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RV-15 N115LP - Wings
- Thread starter Louise Hose
- Start date
Thanks!
Thanks
I had a PM asking about the whether the RV-15 bins carry the EXACT number of rivets for each size or are there extras. As best I can tell, they only send the EXACT number of rivets. In the inventory, I counted the smaller groups (say, less than 20) and they were all exact. Mess one or two up and you'll have to scrounge or buy more. I can't say for sure on the larger quantities but so far I have found no extras.
I am extremely fortunate (in so many ways!) to have Paul's resources available and he has extras of nearly every size called for in the plans. If you are getting ready to build, my first suggestion is to find out who on your field or in your EAA chapter has this sort of resource and start being really nice to them. Maybe ask up front if you can buy 5 or 6 of the rivets you'll be using from them. Alternatively, start developing your own collection of extra rivets, perhaps ordering when you make a larger order from Aircraft Spruce or such.
I am extremely fortunate (in so many ways!) to have Paul's resources available and he has extras of nearly every size called for in the plans. If you are getting ready to build, my first suggestion is to find out who on your field or in your EAA chapter has this sort of resource and start being really nice to them. Maybe ask up front if you can buy 5 or 6 of the rivets you'll be using from them. Alternatively, start developing your own collection of extra rivets, perhaps ordering when you make a larger order from Aircraft Spruce or such.
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It shocked me when I started building the 12 in that Van's only provides the exact number of hardware components needed. This includes any specialty rivets like CherryMax and some other pulled rivets. Most solid rivets do have a few extra. Drop anything you better find it because you will need it!
Specific question.
Can you tell me what parts the W-15041-001 and W-15041-002 are? It says they are backordered but I haven't been able to find them in the plans that are available, though the part number is in the same range as some of the landing light parts.
Can you tell me what parts the W-15041-001 and W-15041-002 are? It says they are backordered but I haven't been able to find them in the plans that are available, though the part number is in the same range as some of the landing light parts.
Tip, wing, left and Tip, wing, right
SECTION 28 partial
While work slowed this week due to life, I did get through Section 28: Aileron bellcrank and pushrod assembly as far as parts allowed. The lack of back ordered parts is starting to be a barrier. Up through page 28-8, things were straight forward and somewhat interesting. New to me (and Paul) was using holes in the forward wing spar to adjust the jam nuts on the aileron-mixer pushrod. Clever! Certainly nothing like this on our RV-3B.
Clever, those Van's folks! Two holes drilled into the forward wing spar are used to adjust the jam nuts on the aileron-mixer pushrod. Two other pairs of holes in the spar were used to adjust the length of other pushrods.
On page 28-9, things got a little wonky. The diagram is fine but the numbers called out in the text are confused. It is easy to figure out but Van’s needs to correct the text instructions. Pages -10 and -11 were fine but basically the same confusing instructions and drawings were used for the other end of the pushrod on page -12. Again, very easy to figure out. Pages -13 through -15 went smooth but I hit a problem with the lack of a part on page -16, which impacted later pages, as well. Page 28-18 was fine, although I added some electrical tape on the rib holes to protect the pushrod from being scratched. I plan to remove it later, when the pushrod is attached at each end.
On page 28-19, there were significant issues with the numbers in the instructions and on the lower diagram. The upper diagram seemed almost right (missed one washer call-out) but, it took awhile to figure out. I send the information to Van’s and even talked to one of their people so we will hopefully see revised drawings/instructions soon. If you are a first-time builder and don’t have an experienced builder handy to help puzzle it out, it may be time to put down the tools until new KAIs are released for this Section. I was able to complete this page (after confirmation by Paul that I had things in their proper place) but the remaining pages will wait until back ordered parts come in.
Putting the lower washer and nut onto the bolt holding the fuel tank end of the aileron pushrod to the bellcrank would be very difficult to impossible in place. But, the hole that the pushrod passes through can be used to pull the bellcrank out for installation.
