to be able to back these rivets. Glad I deburred well. My arms were pretty well scraped by the end of this step.
Final drilled #33 and blind riveted the nose skins to the nose ribs.
Applied 3M double-sided VHB tape to the trailing edge extrusions. I clecoed the extrusions in place in the left wing, removing the bottom backing from the tape as I went. I let the VHB adhesive set up for an hour or so and remove the top backing form the tape; removing and replacing clecos as I went.
I let the top tape set up for a couple of hours. I clecoed and taped the trailing edge into the right wing at this point and moved on to riveting the left wing while the bottom tape set up.
I used the squeezer to just barely set rivets in the trailing edge. Then used a mushroom set in the gun with a back rivet plate to fully set the back of the double flush rivets.
I final drilled #33 all the bottom skin/rib holes and blind riveted. I used the squeezer to set solid rivets in the inboard and outboard end ribs. I installed the rod end for the flap actuator. Left wing done!
I removed the backing form the top tape on the right trailing edge. I’ll finish the right flap up in the morning.
| Today’s Time (hours): | 6.0 |
| Wing Time (hours): | 166.0 |
| Total Time (hours): | 377.0 |
Got a long 1/4″ drill bit at home depot and finished getting the horizontal stabilizer attached.
Attached the vertical stabilizer and rudder.
| Today’s Time (hours): | 2.0 |
| Empennage Time (hours): | 192.5 |
| Total Time (hours): | 192.5 |
Screwed the rod end bearings into the elevator forward spar.
Fitting the right side was very tight. I’m sure theres a proper tool to do this but I ended up using a cresent wrench to twist the bearings. There was no way I could do it by hand.
On the left side I couldn’t even get the threads to engage. On close inspection I discovered that the nut plates were a hair off center from the hole in the spar and reinforcement plate. I enlarged the hole by a 16th being careful not to damage the nut plate. Then I was able to get them screwed in with the cresent wrench. I screwed them in to the measurement called out in the plans.
I temporarily attached the left elevator to the horizontal stabilizer. I checked the clearance of the forward edge at the maximal up and down deflections. I used a digital level to fin the maximal deflection points. I had remove the elevator and backed the rod end bearings out three turns to get the necessary clearance.
I used a clamp to lightly hold the elevator in the trailing position to locate the pivot hole in the elevator horn.
I made a spacing block as called for in the plans and clamped it in place. I then honed down the drill bushing to get a snug fit in the bearing and used it to drill a #30 hole in the elevator.
I enlarged the hole hole to 1/4″ with a step drill and deburred the hole. Then repeated this whole process on the right elevator.
I reattached both elevators to the horizontal stabilizer. I used the appropriate hardware to make up the center hinge. It was extremely challenging getting the washers between the horns and the edges of the bearing. I ended up taping the washers to a small piece of scrap aluminum and using it to shoehorn the washers in place. Then I lightly clamped both elevators into the trailing position.
I measured and marked the location for the control attach hole on the right elevator and drilled a #40 hole and final drilled it to #12.
Tomorrow I’ll make a guide block and match drill the hole to the other horn.
| Today’s Time (hours): | 3.0 |
| Empennage Time (hours): | 189.0 |
| Total Time (hours): | 189.0 |
Ron's RV-14A Build Log 