Andrew

Finished drilling the HS

January 1, 2010

Short, but productive day.

It was Jack’s birthday today (he turned 3), so I ran out to Chik-Fil-A to get him is once a year human food treat. A chicken biscuit. Of course, Ginger needed one too (“so she doesn’t feel left out”) and so on, which meant my girlfriend and I also got biscuits. Here are Jack and Ginger.

Jack and Ginger (Jack's on the right) on the beach last summer. Happy Birthday Jack. You're 3 now. Start acting like it.

Anyway, after the birthday festivities (a.k.a. Jack and Ginger inhaling their biscuits), I managed a couple hours on the project. Here, I clamped HS-404 in place after having first marked holes and drilled #40 pilot holes in the aft flange. The instructions have you mark and drill pilot holes in the HS-405, but why drill from aft to forward, hoping you don’t run into edge distance problems when you could drill from forward to aft? For the outboard holes, I did use the HS-405 for pilot holes. You’ll see.

HS-404, with two pilot holes marked and drilled prior to mock-up.

Here are the silver clecos after drilling from forward to aft with my 12″ bit.

Used the #40 pilot holes I previously drilled in HS-404 to drill through HS-702 and HS-405.

Then, I used the previously marked and pilot drilled holes in HS-405 to drill forward through the HS-702 (front spar) and HS-710/714 (reinforcement angles). The 12″ bit really came in handy here.

Then used the #40 pilot holes I made in HS-405 to drill through HS-702 and HS-710 (or HS 714 for the other side). Here, you can see the 12" bit really showing its stuff.

Then, I matchdrilled the rest of the HS-404, which had been clamped in place in the above pictures. After that, I finished match-drilling the rest of the skin for the right side. After you finish and pull the skin off, you can drill the remaining HS-702 holes using the HS-710 and HS-714 angles as guides. Here are the last six holes drilled after pulling off the skin.

Finished drilling HS-710 and HS-714 after removing the skin.

After the skins are pulled off, I’m ready to start prep for final assembly.

After match rilling both skins and finishing the HS-710/HS-714 to HS-702 holes, The skeletons lay ready to disassemble, deburr, dimple, edge finish, surface prep, and prime.

2.0 hours today. Not bad.
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Leave a Comment » | Empennage | Tagged: cleco, Construction Manual, Drilling, Front spar, Ginger, Jack, Match-drilling, Rear spar, skin, spar | Permalink
Posted by Andrew

More HS work

December 31, 2009

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First thing in the morning, I had to run some errands, one of which included a stop by Harbor Freight to exchange my Automatic Compressor Drain Kit that had a crack in it. While I was there, I used two coupons. One, for a free tape measure, the other for almost half off a 6″ digital caliper. Walked out the door with a new caliper, tape measure, and an exchanged drain kit for $10. Can’t beat that.

Free tape measure at Harbor Freight. Also a coupon for 1/2 off a $20 digital caliper.

I went ahead and scotchbrited all the HS ribs. I was sick of the aluminum dust on my hands during scotchbriting, so I took these inside and did them with warm water (only reason for warm was so my hands didn’t get cold) in the kitchen sink. Worked well with a lot less dust. (Also, I think showing pictures of my work with finished pieces looks a lot better than the original parts, which are all shiny and finger-printy after my grubby hands work with them.)

Surface prepped HS ribs.

Then, the directions have you cleco the left skeleton together.

It looks like an airplane! Kind of.

I did the right side too (mostly so I could take the next picture), then match-drilled all of the rib/spar attach points to #30, (except for 708/603), which they have you do later to a #21.

Both skeletons after match-drilling all of the rib to spar attach points.

Then you get to cleco on the skin (wuhoo!). I had trouble with HS-707 here. the very tip of the rib kind of caught on the skin (vinyl); I had to really work to get it back into position and clecoed. you can see here I clecoed every hole on the HS-707.

Clecoed on the left HS-601 skin.

Then I inserted the HS-404 (front inboard) and HS-405 (rear inboard) ribs and clamp. Here, you can see the HS-405 clamped.

Inserted HS-404 and HS-405 for match drilling.