Looking ahead, the lack of back ordered parts looks like it will be harder to carry on so I am now switched to prepping the parts that I do have. Removing plastic, quick deburring holes, deburring edges, and removing red ink. I thought about jumping to Section 34: Aileron but we see this morning that Van’s has told us to hold off on that section until they send out a new page 34-8 (https://vansairforce.net/threads/part-replacement-announcement.240677/). If I run out of things to do before the parts come, I'll probably start assembling some small pieces for the right wing that don't require the long spar. So, there might not be any new reports from me for a while.
While work slowed this week due to life, I did get through Section 28: Aileron bellcrank and pushrod assembly as far as parts allowed. The lack of back ordered parts is starting to be a barrier. Up through page 28-8, things were straight forward and somewhat interesting. New to me (and Paul) was using holes in the forward wing spar to adjust the jam nuts on the aileron-mixer pushrod. Clever! Certainly nothing like this on our RV-3B.
Clever, those Van's folks! Two holes drilled into the forward wing spar are used to adjust the jam nuts on the aileron-mixer pushrod. Two other pairs of holes in the spar were used to adjust the length of other pushrods.
On page 28-9, things got a little wonky. The diagram is fine but the numbers called out in the text are confused. It is easy to figure out but Van’s needs to correct the text instructions. Pages -10 and -11 were fine but basically the same confusing instructions and drawings were used for the other end of the pushrod on page -12. Again, very easy to figure out. Pages -13 through -15 went smooth but I hit a problem with the lack of a part on page -16, which impacted later pages, as well. Page 28-18 was fine, although I added some electrical tape on the rib holes to protect the pushrod from being scratched. I plan to remove it later, when the pushrod is attached at each end.
On page 28-19, there were significant issues with the numbers in the instructions and on the lower diagram. The upper diagram seemed almost right (missed one washer call-out) but, it took awhile to figure out. I send the information to Van’s and even talked to one of their people so we will hopefully see revised drawings/instructions soon. If you are a first-time builder and don’t have an experienced builder handy to help puzzle it out, it may be time to put down the tools until new KAIs are released for this Section. I was able to complete this page (after confirmation by Paul that I had things in their proper place) but the remaining pages will wait until back ordered parts come in.
Putting the lower washer and nut onto the bolt holding the fuel tank end of the aileron pushrod to the bellcrank would be very difficult to impossible in place. But, the hole that the pushrod passes through can be used to pull the bellcrank out for installation.
Looking ahead, the lack of back ordered parts looks like it will be harder to carry on so I am now switched to prepping the parts that I do have. Removing plastic, quick deburring holes, deburring edges, and removing red ink. I thought about jumping to Section 34: Aileron but we see this morning that Van’s has told us to hold off on that section until they send out a new page 34-8 (https://vansairforce.net/threads/part-replacement-announcement.240677/). If I run out of things to do before the parts come, I'll probably start assembling some small pieces for the right wing that don't require the long spar. So, there might not be any new reports from me for a while.
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Thanks, Louise - this is all useful. Mine arrives Monday, anxious to get started.
One question - you said "we see this morning that Van’s has told us to hold off on that section until they send out a new page 34-8" - where are you seeing Van's say that?
Thanks
I put it in another thread: https://vansairforce.net/threads/part-replacement-announcement.240677/
Sorry Louise.....One more table question. How long would be minimum? I can see you and Paul have a huge table!
Gary
After less than a week of building, the wing (no tips) takes up 14’. But then there is pretty much no space to build new pieces. So, another table or maybe a total of 20’ is about right. Yep, Paul built a ridiculously long workbench when we built the Sonex e-Xenos. Long wings on that sucker.
UPDATE AND MISCELLANEOUS PROGRESS. STARTING SECTION 29
I took a bit of a divergence from plowing through the build in a linear manner when some missing parts threw up roadblocks. I spent much of a couple of days mostly prepping pieces for future work. Lots of mindless deburring. I then realized that it might be an easy and quick victory to built the right wing structure through Section 25 (except a couple spots where pieces are still missing). Where to build it with the left wing structure pretty much taking up much of the work bench? It turns out that it is easy to interweave the ribs and build it. Our bench is about 36” (just under a meter) wide and it was perfect for building the second wing structure in mirror image. Being able to look across the table to see the mirror image of where I was headed made completing the task fast. The only problem is where to store it until ready to further progress on the right wing. For now, it sits on top of the original “large” crate that still contains the skins.
