Section 16 - Top Wing Skins (Outboard Aileron Hinge Bracket success!; more top skin riveting)

After much effort, sweat, worry, and suggestions from a fellow RV-14A builder (thanks again, Ken B.!), I was able to rivet the left outboard aileron hinge bracket without having the bearing stick.  This took me THREE tries, and needless to say, I was getting worried I was just a crappy builder.  Although that may be true, it turns out there is a slight imperfection in how these hinge brackets were made at the factory.  If you line up the rivet holes, which line up well to one another (and like I did the first two tries), then the recesses for the bearing do not align well.  That probably imparts extra force on the races, making the bearing either tight or stuck. This time, I switched the order from what is written in the instructions as well as added a few steps:

- deburr edges and enlarge all bearing holes/recesses a tiny bit (little file, 400 grit sandpaper, scotchbrite pad)
- straighten all three pieces, especially W-1013A
- buff with scotchbrite pad
- clean with acetone, SEM Solve, and then prime with SEM primer; let dry/cure overnight.  When priming, mask off the bearing recesses
- press bearing gently into W-1013A using 11mm and 15mm sockets (NOT the 14mm per instructions, since it is too small)
- make sure the bearing recesses in W-1013C-LX and W-1013C-R fit loosely over the bearing portion that sticks out of both sides of W-1013A.  This is important, since if the bearing fits well within all three of these pieces, the rivet holes do NOT all align!  And, neither do the edges of the three pieces - they look a little "off" but this is perfectly fine
- find a couple holes that are aligned close-enough to cleco
- use a cleco clamp to clamp the area just forward of the bearing (shown below)
- ream and cleco one hole at a time in a semi-random pattern
- deburr and rivet one hole at a time using pneumatic squeezer - start with a couple AN470s
- countersink one of the three top aft holes, and then rivet
- rivet other AD470s and/or countersink and then rivet the AD426s in a random pattern, making sure to leave the aft-most 3 countersunk holes until the end.
- as the bearing gets in the way of the microstop countersink cage, countersink those three aft holes manually, checking with a rivet as you go
- finish riveting with AD426s, starting with the center of the 3 aft-most holes

After this procedure, the bearing moves Like Buttah!  No binding of the bearing whatsoever.  Not sure if I should post to VAF, or send to Van's tech support for their input.

Parts after priming:

Two holes clecoed and aft part cleco-clamped, just prior to reaming:

After reaming and clecoing holes:

Ready for riveting:

Over halfway through riveting ... note that I got overzealous with the countersinking, and countersink one extra hole on the bottom.  No worries; it still holds well:

Voila - done!  And, most importantly, I learned a hell of a lot about what I should do with the RIGHT aileron bracket:

My wife helped me back-rivet 5 more ribs to the outboard top skin.  She holds the bucking bar, and I back-rivet from other side: