#40 | Andrew's RV-7 Build Log

Tank Attach Nutplates, Left Lower Spar Flange

October 21, 2010

With the girlfriend gone for the night, I managed to clean up all of the electrical stuff I had out messing around with my wig-wag experiment, and pulled the left spar out of the box. Here it is, in all of it’s golden glory.

Golden Glory!

First step is to countersink the tank (and access plate) nutplate attach holes. First, you have to run a #40 drill through the holes or else the countersink pilot won’t even fit in the hole. Here’s one of my first countersinks on the left spar.

I went back and cleaned this one up after testing with a AN426AD3-11 rivet (-11 because it's easier to get back out while testing countersinks...it's so long you can just push it back out from the back.)

These countersinks are a little better. (The one on the right is a tad deep, but should be okay because these are just nutplate attach holes.)

I left the door to the house open so the pups could come out to visit.

Hey guys (Jack and Ginger).

Hey Andrew, how about one of those artsy shots down the spar after countersinking the nutplate attach holes?

Sure, here you go.

Then, I pulled the K1100-08 nutplates out for the tank attach holes and the K1000-06 nutplates out for the access plate holes, then clecoed one side in, and put the required rivet (AN426AD3-4) in the holes.

Where’s my squeezer?

It's right there on the table, dummy.

Then I squeezed some rivets and removed the clecos.

Squeezed (repeated 41 more times.)

Other side done. (Repeated 41 more times.)

Under the hood, things look good. I still like this new Cleveland main squeeze much better than my economy squeezer.

Pretty shop heads.

Down the row.

I then laid the spar down and saw this guy.

Yikes.

Whoa. Scary.

After a little internet research, I think I’ve figured out he (actually she due to her size) is a red-back. I’m going to keep looking though. I don’t want it to be a red-back.

1.0 hour. 84 rivets.

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2 Comments | Wings | Tagged: #40, AN426AD3-11, AN426AD3-4, Cleveland main squeeze, countersink, Ginger, golden glory, Jack, K1000-06, K1100-08, left spar, Nutplate, red-back, Squeezer | Permalink
Posted by Andrew

Started Drilling Out Rudder

August 14, 2010

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Well, after much hand-wrenching and a few sleepless nights, I’ve decided to dive into taking the rudder apart to assess the damage.

I’m guessing there are a few hundred rivets I need to drill out, which is going to ruin my drilling out average, but that’s okay. I want the rudder to be perfect. The pictures aren’t really that exciting, but here they are anyway.

About the first 25 after they've been drilled out.

I started drilling out the leading edge blind rivets. They ended up not being that bad, but not something I ever really want to do in the future.

Started drilling out leading edge rivets.

I ended up using a #40 drill bit for the blind rivets, even though they are really #30 sized holes. #40 allowed me to pry the heads off really easily. (You can see the heads of the blind rivets on the table.)

67 rivets drilled out, and I'm now dripping sweat on the rudder. Time to go inside.

But just for kicks, I took a picture of the rudder skin after pulling off one of the blue vinyl sections.

It's going to look really good when I take the vinyl off of the whole airplane. (You can see the outline, though, which means I'll still need to do a little polishing before first flight.)

It was about 30 minutes in the garage for just this part. I’m trying to figure out if I want to keep going on this or start in on the wing kit. For sure, I’ll need to finish the elevator trim tab before moving on to the wing. Maybe I’ll put the rudder away for awhile and move on.

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Leave a Comment » | Empennage | Tagged: #30, #40, Blind Rivets, hand-wrenching, rivets, Rudder, sleepless nights, Vinyl | Permalink
Posted by Andrew

#10 Dimple Die from Avery…and More

July 21, 2010

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My latest tool order from Avery showed up.

Edge Roller tool, #28, #30, and #40 cobalt drill bits, #10 spring back dimple dies, and 101 clecoes. Why 101 clecoes? Because my total with 100 was $99.60, and they cost $0.40. I wanted to get to $100. Why? BECAUSE AVERY HAS FREE SHIPPING OVER $100.

Oh wait. No they don’t. That’s the Yard Store.

So I go to set the bag of clecos (and the one separate extra cleco that they had to throw in to get to 101) next to the other stuff, and it didn’t look good for the picture. So I grab the bag to flip it over, and guess what? The top wasn’t sealed, so 100 (+1) clecoes fall out onto the table (and my foot, and the floor) and scatter everywhere (roll under the workbenches, etc.)

[sigh]

It was like 52 card pickup, except with clecoes, and there were 101 of them.