Left: Both the (on left) and left (on right) wing structures are nearly completed and shown interleaved on the work bench where they were both built; Right:
Once completed, the right wing structure was light enough to easily (and carefully) carry over to the original large crate for storage.
I then returned to the left wing and started on Section 29. The first page of Section 29 (page 29-6) was confusing to me. There are two different “As”, two different “Bs”, and two different “Cs”. Note that the text does NOT refer to the “Detail” designation. The boxed-in letters refer to the boxed-in letters within the Detail drawings. It sure would have been easier to interpret if the Detail drawings used X, Y, and Z designations.
Left: Wing spar is now attached to the tank assembly and each of the wing ribs by Clecos; Right: Three of the ribs had to be held by extended Clecos. The KIAs call for “long-reach spring Clecos” but we only have wing-nut fasteners. We will see if this causes any issues. So far, it looks like I might get by with only six “long-reach” Clecos.
The next steps are to rivet the spar on and attach nose ribs (Section 29).
NOTE: When Paul inspected the spar work later in the day he asked why I Clecoed the rib attachments as leading edge ribs would have to be added. I did it because I was alone at the time and it helped a lot in getting the spar aligned correctly and securely. When I added the leading edge (nose) ribs the next day, the task went extremely fast and I doubt that I had wasted time with the earlier Clecoing.
I took a bit of a divergence from plowing through the build in a linear manner when some missing parts threw up roadblocks. I spent much of a couple of days mostly prepping pieces for future work. Lots of mindless deburring. I then realized that it might be an easy and quick victory to built the right wing structure through Section 25 (except a couple spots where pieces are still missing). Where to build it with the left wing structure pretty much taking up much of the work bench? It turns out that it is easy to interweave the ribs and build it. Our bench is about 36” (just under a meter) wide and it was perfect for building the second wing structure in mirror image. Being able to look across the table to see the mirror image of where I was headed made completing the task fast. The only problem is where to store it until ready to further progress on the right wing. For now, it sits on top of the original “large” crate that still contains the skins.
Left: Both the (on left) and left (on right) wing structures are nearly completed and shown interleaved on the work bench where they were both built; Right:
Once completed, the right wing structure was light enough to easily (and carefully) carry over to the original large crate for storage.
I then returned to the left wing and started on Section 29. The first page of Section 29 (page 29-6) was confusing to me. There are two different “As”, two different “Bs”, and two different “Cs”. Note that the text does NOT refer to the “Detail” designation. The boxed-in letters refer to the boxed-in letters within the Detail drawings. It sure would have been easier to interpret if the Detail drawings used X, Y, and Z designations.
Left: Wing spar is now attached to the tank assembly and each of the wing ribs by Clecos; Right: Three of the ribs had to be held by extended Clecos. The KIAs call for “long-reach spring Clecos” but we only have wing-nut fasteners. We will see if this causes any issues. So far, it looks like I might get by with only six “long-reach” Clecos.
The next steps are to rivet the spar on and attach nose ribs (Section 29).
NOTE: When Paul inspected the spar work later in the day he asked why I Clecoed the rib attachments as leading edge ribs would have to be added. I did it because I was alone at the time and it helped a lot in getting the spar aligned correctly and securely. When I added the leading edge (nose) ribs the next day, the task went extremely fast and I doubt that I had wasted time with the earlier Clecoing.
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would it be easy to lose track of which way is up and put the spar in upside down, or can it go only one way?
Thank you for posting this here. I'd think that experienced builders of a first like this would work hard to get paid via utube or a paywall, great to be public. I hope you keep it up, good luck with the build. Let me know when the seats get put in, as a very tall guy I'll pay to sit in it.
The spar is very asymmetric so I doubt that you could put it on wrong. But, nonetheless, I am following the always prudent practice of waiting for a second set of eyes to look it over before riveting. Paul will be home later today to inspect before I rivet.
