Practice Kit 2 - Control Surface

Yesterday I completed the tool box practice kit which was a HUGE confidence builder with using all the new tools. Today after some house chores, I went off to the aircraft factory (aka garage), and started on the second practice kit.  On this kit I back riveted for the first time and experienced some tight space bucking.  The instructions were understandable.  No mistakes, or smiles anywhere.  The leading edge was rolled using a 1" PVC pipe at first.   The 1" pipe roll was too big leaving a very big gap between the two skins and not round enough for me.  re-rolled with a 3/4" PVC pipe and the roll was tighter and rounder closing the gap.  the skins still need to be pushed together some to match drill the bottom skin.  After some pop rivets all was done.  The aft top and bottom rivets were too tight to squeeze or buck normally.  It requires the specially made tool before starting this control surface kit that I skipped.  Yeah.  No more skipping steps.  There is a reason for vans madness.  Here are a few pictures of the process.

The kit as sent from Vans.

Clecod and ready for match drill

Spar and ribs clamps ready to match drill.

Bucked forward spar to skin.

The tight aft rib rivet (not riveted here yet) requiring the special tool to be made prior to starting this kit.

Leading edge rolled and popped.

Finished product.

Vans Tool Box Practice Kit


Work was a bit slow today, so I was sent home 4 hours early.  Since the practice kits had arrived today with the last of the tools, I decided to set my first rivets on the practice kits to get a feel for it before doing it on the real thing.

The tools box was straight forward.  Nothing difficult about the the build really.  I think the instructions aren't 100% clear in this practice kit.  The Big Gotcha for me on the tool box was the hinge.  The instructions were not clear enough for ME to understand. I had to take the hing apart, flip on side of the hinge THEN cut to size.  Instructions said the lid hing eyelets would be facing down.  Ok, not sure how else the hinge would work if it was vertically flipped with the eyelets facing up.  What they wanted was to flip the eyelets so the hinge sits flush to the INSIDE of the lid and the lower hing sits flush with the outside of the box.  Anyhow.  I cut it without flipping the hing and then realized what they really wanted after fitting the hinge.  Had to cut it again making the hinge 1 rivet hole shy.

Setting the rivets with the squeezer was a no brainer.  Easy peasy.  The adjustable set holder is an EXCELLENT upgrade.  HUGE time saver!  Its was really nice to make adjustments on the fly.  The rivets on the toolbox sides were set using the pneumatic squeezer.   To try something different, remember this is where I want to make my mistakes, I bucked the hing rivets.   Not bad either. First 2 or 3 rivets was a trial and error type thing just getting used to the pounding vibration and POWER of the gun.  Having an adjustable valve a the air hose connection on the gun was great!  First rivet was nearly flattened out but acceptable for the toolbox.   After that, they only got better except for the last 2 rivets for the build, the hinge rivets.  Had a hard time balancing the lid vertical while attempting to apply pressure on both ends of the rivets to set it.  YUP...got a whopping smile.   All in all, quite impressed with my first rivets.  Oh, for got to mention, all dimples were set using the DRDT-2.  That thing makes making dimples so mindless I won't bother describing how easy that piece is to use.

Pictures for memories really.  my first riveted piece.



The Tool box how it arrives from Vans Aircraft.

The parts...

After deburring all parts, my first rivets set with the pneumatic squeezer.

All rivets nice and flush.

The completed tool box.  Now it just needs and airplane to ride in the luggage compartment with tools at the ready.

Oh yea, the first smiles.  Happened on the last 2 rivets!!! Jeez....

And the stupid hinge.  If this was an actual airplane part, you better believe I would have ordered a new hinge before riveting.

Next up...the practice control surface...

Tables

After clecoing together the elevators I quickly found out I needed more workbench space.  Having the right elevator on a wobbly folding table didn't feel right.  The foldout table was very narrow having just enough space for the elevator.

Built a 2nd EAA style work bench, added the shelf to the bottom of both EAA tables.


Built a rolling power tool worktable EAA style.  Dimensions on the top is 28" long by 21" wide.  Also with a shelf at the bottom.  This will house the drill press, vise, band saw, and bench grinder.   All the power cords were routed neatly with zip ties to the side then underneath to a 14ga 2ft 3 plug extension.  2 of the 4 wheels have brakes.  The wheels make is ver easy to move around.  This freed up the tool bench top.  Oh made of 75% wood laying around from other projects as you can tell from the semi painted parts.

Cracked Open The RV-10 Manual

While waiting for tools to be shipped, I started to read the build manual.  Nearly half the manual is purely informational.  Whew!  Lots of information for sure. There is a steep learning curve going on right now.  I don't learn very well by just reading.  Reading this ten times will hopefully help this section sink in.   Although empennage is partially complete (not by me), all the information is still very important.  Unfortunately for me, I'll be starting on the empennage midway thru.  No pressure...