Then I match-drilled the HS-405 to the HS-601PP (skin). I didn’t do the top or bottom forward most hole, because I seem to be having edge distance troubles on the HS-405 and HS-702 spar. I checked everything and it seems to be right. I checked some other build sites to see if other people have run into this, no one mentioned it. Right as I was going to post a question on the VAF forums about this, a new thread popped up. Apparently this is a common problem, and the edge distance on HS-405 is not to be worried about. It’s a little confusing, though, given the prepunched nature of the parts.

I went ahead and match-drilled it. I’ll examine the edge distance a little more closely when I take apart the HS for prep. I repeated all the steps for the right side, then started in on match-drilling the skin to forward spar holes inboard of the 707. (Below, you are looking at the bottom of the stab, so the right HS is on the left in the picture. you can see the extra clecos from what I will call the “middle ribs” (708 and 707) inboard along the front spar. Those are not pre-punched on the spar, so you have to use the holes in the skin to match-drill.)

Then repeated for the right HS. Looks like an airplane!

11am to 6pm, with an hour for lunch. 6 hours today.

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Leave a Comment » | Empennage | Tagged: cleco, HS, Match-drilling, Ribs, skeleton, skin, spar | Permalink
Posted by Andrew

Rear Spar, Front Spar

December 30, 2009

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Well, I finally started today. First thing I did was break the corners of the HS-609PP. I used my grinder, which did a good job, but got clogged with aluminum pretty quickly. I think my next big investment will be a bandsaw.

The requisite shot of before and after rounding edges.

Then I removed the blue vinyl from the rear spars (HS-603PP) and clecoed the 609s to the 603s. To do this, I needed to increase the radius of the 609s that rests against the web/flange intersection of the 603s. No big deal. Once I did this, they fit great. I didn’t finish the edge prep on the 609s, I’ll do this prior to priming everything. Then, I match-drilled all the holes, including enlarging the HS-708/HS-603PP (inboard rib attachment) holes to #21.

Rear spar reinforcements clecoed to Rear spar channels. It's starting to look like an airplane? Ha.

Next, the directions have you attach the elevator hinge brackets. After match-drilling all of the outboard brackets, they have you sandwich the VA-146 bearing in between HS-411APP to HS-411BPP.

Clecoing the center bearing supports in.

One one side is pre-punced, so you clamp, drill 4 holes, cleco, remove from the spar, and drill the rest of the holes.

Getting ready to drill.

Then I masked off special parts of the VA-146 to prep for priming.

Taped off the important stuff.

And then shoot some primer. (I’m using the rattle can self-etching primer.)

Scotchbrited, cleaned, and primed the center bearing.

Then reassemble and rivet. I found (contrary to some other builders) that the rivets called out in the plans made a great shop head. I think other builders went up a size. I’m definitely happy with my first six rivets.

The first six rivets.

Here’s everything on the rear spar clecoed back together.

All the hinge brackets clecoed in place.

Then, per the plans, I marked the taper and radius locations for the HS-710 and HS-714 reinforcement angles.

Marked the tapers on HS-710 and HS-714 per the plans.

It was a little late to be running the power tools, so instead, I marked the bend lines on the HS-702 front spar channels. This takes some careful measurement and marking, so take your time.

I also marked the bend lines on the front spar channels. (HS-702)

Then, I strayed from the plans a little. They have you use a 1/8″ bit to create a notch relief hole, then enlarge to 1/4″ using a unibit. I used snips and then a file. The second one turned out better than the first (which I hear is pretty common on everything in the project), and I had some trouble making them look perfect. (I know, things don’t have to be perfect, but it bugs me, anyway.) Biggest lesson learned: cut the flange in the correct place first, then unbend the flange to give you more material to work with. You can see in the top one in the picture below that I didn’t do this, and had to taper into the bend relief notch. (The bottom one below is better, nice straight line back to the relief notch.)

Finished HS-702 shaping with bend relief notches.

Then I bent HS-710, HS-714, and both HS-702s. I created a cardboard template using trigonometry. I took the tangent of 6 degrees. Which is a little over 0.1. (This means fromthe bend line, for every inch you go laterally, the angle will be just over 0.1 inches up.) That’s a little hard to measure, so I took the inverse (to figure out how many inches laterally I need to go for 1 inch up), and got just over 9.5 inches. I have a calibrated 6 inch ruler, so I divided by two, and ended up with mike’s numbers; 4.75″ over, and 0.5″ up.