SECTION 29: W-15508 – D-Cell Nose Ribs
Several lessons were learned while completing Section 29. I am lucky to have no missing parts (for the left wing) for this section and was able to complete it. Things I learned that might help those behind:
Apparent missing rivet from the bottom row of the main spar. Position is shown by the edge of the tank skin in upper right. I've got a note into Van's but I'm curious if anyone else is missing a rivet here. Might it actually serve a later purpose? This LE rib on the left is also the most difficult to rivet (see below).
Yep, I bucked through the round hole on the left and it wasn't as bad as I expected. Paul suggested using the hole to the right, but I was comfortable with the left one and didn't try to right one. The bucker has to reach across the bay and to the left.
Several lessons were learned while completing Section 29. I am lucky to have no missing parts (for the left wing) for this section and was able to complete it. Things I learned that might help those behind:
- It appears that my main spar is missing one rivet. I expect that it isn’t a big deal and await Van’s solution. Maybe put a pulled rivet at the site? Hope to hear from them soon.
Apparent missing rivet from the bottom row of the main spar. Position is shown by the edge of the tank skin in upper right. I've got a note into Van's but I'm curious if anyone else is missing a rivet here. Might it actually serve a later purpose? This LE rib on the left is also the most difficult to rivet (see below).- As mentioned in an earlier post, page 29-06 seems unnecessarily confusing as they use two “As”, two “Bs”, and two “Cs”. If you just take the A, B, and C without a square around them and think of them as X, Y, and Z, everything is clear. My confusion may come from not being an engineer and familiar with their drafting protocols. I’m a “dirt person”, to use Sheldon Cooper’s designation.
- Page 29-07: As mentioned in any earlier post, I put the spar in place, aligned it, and Clecoed it while alone. I found that Clecoing the heck out of it helped align the spar into place so there were many more Clecos attaching the spar and spar extension onto the wing ribs. Later, when I had to add the leading edge (LE) ribs, it went extremely fast and I do not regret over-Clecoing in the beginning. If a second person is available, it might not have been as useful.
- Page 29-08: Do NOT do this page until after completing page 29-9. Better yet, wait to do this page after finishing page 29-17. The AOA fittings will just have to be taken out on the next page (29-9) when you rivet. The tie-wrap clip is not much in the way but I suggest waiting on it, too. This suggestion repeats itself to some degree on all the other ribs. There is no reason to do any of this page until after page 29-17.
- I also recommend not doing pages 29-10 (especially), -12, -14, and -16 until after page 29-17. These little attachments are not in the flow path and tend to get in the way of riveting. It is also a very quick job to put all these little attachments on at the last and with the same tools needed for all the ribs.
- The 6th wing rib from the root is a bear to rivet. (See photo above and rib on the left of the photo.) Solid rivets are called for and there is no hope of squeezing nor of doing it solo. Get a gun and bucking bar out and find a long-armed bucker. Working with Paul, it wasn’t too tough to reach through a lightening/port hole on the outward rib to buck but you aren’t going to do it alone.
Yep, I bucked through the round hole on the left and it wasn't as bad as I expected. Paul suggested using the hole to the right, but I was comfortable with the left one and didn't try to right one. The bucker has to reach across the bay and to the left.
- This section is the first use of long-reach Clecos and they are necessary for some of the sites once the leading-edge (LE) ribs were included. They are expensive suckers but I can’t see that one has to have more than two or three if you Cleco each LE rib immediately before riveting. Pretty much every step after page 29-7 in Section 29 is independent and can be done in any order, I think.
- We struggled setting the -12 rivets properly. I found that I was sometimes “smearing” them. I gave up on doing even the “easy” ones alone and asked Paul to help. Even working together, we had a few failures. We did find (belatedly) that having the bucker on the opposite side of the workbench from the shooter worked much better. But, again, you want a long-armed partner as the bucker.
- I was asked in another thread if a squeezer could be used for the entire build. Short answer is a definite “no”. Most solid rivets on the spar must be shot (unless there is a yoke I don’t know about). However, one can work through Section 29, Clecoing everything together, pulling the rivets called for, and then in just an hour (or three) shoot the rivets. You will want an experienced bucker with long (and preferably not too beefy) arms. So far, it seems reasonable to find a willing owner of a gun and bucking bar to loan their equipment out for a few hours if you don’t want to invest in a rivet gun and bucking bar. By the way, I used the same titanium bucking bar for all spar solid rivets that we shot. We did not require a special shape.
