RV-9A Andy C. Kalamazoo, Mi

[Greenley]

I can lend you some clecos. I am building a 10 in Dowagiac, not far away.

[KazooRV-9A]

Last weekend was a good one for RV building. Snowed all day here in Kalamazoo and after having about a week of 50-60 degree weather, it looked like the middle of winter again. So turned up the oil burner in the shop and set to some building, with help from a couple of guys who were surely escaping honey-do's back home.

The goal was to do something that would provide some measure of visual progress. So the fuselage was targeted and we managed to:

Install the landing gear mounts
Installed the flap drive
Temporarily installed the fuel selector valve
Installed the Aux fuel pump
Moved the brake reservoir to the right for dual setup
Bent/formed the vent lines
Began to form the fuel lines

I'm beginning to realize that the hard part is keeping parts on the plane. Seems like everything has to come back off 3 times before they stay on for good!

Gear mounts and fuel valve



Flap drive. I couldn't resist hooking up a battery and actuating the drive, and on the first transit it unscrewed from the rod end and I had to pull the actuator back out and screw it back in. it isn't lockwired yet. (Don't tell me you haven't done it!)



Vent lines.



Aux pump and main line to selector valve



Back to the right wing, we continued with the assembly. We had placed the outer leading edge on, and were on to the fuel tank assy. We have the fuel tank assembled to the point of back drilling the attach brackets, it was a good afternoon of work.





And then came Monday and I'm back at work toiling, and a text comes in from Annie, would I like to fly with her after work in her beautiful RV-9A! I had met Annie across the T-hangers at KBTL (where I keep my C120), and she had bought the 9A last summer. She's a CFI and accomplished pilot, and this was my first chance to fly a 9A.
What a thrill, this is going to be quite something!

N747RT


Transition lesson #1


And of course,,, The Grin

[RViter]

"I'm beginning to realize that the hard part is keeping parts on the plane. Seems like everything has to come back off 3 times before they stay on for good! "

That's the first step in the 'repeat offender introductory plan' ... make it twice, then install and remove it 3 times. Then when you finish and get the Special Airworthiness you find that you don't have enough screws to assembly everything at the same time.

Start making that list of SB's early and do them as you go, or you get a 4th chance to remove and replace when finished.

Good looking progress. Keep in mind that all the fasteners under the forward skin will probably need to be maintained from the inverted position (on your back upside down) so make them easier to manipulate from that perspective (ask me how I know).

That vent line may be in the way of the bucking bar along the top Adel clamp area, for example. Keep the end in view.

[C-FAH Q]

Andy,
Check this thread, I did this as well with very good results

http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...eferrerid=9354

[Vlad]

Nice choice of interior color.

[KazooRV-9A]

Moving onward to the fuel tank assembly! Was looking forward to the wet riveting that I've read so many nice builder reports about.

All in all not that tough though. The worst part so far, is my stupid Harbor Freight digital scale, it turns off automatically in about 10 seconds.... I guess they figure that you can weigh a letter in that amount of time. So have to work around that little nuisance.

So yea, it's messy and you have to clean tools up constantly, and the sealant is sticky, but this isn't the hardest job I've done so far on this project.

Note that if your glove tears and you get the fuel tank sealant on your thumb, and it turns sort of black locally, it does wear off no problem (in about a week).

Andy C.

[spaceflightmeow]

Nice going. Have you run out of clean clecos yet? By the way, Proseal comes off the skin with rubbing alcohol really easy and doesn't irritate the skin (at least not my skin).

Speaking of adventures with harbor freight: I tried to clean Proseal off clecos using a HF ultrasonic cleaner. It works great, but beware that acetone will melt its plastic bits. I ran it with acetone. Came back a few hours later and found the plastic lid had dissolved and melted the unit shut. Also my clecos were coated in melted plastic goo. I pried off and discarded the lid, replaced the goo with with fresh acetone, and cleaned the clecos again. That got most of the plastic goo off. Ironically, cured proseal was still stuck to the clecos.

[jibby212]

I had the same problem with the resetting scale, build a simple 10:1 balance. It is extremely accurate and easy to use.

[BSwayze]

Andy, have you heard of the "fay sealing" method of doing your tanks? I learned about it after doing my first tank, and tried it on my 2nd tank, so I've done it both ways. I would HEARTILY recommend the fay sealing method. It's much less messy, easy to do, and the results are outstanding.

Basically, you proseal and cleco the parts together. Use a cleco in every hole. Then wait to do the riveting until the next day or two. I liked it best when the proseal was rubbery firm. Not solidly cured, but can still be pushed around a bit.

Here are a couple links. The first one is my own log on my website, with my experience and lots of pictures.

Fay Sealing my Tanks

Here's an excellent thread right here on VAF, talking more about it:

http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...ead.php?t=7602

Hope this helps. Good luck!

[spaceflightmeow]

Originally Posted by BSwayze

Andy, have you heard of the "fay sealing" method of doing your tanks? I learned about it after doing my first tank, and tried it on my 2nd tank, so I've done it both ways. I would HEARTILY recommend the fay sealing method. It's much less messy, easy to do, and the results are outstanding.

Basically, you proseal and cleco the parts together. Use a cleco in every hole. Then wait to do the riveting until the next day or two. I liked it best when the proseal was rubbery firm. Not solidly cured, but can still be pushed around a bit.

Here are a couple links. The first one is my own log on my website, with my experience and lots of pictures.

Fay Sealing my Tanks

Here's an excellent thread right here on VAF, talking more about it:

http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...ead.php?t=7602

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Please reconsider letting sealant partially cure before riveting. Good discussion of riveting within the sealant work life:
http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=413564

A good quote from that:

WARNING.
IF structure is assembled 'wet with [fay/fastener] sealant' that is poorly applied, IE: applied too thick for adequate settling/squeeze-out; or too viscous for efficient squeeze-out; or the sealant begins to transition to a semi-solid before full squeeze-out can occur; etc... and there are built-in gaps exceeding 0.002-inch 'shimmed with rubber'... then the degradation in static-strength/stiffness and fatigue durability can be dramatic! Some researchers have claimed up-to 90% knockdown is possible [~10% residual strength/stiffness and/or fatigue durability]. This can also occur when fasteners holes are not mate-drilled when the structure is ?dry?? the drilling/reaming process being ?too intense? to integrate into the assembly process with ?wet-curing-sealant?.