Now that I have my template for six degrees, let’s get bending.

After trying a few methods in the vise, I ended up just lining up my bend line with the edge if the table, holding a wooden block over the piece, and putting a little pressure on it. If you go slowly, you can get 6 degrees pretty dead nuts on. I laid everything on top of eachother, and it all lined up very nicely.

Lastly, I finished the front spar section by dimpling the HS-702s, and countersinking (first ever countersink!) the HS-710 and HS-714 for the center two holes only. Remember, flush rivets go on the aft side here, so the countersink and the male dimple die go from back to front.

Countersunk HS-710 and HS-714, dimpled HS-702.

A solid 5.5 hours today.

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Leave a Comment » | Builder's Log | Tagged: bearing, cleco, edges, Front spar, Priming, Rear spar, Riveting | Permalink
Posted by Andrew

Picked up empennage, inventoried

December 29, 2009

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Well, I’m officially a homebuilder.

After checking FedEx’s tracking website, I saw that they tried to deliver the boxes on Christmas Eve, then again on the 28th and today, the 29th. I arrived home yesterday from the Keys around 5pm, so while enroute, I called fedex to have hen hold the packages at the local facility.

When I got to FedEx, they found the smaller package, but insisted it was the only one. “Hmm, usually they ship them together. Guy said, “if there were two, there would be a ‘1 of 2’ on the label.”

“You sure? Van’s charged me for shipping both packages.” (Although, you may remember that the tracking number online indicated only one package.)

“Positive.”

Huh.

When I got home, I checked the fedex exception slip on the door and sure enough, the driver indicated there were two packages. I drove back out to the FedEx place and pointed this out.

“Oh yeah, we saw another (bigger) package with ‘high dollar aircraft parts” on it, is that yours?”

Grrr.

He continued. “You should have said something when you were here before.”

Grrr.

I can’t complain too much, they tried to get me my tail kit on Christmas eve, so thank you to FedEx. Also, I’ll give Van’s some credit for beating their estimate.

Anyway, I got them home. Because I was gone for the last week, we did Christmas tonight. (Girlfriend, Jack (black lab/Italian greyhound), and Ginger (German shephard/American staffordshire terrier) all exchanged gifts.)

I slapped a bow on each kit, and Jack gave me one, and Ginger gave me the other. Thanks, pups, for the gifts. (How did you guys wrap those boxes without any thumbs? “It was ruff,” Jack said. Ha. Dog joke.) I managed to get away with this because the girlfriend got a trip to a Central American country from Ginger, so the airplane was not a big deal.

Here are the two boxes on my workbench.

Boxes on the workbench.

Starting to unwrap everything. Not surprisingly, (from other builders sites), everyhing was well wrapped and packaged. Van’s delivers the tail kit in subkits, so you have to take out the subkits, unwrap those, then inventory.

Here are the first few subkits.

First few subkits

Here’s the stuff from the 1st subkit.

1st subkit unpacked

And the second subkit.

Second subkit

Here are the fiberglass tips (I can’t remember if this is the third subkit or not.)

Fiberglass empennage tips.

And all the paper from the small box alone…

Paper from just the small box.

Then my iphone died, so I kept unpacking and inventorying (verb?) until I could snap this picture of everything in the kit except the hardware.

Everything upacked, except hardware.

Here’s a picture of the hardware.

Here are the hardware bags.

And then all the paper from the whole kit. (I left the boxes out of the picture.)

That's a lot of paper.

Then I put everything away user my second workbench. Top shelf was horizontal parts on front, vertical parts on back. Middle shelf is elevator parts on front and rudder parts in back. Bottom shelf is skins. I left the hardware in bags for now, I need to stop by harbor freight tomorrow and pick up another storage bin.

Here’s my empty workbench, ready for the real start tomorrow. And here’s a picture of my second bench, with all the airplane parts in it.

Ready to go for tomorrow. Sorry about the weird angle.