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NOTE: With Van's extensive release last Friday of revisions to the KAIs, note that my postings refer to the KAIs current at the time of my work/posting. Up through today (26 January 2026), I have been using original versions.
That hole is also open in my spar.
Thanks. Interesting.
A little bit but not much. I have found places where it seemed someone previously had reverse fluted!
I have been so buried in other things that I haven't been able to get started on any real work, but when I casually took a look at the ribs my thought was that fluting would take them the wrong direction from the few that I grabbed.
That’s interesting. When I sight down the line of rivet holes on my ribs or even use a straight edge, most are not lined up.
I have to do a small amount of fluting on all of my ribs to straighten them out.
Unless I’m doing something wrong… this is my 1st build.
Based on the historical part production for all other models, I would fully expect what you have seen when assessing the parts.
When flanges are notched such that there are only two rivet holes per flange section, it does greatly reduce the influence of hole misalignment because the rib is slightly flexible at the notch, and two holes in a flange section can not be misaligned with each other.
Add a third hole and it is now possible for the three holes to not be in straight line alignment.
What is possible with only two holes, is for the dimensional distance between the two holes to not match the distance between the two skin holes. It only takes a couple thousandths to be the difference between the rivet insertion being easy vs a real fight. This influence will vary directly in relation to how much curve is in the flange. Very slight curve, negligible effect. Heavy curve (such as on the top flange of a nose rib), and the influence will be much more noticeable.
This was discovered early on with the RV-12 development. I haven’t had a chance to look closely at the fit details of RV-15 parts (yet), but based on what I have seen in photos, I think it is likely that some light fluting will be beneficial in some areas.
It is possible for the hole positions to be adjusted during the prototyping process, in areas where the effects are strongest.
It would be very easy to confirm whether this is the case with the use of a flexible straight edge and a caliper, to check alignment of and distance between rivet holes when compared to the holes in a skin that they match up to.
My guess would be that what looked like reverse flutes was actually small puckers in the flange that occurred when the rib was formed. They will always protrude outward as if someone had fluted it the wrong direction.
The presence of small pucker’s such as this is a strong indication that fluting is necessary in that area.
Did you slosh the tanks in section 21?
I haven't done anything on Section 21. The KAIs weren't even available before I mounted the left tank. Certainly no plans to use "slosh", though.
Sorry, maybe wrong terminology. They say to slosh the tanks with avgas to clear any debris. The time to do that would be before mounting the spars; certainly not going to do it after!
My concern is doing this then leave empty tanks with fumes in my workshop for the duration. Probably not going that route…
What Rian said during the webinar made me comfortable that they checked out the tanks to my satisfaction and I don't think this step is necessary for those of us with "quick-built" tanks.
SECTION 30: W-15516 – Wire harness and systems – Revision 2
SECTION 31: Skins -- Starting
Today’s work was short (time wise), easy, and a bit confusing. It started with riveting (with pull rivets) a small piece on the wing root end then putting the left wing wire harness through all the ribs. The root end is secured to the newly installed flange with bolts, washers, and nuts, using new tools for this project. A ground wire is bolted onto the inboard-most rib. Then, the wire buddle is secured with tie-wraps to the nylon holders on each rib. The tricky part is correctly interpreting page 30-08. It calls for numerous “service loops” and I interpreted that to mean the entire wire bundle was to be looped. That wasn’t going to work. So, my personal mentor came over and suggested that they really just wanted the pigtail ends looped. That worked at sites C and D, but what about site E? This is the odd one. First, the text calls it out but neither drawing shows a loop at “E” and there is no pigtail at this site. Then, in the next bay, there is a pigtail but it is shown attached to the currently not-in-the-works “Land/taxi light heat sink”. So, two questions…Is the loop called out at “E” really supposed to be at “F”? And, Why is the Land/Taxi light heat sink shown at this time? We decided to ignore the “E” loop and make one at the “F” site. I don’t know if this is correct. I have a note into Van’s asking to confirm or correct.
