Tonight I worked on assembling the aft fuselage bulkheads. Drilling, dimpling, priming and riveting them. I also did some work on the battery tray brackets.
Aft fuselage bulkhead riveted together. The ears sticking up will be used to mount the horizontal stabilizer later Next aft fuselage bulkhead deburred, dimpled, primed and riveted together. The tab on the bottom is a guide for the rudder cables Another aft fuselage bulkhead deburred, dimpled, primed and riveted together One of the battery tray angles with the nutplates riveted on The battery tray angles riveted onto the bellcrank ribs
Tonight I started off fabricating the rudder stops. Then I moved onto to bulkhead work. I got two bulkheads drilled, dimpled, primed and riveted. It’s started to get late but I managed to get one more drilled, dimpled and primed. I’ll have to rivet it together tomorrow. I tried using the Stewart Systems waterborne primer on the first bulkhead tonight. It worked pretty nice, but doesn’t dry nearly as fast as the SEM EZ Coat I’ve been using.
Today I got started on the aft fuselage, also called the “tail cone”. It was mostly prep work like trimming and fabricated brackets. I did get to use my milling machine for something! That was fun!
This is what I've got ahead of me in the next section These brackets had to be cut apart and trimmed and deburred Trimmed the end off this bracket per the plans Had to do some fabricating on this bracket.
Tonight I got the elevators finished! I even got to do a little electrical and safety wiring!. Time to move on to the aft fuselage.
Now that the sealant is cured I finished riveting the trailing edges elevators. Here's the right elevator Left elevator trailing edge complete Trimmed and bent the end of the trim tab hinge so it can be safety wired once installed Time to safety wire the hinge.
Tonight I got most of the riveting done on the elevators. The trailing edge ribs are glued in with sealant and now all that remains is to rivet the trailing edge tomorrow, after the sealant cures.
I started the night blind riveting the forward ribs to the forward spar Some new toys for the shop. The pneumatic squeezer and long reach yoke are going to be great additions to the shop.
Today I got more elevator riveting done. I think it should take one more session.
Started with back-riveting the remaining elevator ribs Then I riveted the rear spar of both elevators using this 'special' bucking bar that I bought from Cleveland Tools. It's specifically design for this step in the RV-14. It made bucking the rivets in this location possible. Without it it would have been a tough day.
Tonight I continued riveting the elevators together.
Riveting the rear spar to the top left skin Back-riveting the lower rib halves to the top left skin. It's nice having the steal table. I can just back rivet directly on it, no need to use a back riveting plate. Lower right elevator skin with the bottom ribs riveted on Back-riveting the bottom halves of the ribs onto the lower left elevator skin The trim reinforcement double and brace riveted to the bottom left elevator skin
Today I got all the parts for both the left and right elevators primed. Then I started the process of riveting the elevators together.
Elevator skin primed Spars and other parts primed Riveting the counterbalance ribs together using the c-frame. Elevator spar and ribs riveted together Counterbalance skins riveted on Elevator horns riveted on.
Today I spent the entire day in the shop trying to make up for all the time I’ve been spending on Wendy’s barn, 10 hours today. Below is a list of stuff I got done:
Dimpled Elevator skins Dimpled, Primed and Did some riveting on the trim servo reinforcement plate Countersunk/Dimpled the elevator spars Dimpled the elevator ribs Primed and Riveted the Elevator Trim Pushrod Dimpled, Countersunk and Primed the trim tab spar Dimpled and Primed the trim tab skins Bonded the trim tab foam ribs with Fuselage Sealant Riveted the trim tab together I got so busy I forgot to take pictures till the end when I was riveting the trim tab together
Today was a short day. I spent most of the day installing fence for Wendy’s barn. I did manage to get some work done on the elevators. Most of the work was around trimming and countersinking the trailing edges. Also did a bunch of countersinking on the spars. Unfortunately I only took one picture :(
Back drilling the trim tab hinges.