I’m counting the inventory hours as build hours, because of the organization and learning part. Some people don’t count them, but I think it is an important part of the process. 1.5 hours.

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Leave a Comment » | Empennage | Tagged: Empennage, FedEx, Fiberglass, Ginger, Harware, Jack, Workbench | Permalink
Posted by Andrew

First Avery tool order

December 25, 2009

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Dec 25, 2009

I made another tool order last night. This time from Avery. I’ve heard really good things about them, but they tend to be more expensive for some things. Merry Christmas to me (and all of you…).

POP RIVET DIMPLERS – 3/32″ – These dimple dies are for hard to reach places in the aft end of ribs. You can also use them on the skins, if you don’t really want to buy a c-frame, (or are planning on borrowing one, and haven’t gotten around to it.) I know a few people on the forums who have done all of their skins with pop-rivet dies. I definitely need them for the ribs, so if they work out, I’ll try them on the skins. Otherwise, I’ll get the c-frame.

3/32″ TANK DIES – This is for dimpling the understructure (ribs, etc.) with a slightly larger dimple (dies were made for dimpling the fuel tanks, where the pro-seal required to seal the tanks prevents the rivet head from sitting flush). I’ve decided, after reading Brad Oliver’s post on the tank dies here, and then confirming that many builders have gone this route, that this will be a good idea.

EXTRA LONG DOUBLE OFFSET BACK RIVET SET – I need a backrivet set anyway, so instead of ordering the cheap (pronounced “great value”) one from the Yard, I decided to just get one…one that will work when I need to backrivet something (in the wings?) with a double offset. People rave about backriveting the wing skins, and while I am a long way from those steps, at least now I’ll only need one backrivet set instead of two.

DRILL STOPS – #40 Drill Stop – I tried to make my own drill stops out of tubing, but it didn’t work. I hope these are nice.

DRILL STOPS – #30 Drill Stop – Needed the #30 size, too.

MONOGRAM AIRCRAFT SHEET METAL FASTENERS (CLECOS) – 1/8″ CLECO – Ha. I bought 18 of these to bring my subtotal to $100.02. Free shipping over $100! I’m so clever.

Avery tool order that came in. Wuhoo! Apparently I had already put away the pop rivet dimplers. Sorry. They come in a little plastic baggy about the size of the drill stop bags with about 6 extra nails in it.

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Leave a Comment » | Builder's Log, Tools | Tagged: Avery, Backriveting, cleco, Dimpling, order, Tools, yard | Permalink
Posted by Andrew

Automatic Compressor Drain Kit

December 13, 2009

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This afternoon (after a lot of research), I stopped by Harbor Freight and bought the Automatic Compressor drain kit.

Automatic Compressor Drain Kit

I had come across this product on Mike Bullock’s site, and in particular, on his useful docs page (direct link to the .pdf here.)

Compressor pre-project

Close-up of the unloader line.

The parts that came with the Harbor Freight kit.

The assembly on the left goes underneath the compressor, (the auto-drain, towards the top in the picture), tees off from the manual drain (towards the bottom right of the assembly). The tee at the top of the picture gets installed in the unloader line, which provides pressure at compressor start-up and shut-down to the end of the auto-drain. That pressure moves a little diaphragm and valve that then opens a small hole in the auto-drain. You’ll see the final connections later.

Printout of Mike's Guide (it looks like it may actually be copyrighted by someone else. See Mike's page for more info.)

I’m ready to start.

The existing petcock (has a nice handle on it).

First, I removed the existing petcock.

The old petcock removed.

Needs a little cleaning, if you ask me.

Other side of the old petcock.

Here’s the new auto-drain (and tee) installed in the bottom of the compressor.

Tee and auto drain attached to the compressor.

The petcock that come with the autodrain was not as nice my original one, so I installed my original one to the tee. I had to be careful to make sure I had enough clearance when the compressor sits upright. I have about 1/16″.

Old petcock attached to the new drain tee.

Then I started running the plastic tubing from the auto-drain.

Plastic tubing attached to the auto-drain. (I haven't tightened down the nut, yet.)