Service loops. On the left is the major service loop used to control slack along the entire wire bundle. The ground wire (black) was too tight in this photo and was adjusted the next morning. On the right is our interpretation of what the service loop should be at site C.
More service loops. Site D on the left. On the right is site F. Since we didn't clearly understand what was supposed to be done here, I put a loop on the pigtail for the light and held it with bright orange to show that this was a temporary/tentative loop.
Otherwise, this was a very quick section to complete.
The next day (yesterday) was a massive reset day. With the left wing taking up an entire 14’ of work bench and having to share the remaining space with Paul, I had to get creative with space to work on the skins as their large area demands are next. I took the wing parts that had been stored on the shelf under part of the work bench and put them in two piles on the floor of the adjacent hangar. One pile of left (port) and one for right (starboard). Then I opened the large crate which stored the wing skins. I took the wing skins out. Right side into the right-side pile. Left side skins were stripped of blue plastic on one of the tank crates, relabeled with a Sharpie, and put in temporary storage. Once all the left skins were “stripped”, I put them on the shelf under the work bench and then added the remaining left wing parts. All the right-wing parts went into the large crate, including the skeleton I have already built. Now I have the large crate and a tank crate to use as my work bench. Lesson learned? If you possibly can, kept the crates as additional work space. The acreage that you need for this project is far beyond previous RVs, especially the RV-3B that I previously helped build.
Storage in the large crate of the right wing parts and assemblies as I move forward on the left wing.
If you are building in a 2-car garage or similar cramped space, this is going to be a tough space-management challenge. We have a large workshop (albeit, with two airplanes being built concurrently) and figuring out space is a challenge. Good luck!
SECTION 31: Skins -- Starting
Today’s work was short (time wise), easy, and a bit confusing. It started with riveting (with pull rivets) a small piece on the wing root end then putting the left wing wire harness through all the ribs. The root end is secured to the newly installed flange with bolts, washers, and nuts, using new tools for this project. A ground wire is bolted onto the inboard-most rib. Then, the wire buddle is secured with tie-wraps to the nylon holders on each rib. The tricky part is correctly interpreting page 30-08. It calls for numerous “service loops” and I interpreted that to mean the entire wire bundle was to be looped. That wasn’t going to work. So, my personal mentor came over and suggested that they really just wanted the pigtail ends looped. That worked at sites C and D, but what about site E? This is the odd one. First, the text calls it out but neither drawing shows a loop at “E” and there is no pigtail at this site. Then, in the next bay, there is a pigtail but it is shown attached to the currently not-in-the-works “Land/taxi light heat sink”. So, two questions…Is the loop called out at “E” really supposed to be at “F”? And, Why is the Land/Taxi light heat sink shown at this time? We decided to ignore the “E” loop and make one at the “F” site. I don’t know if this is correct. I have a note into Van’s asking to confirm or correct.
Service loops. On the left is the major service loop used to control slack along the entire wire bundle. The ground wire (black) was too tight in this photo and was adjusted the next morning. On the right is our interpretation of what the service loop should be at site C.
More service loops. Site D on the left. On the right is site F. Since we didn't clearly understand what was supposed to be done here, I put a loop on the pigtail for the light and held it with bright orange to show that this was a temporary/tentative loop.
Otherwise, this was a very quick section to complete.
The next day (yesterday) was a massive reset day. With the left wing taking up an entire 14’ of work bench and having to share the remaining space with Paul, I had to get creative with space to work on the skins as their large area demands are next. I took the wing parts that had been stored on the shelf under part of the work bench and put them in two piles on the floor of the adjacent hangar. One pile of left (port) and one for right (starboard). Then I opened the large crate which stored the wing skins. I took the wing skins out. Right side into the right-side pile. Left side skins were stripped of blue plastic on one of the tank crates, relabeled with a Sharpie, and put in temporary storage. Once all the left skins were “stripped”, I put them on the shelf under the work bench and then added the remaining left wing parts. All the right-wing parts went into the large crate, including the skeleton I have already built. Now I have the large crate and a tank crate to use as my work bench. Lesson learned? If you possibly can, kept the crates as additional work space. The acreage that you need for this project is far beyond previous RVs, especially the RV-3B that I previously helped build.