For the last few days, I have been reading a few pages before and after work.  Trying to get my head into the metal building workflow.  So far the rivet sizing seems the most difficult part.  I don't remember a digital caliper in the tool kit order. A few pages at a time is a good pace to not overload myself.  As of today, the bulk of the tools have not shipped.  So I have at least a week to keep reading.  Not having tools yet is good for me. I'm a very hands on person and would hate to try something right off the bat and need to order parts cause I buggered up something because I did not read the entire Pre-build info section.  I think this is a good time to order some practice kits from the mothership.

Light It Up

Picked up 2 more 4 ft lithonia LED lights for the garage ahem....aircraft factory.  Wired them up and and once again, done on a cinch. Okay, so it took about an hour. With four 4' Lithonia LED (dual strip in each fixture) 4000k on the cieling, it really brightens the garage up like a stadium.   Wow!  I would highly recommend these LED for any garage or shop.  For comparison, the Lithonias replaced two 4 ft Phillips with 2 T8s in each.  The Lithonias are easily 4X brighter in my opinion. Highly recommended upgrade to any shop garage wheather your building an RV-X or not.  Why wouldn't you be building anyway???  Lol.

Tooling up

Ordered tools 2 nights ago in anticipation of picking up the partially completed empennage.  After much research on VAF, the big tool order was placed with Cleaveland Tool.  I tried to make sure all the tools needed to be build the complete airplane will be on this order.  Many people on the forums though say "your never done buying tools".  It was a big chunk of change at nearly the cost of the RV-10 empennage kit from VANS directly.

I also ordered 2 part epoxy primer AKZO, a partial face respirator with organic filters, and eye protection.

I also added 2 4ft Lithonia LED 4000k lights from the local aircraft hardware store.  Need to get 2 more to replace the old dying florecents that barely put out any light.  These new LED are AMAZING!  WOW.  They really brightend up the gargae ALOT.  There is still 2 dark spots that I think will resolve themselves when replacing the 2 old fixtures.  Wiring was a cinch and very quick.  Had the lights up and running in less than 1 hour.  May put a dimmer on them for the times i'm not needing all the exra light. 

EAA Workbench

Since I did not have much to do at home today, I thought building an EAA workbench was a good RV motivational task.  Last year I scrapped a 10 ft wide by 2.5ft wide by 5 ft high fish tank breeding rack from the garage.  It left me with tons of 2X4 and plywood.  Pulled out the miter saw and set it up in the side yard out the side garage door to keep the saw dust out.  After a couple hours, I had myself an EAA work bench at no cost.  Still need to rip more plywood for the bottom shelf.  That will be left for another RV motivational task in the future.  

standard EAA work bench

Picture is a bit dark, sorry about that.  Garage lighting sure does need to be upped.  That will be for another day.  As usual, stay tuned...

Here is the link for the EAA workbench.

A Bit More Progress

Today I received my first order specifically for the RV-10 build.  Its the  Aircraft Structural Technician Book by Dale Hurst.  Amazon had the best price shipped to my door.  Being a Prime member, it arrived in 2 days (no shipping charge).

Also, I bolted the air compressor air hose reel to the concrete block.  This needed to be done a long time ago.  So much easier to reel up the hose now...

26 gallon belt driven Campbell Compressor. 

Spend a few days deciding on which tools to get.  Searching the VAF forums and builder websites, I have come up with a list of tools I plan to purchase from Cleveland Aircraft Tools (CAT) with the exception of the clecos.  The clecos will come from Brown Tool due to a saving of $200 over CAT. Although I'll have plenty of time to finish the build (10 years?) the nice to have tools will be on the list.  For instance, pneumatic squeezer, 1000 3/32 clecos, quick change chuck kit for drill, DRDT-2, multiple different yokes, 2 countersink cages, yoke quick change pins, and more.  I'm a tool person.  My wife taught me the importance of having the right tool for the job.  I remember the days when we were staining our new wooden fence.  Took 2 hours to do one 8 ft panel.  She took off to Home Depot and came back with a power sprayer.  One panel took 2 min or less with the right tool!  Ever since then, I usually splurge for the right tool.  The results and time savings speak for themselves.

current work bench setup

Once the aircraft tools arrive, they will have a nice home on the right wall.  Tools stuffed in draws get lost or forgotten.  I believe in easy access and easy to see tool storage. This tool storage method makes for minimal time loss when using them.


Thats it for now..   For now, I'll read the book to keep me busy.  Stay tuned.

