Riveted the doubler and spar caps to the forward spar.
I received the torque wrench I ordered from Amazon and torqued the nuts securing the inboard hinge bracket to the rear spar.
Both forward and rear spar assemblies completed. On to the ribs…
| Today’s Time (hours): | 2.0 |
| Empennage Time (hours): | 58.0 |
| Total Time (hours): | 58.0 |
Scuffed the forward spar and primed all of the forward and rear spar parts.
Riveted the front spar doubler. Used the squeezer for most of these.
Riveted all of the hinge brackets. Used the gun for these. My riveting skills have improved markedly. I haven’t had to drill any rivets since working on the rudder.
I bolted the inboard hinge bracket to the spar per the plans and realized I don’t have an in/lb torque wrench. So I ordered one from Amazon along with some tamperproof marker paint so I can keep track of which nuts have been torqued and easily inspect them later.
Off to FLL for work for the next few days. So no further progress expected until later in the week.
| Today’s Time (hours): | 2.5 |
| Empennage Time (hours): | 56.0 |
| Total Time (hours): | 56.0 |
Scuffed and prepped the new parts. Then sprayed them with primer.
Riveted the doubler and ribs to the forward spar.
Clecoed the skin to the forward spar and ribs and started riveting.
Finished riveting the skin to the forward spar and ribs.
Clecoed and riveted the rear spar to the skin and ribs.
VS Complete! Very pleased with how well it turned out. Once I replaced the parts I messed up, everything went smoothly. I’m much happier with my workmanship than the first attempt. A little experience makes a world of difference.
Rearranged the work benches and started picking parts for the horizontal stabilizer.
| Today’s Time (hours): | 3.0 |
| Empennage Time (hours): | 46.0 |
| Total Time (hours): | 46.0 |
Got all my VS replacement parts from Vans and now that I’ve completed the rudder I can go back and finish the VS. Tonight I cut, fit, clecoed, drilled, disassembled, deburred and dimpled all the parts. Next I’ll scuff and prime them and then rivet everything together. I hope to have the VS all buttoned up next weekend.
| Today’s Time (hours): | 2.0 |
| Empennage Time (hours): | 43.0 |
| Total Time (hours): | 43.0 |
I finished back riveting the stiffeners to the skins. I had one oops where a rivet got cockeyed just before I drove it. It left a ding in the skin but didn’t penetrate. I debated replacing the skin but opted to move on.
I used 3M F9460PC double stick VHB tape to secure the trailing edge extrusion to the skin and clecoed it together. I put some long rivets through every tenth hole or so, put the tape on both sides of the wedge, and used the rivets to properly register the taped wedge to the right skin. Then I clecoed it in place and removed the rivets.
I riveted the stiffeners and shear clips together. I removed the backing from the other side of the tape while I pried the skins slightly apart so the strip didn’t tear. I removed clecos as I worked my way to the top of the trailing edge. I pressed the left skin into the tape and clecoed every hole.
I mounted the counterbalance. I had to file a bit off of the forward corners to clear the shop heads of the rivets holding the counterbalance rib in place. I riveted the skin to the spar, and riveted everything else except the trailing edge. That will be tomorrow’s adventure.
I neglected to shoot progress photos along the way but here’s the result of today’s work…
This is the tape I used…
| Today’s Time (hours): | 6.0 |
| Empennage Time (hours): | 36.0 |
| Total Time (hours): | 36.0 |
Mistakes were made. Learned a lot. Glad I learned these lessons on the practice project and not the airplane. Got lots of practice drilling out rivets.
Ron's RV-14A Build Log 