Storage in the large crate of the right wing parts and assemblies as I move forward on the left wing.
If you are building in a 2-car garage or similar cramped space, this is going to be a tough space-management challenge. We have a large workshop (albeit, with two airplanes being built concurrently) and figuring out space is a challenge. Good luck!
This game of Tetris is actually a part of building that I enjoy. I have hangars at 2 airports and a large shop just a mile from my house, but the building has to happen in my jammed up garage in order to maintain steady progress. I do have the luxury of moving assemblies and big stuff to those other locations, but it's still requires some thought and effort. Part of the puzzle.
Thanks again for forging ahead through the foggy parts and sharing great pictures as you go. And the warning about work space too!
Mike S
Senior Curmudgeon
This is critical to realize--and very true.
Hi Louise,
Have you run into any need for an Offset Rivet Set? My kit is going to be on its way and some of my tools have been "loaned" to others over the years.
Thanks
Gary
Not yet.
SECTION 31: Skins (most) up to page 19 (original version)
SECTION 32: Aileron cove skin started to page 6 (original version)
After LOTS of prepping (removing blue plastic covering, deburring all and breaking some edges, removing red ink stamps, and checking holes for occasional light deburring), work began on the port wing skins. Most of the work was installing LOTS of nut plates. Although most of the holes are pre-dimpled, I struggled to find a consistently successful way to squeeze the 240 AN426AD3-3.5 rivets to install the nut plates. Shooting in this tight space didn’t seem reasonable and I think my problems with squeezing results from my relatively small (and, probably, weak) hands being unable to control both the pneumatic and the manual squeezer. But, thanks to Paul’s well-equipped shop, “Big Mama” came to the rescue.
Our amazing friend Dave Howe (HFS) built this giant yoke for riveting requiring a deep yoke. I didn’t need the deepness of the yoke but using “Big Mama” was very helpful in setting good rivets in the nut plates. Notice the roller stand (roller covered with painter's tape to protect the alclad surface) helping to hold the sheet level. The close-up view shows both the clear rivet tape that holds the rivets in and blue painter's tape on the dye to, again, protect the alclad surface.
I first taped the rivets into the holes with rivet tape (regular Scotch tape would probably work), flip the sheet over, and put the nut plates onto the rivets. We put one roller stand on each side to hold the outside weight of the sheet then squeezed each rivet. Most of the time, I was able to do it alone but Paul helped stabilize the sheets in the beginning and with one, very flimsy piece in Section 32.
Missing pieces stopped me at page 31-11 but I did work on pages 31-18 through -19. Simple task but there is some confusion that Van’s needs to clear up. The diagram on the right shows part of the wiring harness going through a hole in the light assembly but there are no instructions to do this step. And, which part of the wiring harness is supposed to go through this hole? Both already have connectors on them!
The lighting assembly is installed on the port wing but how the wiring shown in the diagram will go through the hole on the right is currently unclear.
Hitting another hard stop on the main wing due to missing/backordered parts, I then turned to the flap cove skin (Section 32). I knew I couldn’t get far but I started. I don’t think there is anything more that I can do on the port wing for now. The first piece to work with is W-15013-001, a VERY flimsy and long, narrow sheet. I worried about inadvertently bending it the entire time that I prepped it and installed nut plates. I finally realized that adding temporary stiffeners across the cut slots would dramatically strengthen the piece while working on it (and now having to store it until B/O parts come in).
Strips of scrap aluminum were taped across the slots with painter’s tape and helped prevent permanent bends at these vulnerable spots.
Best I can tell, I have done what I reasonably can on Section 32 for now. So, I pulled out the pieces for Section 34 – Aileron and did much of the prep yesterday afternoon. I plan to work up through page 34-7 today, when another missing part will stop progress on the left wing.
SECTION 32: Aileron cove skin started to page 6 (original version)
After LOTS of prepping (removing blue plastic covering, deburring all and breaking some edges, removing red ink stamps, and checking holes for occasional light deburring), work began on the port wing skins. Most of the work was installing LOTS of nut plates. Although most of the holes are pre-dimpled, I struggled to find a consistently successful way to squeeze the 240 AN426AD3-3.5 rivets to install the nut plates. Shooting in this tight space didn’t seem reasonable and I think my problems with squeezing results from my relatively small (and, probably, weak) hands being unable to control both the pneumatic and the manual squeezer. But, thanks to Paul’s well-equipped shop, “Big Mama” came to the rescue.