Primer

4/14/2016 2300

Today I have finally came up with the primer solution.  Living in Florida, I believe priming is a must.  I have decided on AKZO 463-12-8/CA-116.  It's well known to be the best in my opinion.  The durability is often said to be "hard as nails".  Its super easy for the novice sprayer to apply.  AKZO dries in a few mins.  In the S. Florida sun, it'll dry in a flash!  Downside to AKZO is its hazardous which requires PPE (bunny suit and activated charcoal respirator) while using it.  Next, I'll have to decide if the "el cheapo" Harbor Freight HVLP gun will do or if a better quality gun ($$$) is in order.  Not sure yet.  

http://www.gracosupply.com/akzonobel-fluid-resistant-epoxy-primer-463-12-8ca-116-dn9295-green-2-gallon-kit-dms-1786-ty-1-comp-a?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

YT video on surface prep.

pssssssttt......Where Have I been?

Its been 1 year this month since this blog was started and the airplane factory was put on hold.  Life happens, I guess.  Back at it again now so no worries.  I'm pyched and ready to start. Nothing has been purchased yet, no aircraft specific tools, primers, parts, kits, nothing, nada, zilche!  :-(  With another year past and no progress to start the build, the hanger turned back into a garage.

So yeah, back to converting it into the RV-10 factory hanger.  More donations were made in time for 2015 taxes, and a very profitable garage (reletively speaking) sale was done 2 weeks ago.  You'll have to ask the admiral how we accumulate so much junk uhhhh things.  The current general work bench tool area was a mess. All the tools were stuffed in three drawers.   It's no exageration the drawers were over flowing with tools to the point the they would not close. Sometimes tools would disappear from falling behind the drawers.   Since there is plenty of scrap 2X4s, i adopted the French cleat system to hang 80% of the tools out on the wall.   Drawers are nearly empty now and tools are easily accessible.

I have six 8ft party type tables all folded up and stood up in one section of the garage out of the way. I'll use these to create more workspace as needed.   The current general work bench is a corner design ( measurements ).   I want to build a table on lockable casters to hold the bandsaw, belt sander, and drill press that I can move around as needed.

Still need to get some extra lighting. Not bright enough.  Will go with 2-3 more 4 ft litholiums LED  lights.  That should really brighten up the factory.   Lastly, maybe, just maybe, I'll paint the walls semigloss white.   For now, more research...

Stay tuned for more updates....

Cleaning Out The Garage

Today I had a day off of work for appts.  After the appts, I took the long 2 hr drive to Miami to pick up my son from school for the weekend. He is 15 with a learners permit so he drove the return leg.  Getting home at 5pm, there was still plenty of daylight to clean out the garage....ummmm hanger.  The garage is loaded with bins of stuff we have trying to sell in garage sales for years.  With the admirals help, we loaded the pickup with stuff.  My son uhhhh student pilot gladly drove us over to Goodwill to donate the goods.   The floor space is almost empty....  One step closer to starting the RV 10 build. Can't wait!!  I'm really excited.  Back to work tomorrow to save up for the tools purchase soon.  Stay tuned.

Cleaning Out The Garage

4-21-15

My workshop or my hanger as I like to call it will be the attached 2 car garage.  Right now it's about 1/2 full of stuff we have been trying to sell in gargage sales for a couple years.  Today I loaded up the trunk of my sedan with stuff  without my wife noticing. Then she came into the garage and ask if we can donate some stuff to Goodwill.  To my surprise, she filled 6 grocery bags of clothes hanging on a portable rack.  YES!!!  I smiled and thew them in the back seat.  Then she handed me a bunch of other stuff, which I gladly loaded up in the car.  She looked at me and said, "is that enough for now?  Can we go back to the hotel for our stay-cation?"  I said, "Yup, this is a start." And smiled.  A quick drive to Goodwill and a tax donation recipt in hand, I knew the hanger is that much closer to build an airplane.

The garage has three windows with blinds and two 4' Florecent fixtures with two bulbs in each at the rear. During daylight hours, it is sufficient.  Night, not so much.  I'll definitely have to add a few more florecents to brighten the hanger during building time.  I'll add the additional lights onto a separate switch.

The belt driven compressor is inside the garage.  With 100' of hose, I can do some work outside the hanger out front on the driveway or on the side yard behind the 8' privacy wood fence.  I have had this compressor for 5 years now and I find the noise level to be tolerable.  The hanger is away from all sleeping areas so late nights won't wake anyone. That is always a plus!

Completed parts will be hung on the walls or ceiling.  Small parts will stored on non permanent plastic shelving.  Larger parts like spars and skins will be placed on top shelves of a couple plastic non permanent shelves pushed together.  Will shall see how this works out as the parts come in.