Elevator Assembly June 5

RV14 Build June 5

Elevator Assembly

Today I am installing the Front Spar Assembly into the Elevators. Getting at the 2 pop rivets in the rear of the elevators wasn't possible without first modifying one of the Pop Riveters. I followed the instructions in the EAA video for pulling pop rivets in tight spaces. You basically grind one of the pop rivet pullers on an angle so you can hold the tool on an angle and give you more room to work.

The first rivet went in well! The modified tool seemed to work well, should have done this for the rudder, Oh well, now I know for when I rebuild it.

Im ready to install the Front Spar, or so I thought. Turns out I missed 2 rivets on each assembly that I had to shoot first!

Now thats done I can start to rivet the Front Spars in. I started to deviate from working them both at the same time and just focused on finishing the Left Elevator at this point. The plans had several lines of rivets on the skins and rear spar to leave open so you can have access later.

Leaving the line of rivets open on the bottom skins give you access to the top skin to shoot the 2 red arrow rivets, The plans say you can use pop rivets, but it wasn't that had to shoot them. The 3 blue marked rivet holes are longer than the rest of the Elevator Rib Tip Flange.

After you are done with the Shear Clips  and 2 red arrows from above you don't need access anymore and start to close the skins up the rest of the way.

Elevators 4.0 Hours

Elevator Assembly June 3

RV14 Build June 3

Elevator Assembly

Continued to work on the Elevators today, Matt came to the shop and helped out!! We started by finishing attaching the top skins to the ribs and then moved onto the Left Elevator Trim Tab Access Reinforcement Doubler. I used the back rivet plate for most of this.

The plans have you make a special bucking bar to get between the elevator skins and reach the rear spar, just buy it from Cleveland tools and save the headache. 

Bucking these rivets seemed like it would be CRAZY hard for 1 person so I am super glad Matt was here today to help!

2 Mostly completed elevators!! I just need to install the front spar assemblies, ProSeal the trailing edge wedges, and rivet the trailing edge together. I think maybe 20 more hours??

Elevators 9.0 Man Hours - Yeah Help Today

Elevator Assembly June 1

RV Build Build June 1

Elevator Assembly

I started off thinking I was gonna ProSeal the Elevator Trim Tab, but then I realized the 3.5oz size of ProSeal was not something I could mix in small batches and would have to be mixed all together so i put this part off until the elevators where ready to seal as well.

I decide to start with the left elevator rear spar and ribs. For some reason I couldn't find a good angle to get the squeezer on the ribs to spar rivets and had to shoot them. My skills in tight spots still need work, I missed up the primer. But on the plus side the primer does appear to be much more resilient than the old stuff I was using.

You can see the primer messed up on the ribs near the rivet heads.

After I had all the ribs installed in the left and right elevators I started to attach the skin to the front spar and rivet the spar and ribs to the Top Skin.

Although the skins are really beat up from getting moved around and scuffed I am still putting tape down to protect the area around the rivet heads from scuffing when shooting rivets.

Next three pictures are how I had the front spar set up on the bench to rivet.

Elevator 4.5 Hours

Elevator Assembly May 30

RV14 Build May 30

Elevator

The day before I noticed I missed priming 2 parts so today I started with that so hopefully the primer will be dry before I need them in the assembly. I used the detail spray gun and it worked great for this. I mixed up only 1 Tablespoon and maybe used half!

I am going to work both elevators at once as long as it doesn't get confusing. The plans have me start with the rear spars, stiffeners and rivnuts. I used the squeezer to set all of these. I cranked up the PSI and the squeezer is actually setting the larger rivets!!

Next I put on the horns and counterbalance flanges. The horns were a little tricky since they angle in I couldn't use the squeezer, although I tried and had to drill out those rivets and start again.

Next was the counter balance skins.

Since I had primer left over I decided to touch up the right rear spar flange where the primer looked light.

2 Rear Spar assemblies completed!

Rudder travel stops.

Elevator 7.5 Hours

Elevator Assembly May 29

RV14 Build May 29

Elevator

Started today by cleaning up the paint booth and organizing the parts into the Right, Left sides, and the rear fuselage parts.

Next I started the work to dimple all those holes, but I was curious about how the thickness of my primer job was. The paperwork says a final coat should be 1-1.3mils or .025mm-.03mm so I measured it. I was surprised at how close I was. When the primer is right at 1mils you can just barely see what looks like the "grain" of the metal.

Metal thickness without primer

Dimple time! This is a picture of the modified "skinny" female dimple die that you need to use on the elevator skin edges.

The plans say you have to check the flange angles after dimpling because they might straighten out a bit after. I noticed a little change, but I was able to work them back with my hands. I didn't have to modify my squeezer yoke at all for the narrow channel on the rear spar like the plans say you might have to IF you have the larger yokes.

Matt stopped by today to help for a few hours!

All the dimpling is done so now time to assemble. I started with the trim tab push rod that is double flush riveted. The plans call for using 3-3.5 rivets, but they seemed a little short I assume because of the primer so I went with 3-4.

The 3-4 Rivet before shooting.

The 3-3.5 Rivet Before shooting.

The 3-3.5 on the left and the 3-4 on the right. I shop head looks a little small on the 3-3.5 so I drilled it out and went with the 3-4s.

Moved on to the elevator counter balance flanges. I noticed people where back riveting these types of parts. I wanted to try it so I rigged up my own back rivet jig to hold the die.

I set the rivets with the squeezer first and finished with the back rivet method. Overall very happy with the outcome.

Elevators 10.5 Man Hours - Yeah Help today!