Page 21-05 Gotcha - K1000-3 Nutplates

On Page 21-05 you are cruising along installing K1000-08 nutplates. Then you get to Steps 7 and 11 which tell you to install the nutplates specified in Figures 3 and 4. The figures specify K1000-3 nutplates. It's real easy here to just continue installing K1000-8's. The "3"s and "8"s even look a lot alike on the prints. As me how I know

Saved!

John,
Man, you really saved me on this one. I had the -8 nutplates already installed and was going to rivet the seat floors, and then the assemblies to the center bulkhead tomorrow.
Thanks, I was being careful but there is a lot going on these pages and this was an easy mistake to make.
Tony

Thanks VERY much for this post/thread.

You'll know you've got the wrong nut plates installed when you get to P. 32-04 Fig 2 and try to install the flaperon handle. Ask me how I know.

Best,
Harry

Nutplate Confusion and Early Builders

Harry, thanks for renewing this old thread. Hopefully it will help someone else.

As you can see I started this thread in 2009 when I was in the midst of my RV-12 build. I had just discovered that I had installed a bunch of wrong nutplates (I was really good at drilling rivets by then) and after I recovered I developed a color coding scheme and went through all the plans with different colored highlighters to match color-coded bins for the various types of nutplates. I think I wrote that up on a forum thread but I can no longer find it.

You are not the first or the last to be afflicted with "Nutplate Confusion". We even had an outbreak of the disease in the midst of the One Week Wonder build at OSH in 2018. Scott McDaniels (rvbuilder2002) and I had actually discussed the idea of color coding, but we had pushed the idea aside as unnecessary in that controlled environment. Sure enough, some of our eager volunteers installed a few of the wrong type before we caught them. Fortunately, it was only a minor setback and the OWW taxied before the crowd at the end of the week as planned.

I happily flew my airplane from 2012 through 2020 and sold it last August when I completed my Cessna 120 eight-year restoration. I discovered you can only fly one at a time! Its all OK, she went to a good home just a few miles away where she will be gently treated.

I treasure the experiences of being an early builder in the period of 2009 – 2011, and my association with Van’s staff and other builders over the years. Guys like Tony T. and Marty Santic and I were building the empennage and wing kits before the other kits were even available! We exchanged information and tips on this forum on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis and worked closely with the folks at Van’s to correct errors and refine the plans. It was an exciting time!

Yes, it is something that does happen and did even happen on the One Week Wonder even though procedures were put in place to mitigate it (we made a bunch of check tool with the 4 different sized fasteners welded to a metal disk and specified that ALL nut plates get confirmed for size using that, before they were installed).

My advice to builders has always been to use a fastener that fits the hole diameter, and test thread it into the nutplate before it gets riveted.

Thanks John and Scott,

Just to close the loop... I got past my blunder by using a 90-degree drill bit attachment to drill out the rivets on the errant nut plates. Then I used CCR-264SS-3-3 rivets (blind, countersunk) to fasten the K1000-3 nut plates.

I'm enjoying the building process immensely. I'm sure flying her will be fun, too.

Best,
Harry

For iS builders, this post is referring to the nutplates called out in figures 3 and 4 of page 21iS/U-08 (Rev.0 9/18/17).

This is where the flap crank assembly will be installed later on page 32iS/U-08 (Rev.0 12/04/17).

Now to go check mine...