Our amazing friend Dave Howe (HFS) built this giant yoke for riveting requiring a deep yoke. I didn’t need the deepness of the yoke but using “Big Mama” was very helpful in setting good rivets in the nut plates. Notice the roller stand (roller covered with painter's tape to protect the alclad surface) helping to hold the sheet level. The close-up view shows both the clear rivet tape that holds the rivets in and blue painter's tape on the dye to, again, protect the alclad surface.
I first taped the rivets into the holes with rivet tape (regular Scotch tape would probably work), flip the sheet over, and put the nut plates onto the rivets. We put one roller stand on each side to hold the outside weight of the sheet then squeezed each rivet. Most of the time, I was able to do it alone but Paul helped stabilize the sheets in the beginning and with one, very flimsy piece in Section 32.
Missing pieces stopped me at page 31-11 but I did work on pages 31-18 through -19. Simple task but there is some confusion that Van’s needs to clear up. The diagram on the right shows part of the wiring harness going through a hole in the light assembly but there are no instructions to do this step. And, which part of the wiring harness is supposed to go through this hole? Both already have connectors on them!
The lighting assembly is installed on the port wing but how the wiring shown in the diagram will go through the hole on the right is currently unclear.
Hitting another hard stop on the main wing due to missing/backordered parts, I then turned to the flap cove skin (Section 32). I knew I couldn’t get far but I started. I don’t think there is anything more that I can do on the port wing for now. The first piece to work with is W-15013-001, a VERY flimsy and long, narrow sheet. I worried about inadvertently bending it the entire time that I prepped it and installed nut plates. I finally realized that adding temporary stiffeners across the cut slots would dramatically strengthen the piece while working on it (and now having to store it until B/O parts come in).
Strips of scrap aluminum were taped across the slots with painter’s tape and helped prevent permanent bends at these vulnerable spots.
Best I can tell, I have done what I reasonably can on Section 32 for now. So, I pulled out the pieces for Section 34 – Aileron and did much of the prep yesterday afternoon. I plan to work up through page 34-7 today, when another missing part will stop progress on the left wing.
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With the resources you have at hand you probably aren't looking to add more tools, but you describe a scenario where the Numatix squeezer would be a great solution. The portion of the squeezer that you hold is small and light, and both hands are free to manipulate the squeezer head and/or parts since you don't have to work an awkward switch.
Hmm. I have a birthday coming up soon!
TOOLS..........The Perfect Birthday present! Are you listening Paul?
Have you seen the price!!!!!!!
You're worth it. And you have a big project ahead of you.
Just watched a quick video on the Numatx squeezer. Doesn’t look like you adjust the throw for different length rivets. How do you adjust how much it squeezes, adjust the hydraulic pressure?
Pressure regulated by Input air pressure. When you first setup your squeezer, you do a few test squeezes for #3 and #4 rivets. Once it's set you have a reference pressure for each. Aside from the light weight and small form factor, the pressure regulated action is another benefit because it eliminates most of your squeezer adjustments. Pic below of how mine is setup.
Sorry for taking things a little bit off topic in your thread Louise. It seemed like a relevant thing to mention since you brought up the weight and bulk of a traditional squeezer.
I'm glad to take any more questions about the Numatx via DM to keep things focused on the build.
Open on mine as well.
FYI. Paul figured out the right answer as we both know that he can't resist an excuse to buy tools and it would end up ours at best (and "his" more). So, he suggested that we buy it for Valentine's Day.
We both love it and the remaining nut plates breezed by. Thanks, Nate, for the suggestion. Pricey but it really IS the answer to squeezing rivets if you don't have gorilla hands!
I received some back ordered parts two days ago and I'm progressing a little again. But, I'm still missing the front main spar and a couple of critical brackets so I'm mostly able to move further on the flaps and ailerons. I'll probably post a more thorough update soon.