Then, I stumbled across the part in the directions (both the Harbor Freight directions and the .pdf I had printed out) that mentioned that the kit I had just purchased included the unloader line tee meant for plastic unloader lines. Crap, mine’s copper. I’ll have to run to Lowe’s tomorrow to get a standard compression tee, then finish up. The .pdf notes that if you put the tee too close to the tank fitting, heat can make the plastic tubing get soft. I’m going to lengthen this connection to give me a little more room to work with when installing the tee.

The unloader line removed.

Sorry I didn’t finish. I got called inside to fix a crazy washer. (Wouldn’t drain or spin…grrr.)

January 1 update: I managed to fix the washer, but then had to go on vacation (feel sorry for me?). When I started the tail kit on Dec 30th, I powered up the compressor (still having not connected the plastic unloader line) and the automatic drain assembly leaked. Upon closer inspection, there was a HUGE CRACK in the side of the fitting. I packed it up and exchanged it for a new one at Harbor Freight. The new one should work, once I have some time to install it.

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Leave a Comment » | Builder's Log, Tools | Tagged: compressor | Permalink
Posted by Andrew

More tools before starting

December 11, 2009

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Ordered some more tools today. The Yard has graciously offered to send me the following after taking some of my money:

Fluting Pliers
Microstop New
5-Piece Set 100 degree Countersinks
4 Side-Grip Clecos Clamps 1/2″
4 Side-Grip Clecos Clamps 1″
25 K Series Spring Cleco 1/8″
50 K Series Spring Cleco 3/16″
2 #21 Cobalt Jobber Bit – 135 degree
2 #12 Cobalt Jobber Bit – 135 degree

They should arrive sometime next week. I’ll update the post when the come in with some pictures.

Tools arrived!

Dec 25th update:

I bet some of you noticed I ordered 3/16″ clecos instead of 3/32″ When the box arrived, I was sure that the Yard had made a mistake, but I quickly realized the mistake was mine. After some research, I figured out I won’t need that many 3/16″ clecos, so it owuld be best if I could exchange them. Luckily, I was headed to Wichita the very next day for a wedding, and the Yard is conveniently located in Wichita.

Note: It is possible to bring a bag of 50 3/16″ clecos in a carry-on through airport security. Be prepared: the TSA will ask you why you are trying to bring bullets on the airplane. Ask me how I know.

When I was able to sneak away from the wedding festivities and make it to the Yard, the guy behind the counter didn’t have any problem with me exchanging for the right size. He even pointed out that I might want to go with used. Skeptically, I inspected a bag of 100 used 3/32″ clecos, and was satisfied with their quality. (Only saw a few with pro-seal on them.) at $0.25 a piece, I saved a bunch of money. Ha.

January update: Later, I saw that some of the clecos are stubby clecos, and some are unusable. I’ve gone through every one and thrown out about 10% of them. I will probably stick with new clecos from now on. If nothing else, they look better in the pictures for you guys.

Anyway, let me get back to my Christmas. Oh, and Merry Christmas.

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Leave a Comment » | Builder's Log, Tools | Tagged: cleco, drill bit, fluting, microstop, Tools, Wichita, yard | Permalink
Posted by Andrew

Ordered Empennage

November 30, 2009

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Well, it’s official. Today at 2:08 pm EST, I emailed Barb my order form. I didn’t buy the electric trim yet, but I am planning on installing electric trim by the time I finish the kit. (Didn’t want to spend the $300 to have the trim motor sit for months on a shelf.)

Then I got the confirmation:

Andrew, I was able to print your form with no problem. Thanks much. We will process your order and ship as soon as we can.

Update on Dec 7th…

Andrew, although your order has been put to crating, it has not shipped yet. We normally ship with Fed Ex on a 3 day service, and you will get an email with the tracking once it leaves our door. Thanks for your order and have fun building once you do get you kit.

But then a couple hours later…

Andrew, I was told this afternoon that we are totally out of parts for the RV-7,8, and 9 kits. We should have some hopefully by next week and will ship
your order as soon as we can once the parts have come in from production.

