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xblueh2o

Well Known Member
So I am mocking up my rudder spar today (RV-8, Dwg 7). Looking at the bottom I can see there clearly needs to be a specific sequence of assembly in order to not shoot yourself in the foot so I read ahead in the instructions and start putting it together with clecos to simulate assembly, watching how I will do it for real when the time comes. I notice a couple things.
1. Following the instructions you rivet the R-704 rib and R-405PD rudder horn to the spar (along with the necessary other stuff). Then you install the R-710 brace, riveting along the bottom to the rudder horn first and then to the rib. For those who have already done this, can I assume they mean to ease the rib up out of the way and gain access to the rudder horn bottom rivets from the top or do they mean come through the lightning hole in the brace?
2. If you were meant to buck through the lightning hole is there an issue with doing the entire assembly sequence in a different order? I was thinking this might be a better order if you were meant to buck through the lightning hole.
a. Rivet the 606 (top row of rivets only) to the 802
b. Rivet the 405 & 717 to the 606/802 (bottom row only)
c. Rivet the 710 to the 405
d. Rivet the 704 to the 802/405 including the nutplate
Bucking the rivets from this last step are all pretty much straight on through the lightning hole.

Opinions, suggestions?
 
Get the mini tungsten bucking bar from mike at cleaveland tool... by far the best and my personal favorite tool. It fits in that lighting hole perfect. Be sure to double check your rivet lengths here. I remember I made some custom length rivets by shaving off 1/32 or so.
 
The squeezer with a longeron yoke

I hadn't thought about that. I will take a look at it again with a new set of eyes and see if that works.

Thanks.
 
Lots of details in my blog

Starting with this link, and moving forward, you can see the process that I went through.
http://bryansrv8project.blogspot.com/2011/06/268-hours-on-hobbs-rudder-frame-riveted.html

And perhaps a bit more from this link as well:

http://bryansrv8project.blogspot.com/2011/06/finishing-rivets-and-preparing-to-roll.html

I used the longeron yoke and a 1/2 inch flat set with the AN470 cup set aligned as shown in the yoke. And I used a hand squeezer for this. I wanted to ensure that the cup set stayed on the manufactured head of the AN470 rivets without risking the air squeezer slipping off and damaging a whole lot of work in this area. Just need to make adjustments to the depth, starting wide and working your way down until you get the correct depth on the shophead. I also think I stopped squeezing when I thought the depth was about right.

When the rivet sets are about at the right depth, getting them in and out of the lightening hole a bit of a challenge, but you will find that you are able to maneuver the yoke in just the right way to get them into position. I may have even started with the adjustable set holder screwed down a bit and then unscrewed it back out again after I got it into position in the lightening hole. It was certainly an ineresting challenge for me, but worked out pretty well in the end.


Good luck!
 
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