Empennage > Rudder
Time: 6.0 hours
Before installing the skin, place a fingertip size daub of RTV inside the trailing edge of the rudder skin at the end of each pair of stiffeners (See “Folded Trailing Edges”, Section 5.7) Cleco the R-703, R-713 and E-614-020 subassembly, then the R-801PP skin onto the understructure. Rivet the R-801PP skin to the understructure. Installing …
Empennage > Rudder
Time: 4.0 hours
Rivet R-713 to R-703. Omit the three most aft rivets on each side that coincide with the R-801PP skin attach. Note that when fully assembled the R-801PP skin will lay on top of the R-713 counterbalance skin. Enlarge the two 3/32 guide holes in the forward web of R-703 to #12 and install the E-614-020 …
Empennage > Rudder
Time: 4.0 hours
Cost: $15.00 AUD
Not much to report today… just prepping and priming parts. Mark and disassemble the spar, deburr all holes and edges (See “Edge Finishing” and “Hole Deburring”, Section 5.2). Prime components if/as desired (See “Priming”, Section 5.1). Dimple the skins, spar and ribs (See “Dimpling”, Section 5.5).
Empennage > Rudder
Time: 3.0 hours
Cleco the R-606PP, R-607PP and R-608PP reinforcement plates to the R-802PP rudder spar. NOTE that the R-606PP lower reinforcement plate goes on the forward (flange side) of the spar web, while the R-607PP and R -608PP plates go on the rear (See Exploded Iso View). Fabricate the R-717 spacer and both R-716 rudder bottom attach …
Empennage > Rudder
Time: 2.0 hours
Cost: $150.00 AUD
Time for a Bunnings trip to hack together a trailing edge bender. Timber, screws, a piano hinge, and some clamps. No sweat. Bend the rudder trailing edge (See “Folded Trailing Edges”, Section 5.7).
Empennage > Vertical Stabiliser
Time: 2.0 hours
With the arrival of the new spar doubler for the vertical stabiliser, I decided to do a bit of back tracking to finish it off. Cleco VS-803PP to VS-808PP, VS-410PP, VS-411PP and VS-412PP together. Then tape over the holes that will attach VS-704, VS-706 and VS-707. Rivet the rear spar together remembering the flush rivets …
Empennage > Rudder
Time: 2.0 hours
Rivet the skin and stiffeners together. Back Riveting is the best technique here (See “Back Riveting”, Section 5.6). It was tricky to get the rivet gun in close to the trailing edge bend to back-rivet the shop head. I ended up bucking most of last and second to last rivets for each stiffener to make …
Fitting and riveting the stiffeners to the rudder skin… Part 2 Read More »
Empennage > Vertical Stabiliser
Time: 1.0 hours
I received some feedback from an experienced RV builder on my vertical stabiliser. There were a number of rivets that had been over driven, and so had to be drilled out and reset. It wasn’t a big deal drilling out the rivets and setting them was much easier with the new regulator install that I …
Empennage > Rudder
Time: 3.0 hours
Cost: $15.00 AUD
Deburr holes, smooth edges, dimple and prime (See “Hole Deburring”, “Edge Finishing”, “Dimpling” and “Priming” Section 5.2, 5.5 & 5.1). Be careful deburring the thin R-801PP rudder skin, too much pressure will ruin a hole in 0.020 aluminum. Next step will be to back-rivet the stiffeners to the rudder skin and then bend the skin.
Empennage > Rudder
Time: 4.2 hours
Trim the flange of the stiffener (surface perpendicular to the skin) to fit inside the tapered rudder. Single notches on the edge of the stiffener note the beginning points of these trim cuts. Trim the stiffeners and clean up the edges with a file and the Scotchbrite wheel (See R-815 (A-H) Detail). Fitting and riveting …