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Paul Thomas

Well Known Member
Hello everyone,

I'm ordering my 7 empennage kit and wondering what extra things I might need. I've heard people suggest that you always need extra rivets and things. Is there some kind of list to what extra are needed? Should this be ordered through Van's or another company?

Thanks all,

Paul
 
Paul,
I found that I needed the following from Van's:

1) OOPS Rivets (I ordered all sizes)
2) ProSeal for the trailing edge of the rudder. I ordered the 3.5 oz size which was nice because it came in a semco cartridge. Very easy to mix as there is no measuring. On the downside, I didn't use very much of it at all, so it was a waste. The 1 oz size should be plenty.
3) MK-319-BS blind rivets. I used some of these on the TE for the rudder because I couldn't get a squeezer in there. I ended up short when I came to the trim tab.
4) Extra trim tab skin(s) ;)
 
For me it was just the parts that I messed up. Like the aft spar for the left elevator where I dimpled the top row where I should have countersunk. Just small stuff like that.

What tools did you get? I swear buy the Avery RV tool kit (don't drop any clecos even if you're doing the QB. you'll need them). Also, don't think twice about the pneumatic squeezer. It's expensive but after you get it you'll wish you'd had it all along.
 
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Nuts n Bolts

Literally,

Wicks has AN nut and washer kits with assortments in a divided plastic boxes. I also ordered 5-10 of every AN-3 and AN-4 bolt, with and without shank holes. Added 100 each of #6 and #8 nutplates as well as cotter pins and a few other little hardware items.

Now, when I drop some dinky piece of hardware, I don't have to get on all fours and search through all the junk on the floor. Saves a bunch of time.

John
 
It looks like I'll be picking up the planetools kit.
Right now they're offering the DRDT2, pneumatic squeezer and shipping for free (of course you pay for it on the rest of the kit :) )
 
Im a bit confused here- Im just finishing my rv9 empannage and did not need any of the extra items listed, including rivets & air squeezer. Is the RV9 different than the 7?

The only things I sorta missed (could have used once) were a #10 dimpling die and longer yokes on my hand squeezer, none of which were difficult to work around. I did have to make a few special bucking bars out of assorted garage tools (pry bars, sheet metal dolly, heavy metal pieces welded together and polished). I already had a hole saw kit stashed in my drill bit drawer.

BTW, I highly recommend the DRDT-2 dimpler, band saw, a 1" belt sander, and a full set of numbered drill bits! A spring-powered center punch has been handy a number of times, especially for drilling out bad rivets.

Having several battery-powered drills has been handy. One indispensable tool, that was never mentioned, is a sharpened and polished tiny ex-screwdriver used to align the predrilled holes for clecos.
 
cobra said:
Im just finishing my rv9 empannage
The only things I sorta missed (could have used once) were a #10 dimpling die
Click to expand...

Except for the fiberglass, my 9 emp is completely done. I don't recall needing a #10 dimple die anywhere - did I miss something?
Or maybe over the course of the last 6 months I dealt with it, moved on, and forgot it...
 
For my -7 I could have used offset #3 and #4 rivet sets, but those might come with most tool kits, I just put my own tool kit together.
 
N674P said:
Except for the fiberglass, my 9 emp is completely done. I don't recall needing a #10 dimple die anywhere - did I miss something?
Or maybe over the course of the last 6 months I dealt with it, moved on, and forgot it...
Click to expand...

The #10 dimple die is used for the screws that hold the lead counterweights on. That's the way it's done on the -7 (rudder and elevators) and I can't see it would be any different on the -9. Especially the rudder.
 
The #10 dimple die is needed for the rudder counterbalance weight attachment. The rib needs to be dimpled for the screws. I used a #12 and pulled some extra screws in with nuts till the dimple was good for the real screws. I used a small block of wood with a countersunk hole in it. Worked ok.
 
Scott Will said:
The #10 dimple die is used for the screws that hold the lead counterweights on.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah - now I remember. I fished a #10 dimple die set out of a Bag 'O Dimple Dies I got off ebay (scooped out of a bin at the Boeing Surplus store?) that actually had a few usable dies in it. I ended up getting a basic set of dies from Avery (which are great) but the Bag spits out something like the #10 set every once in awhile that makes it worthwhile.
 
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