I’m pretty upset that the lady on the phone told me they were in stock and it was a whole week (and an email inquiry) after my order was placed that I find this out. I think this means the kit will arrive sometime around the 19th… Grrrr…

Update on Dec 14th…

Anna from Van’s called. She said they are still working on catching up, and that she thinks my kit will be ready a week and a half from from today…which is actually a blessing. That puts it on the FedEx truck on the 23rd, which puts it on my doorstep a little after Christmas, which will line up nicely with some holiday time off from work so I can get started. Hopefully I’ll be able to put in some 8 hours days on the project early on.

I’m impressed that they called. Van’s did not impress me by ignoring me for a week. Besides, even if they had shipped the tail kit today, I wouldn’t have been able to start until after Christmas anyway.

I’ll update the later tool post when my tools come in. (Or after Christmas if my dog, Jack, decides that would be a good gift for me.) He has a hard time ordering things off the internet with no thumbs, so I helped him out.

Update Dec 22nd:

Hooray!

After a short stint in Wichita for a wedding (shudder, and yes, I am entitled to a shudder… I put in two years there as a young, single male) and the beginning of a christmas vacation in the keys, I got an email from Van’s for the first emp box (29 lbs) tracking number.
It should arrive just in time for the few days I have off while at home before returning to work. This ended up working out pretty well. I wonder where that second box is…

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Leave a Comment » | Builder's Log, Empennage | Tagged: Electric Trim, Empennage, order | Permalink
Posted by Andrew

Saw RV-12 at EAA 1114

November 21, 2009

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A couple things for the last few weeks. Per my last post, I’ve been increasingly interested in polishing. I think it is a a great look. Even though it is a ton of work, and everyone will flock to the airplane with their dirty little fingers, I think it would be an amazing look for the RV-7.

Also, I’ve set a date for the ordering of the empennage kit. Dec 12, 2009. We’ll see how that goes, but everything seems to be falling in place.

Today, I managed to scoot over to Cary, NC and check out the east coast RV-12 demonstrator (the “blue ship”). Wow, it was beautiful. Mitch (Vans’ east coast representative) was a really nice guy, and explained a lot of things about the RV-12. A couple things of note:

555 hours from first kit to first flight
65 hours for both wings to be completed.
“100 or so” holes to be drilled (almost all match-drilled)
Most of the holes on the kit are prepunched to final size (no drilling, deburring, dimpling)

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Leave a Comment » | Other | Tagged: Dimpling, EAA, Polish, RV Pictures, Tip-up | Permalink
Posted by Andrew

More dreaming of paint schemes

October 30, 2009

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Well, I haven’t posted in a week or two, because I am waiting for my airplane piggy bank to grow enough to buy an empennage kit. In the mean time, I have been practicing drilling out rivets on the practice kit and dreaming of some more paint schemes. Here are some of my current thoughts about what I would like to end up with. If any of these are your pictures and you would like credit (or for me to take them down), please let me know, and I will kindly oblige. Otherwise, take the compliment.

At this point, I am contemplating doing a little polishing on my airplane. have to paint all the fiberglass, though, so maybe black would look good…

Looks like this first airplane is owned by William R Cloughley. Well done, Mr. Cloughley.

N18LC - Right

N18LC - Left Side

N18LC - Parked

N18LC - Right Rear Quartering

N18LC - From Left, during the flare.

Different airplane, but the same idea.

Right front quartering.

This next airplane has the same general paint scheme, but is black and silver paint, with some subtle details (I actually like the checkerboard througout and the stripes on the rudder, but that may be a little complicated for me.)

N65TD - Left Front Quartering.

N65TD - Right side

N65TD - Low Pass

Click here to go to my older ideas page.

Click here to go to my newer ideas page.

For posterity, I got this email through VAF, I want to keep it just in case:

I was concerned about my ability to spray the silver metallic initially. Turned out to be dead easy once I found the right combination of gun pressure and distance from the surface.

The silver is PPG DBC in GM’s machine silver (a vette color from recent years).
Clear is PPG 2002.

I just could not bare to paint it gray (Yuch!)
The silver absolutely glows in the sunlight.
As far as touch up. We’ll see. Hopefully there won’t be much need.

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Leave a Comment » | Paint Schemes | Tagged: Paint Schemes, Polish, RV Pictures | Permalink
Posted by Andrew