16 - Top Wing Skins (finished); 17 - Outboard Leading Edge (finished); 18 - Fuel Tank (attached to wing); 22 - Ailerons (started fabricating, up until stiffeners)

I haven't posted in ~2 weeks, because of a little trip to NYC to watch the US Open and eat at a few restaurants that only NYC can provide.  We just beat Dorian, which is now a Cat 2 hurricane and likely to miss our house.  In honor of Dorian, I worked over 6 hrs in the shop today, as well as a bunch the days prior to our vacation on a total of 4 sections:

- riveted skin to all ribs, mounting bracket, splice strip and j-channel; drilled 3/8" hole for tie-down
separated, deburred hinge brackets; deburred, buffed, and dimpled nose rib flanges; countersunk and riveted hinge brackets to nose ribs; riveted nutplates to nose ribs
- separated, deburred, dimpled and riveted main ribs to hinge brackets; deburred spar and nose skin edges; clecoed nose ribs to spar and nose skin; match-drilled 6 holes in the stainless steel counterweight.  THAT by itself took well over 2 hrs, a lot of swearing, some boelube and water as lubricants, and a broken drill bit
- match-drilled #40 the remaining 8 holes in leading edge to SS counterweight; final-drilled #30 all 10 leading-edge holes to SS counterweight; final-drilled #40 holes in skin stiffeners
- Riveted right top skins to 4 ribs, skin overlap, and main spar (my wife used back-riveting bucking bar)
- Riveted top skins to rear spar
- riveted outboard aileron to spar and outboard rib; riveted inboard rib to skin and nutplates
- cut and deburred 32 aileron ribs (for both sides)
- riveted j-channels with my wife; top wing skins done
- attached leading edge skins to right spar (my wife helped buck the top flange); blind-riveted ribs to spar;
- attached right fuel tank to right wing … all nuts final-torqued and screws; except for ONE screw, b/c Van's provided me a nutplate that has no threads - time to order a tapping toolkit and tapping fluid

Riveted the last parts of the right outboard leading edge:

16 - Top Wing Skins (right side riveting started); 17 - Outboard Leading Edge (right side, riveted top skin-to-ribs); 21 - Flaps (Finished right flap)

It is amazing how a major deadline (pending fuselage kit delivery in a few weeks!) can help me focus and knock out tasks on multiple projects.  Lots of small but important tasks were accomplished this past week, in just about every available minute.  The kids and wife saw very little of me, because I completed the following:

- countersunk holes in right rear wing spar corresponding to doublers; deburred edges and holes; shaved wing skin mating areas on forward part of outboard and inboard skins; dimpled all holes in inboard and outboard top skins; primed shaved skin mating areas; clecoed wing walk doublers and inboard and outboard top skins to wing assembly; deburred & dimpled j-stiffeners
- Left and Right flaps: attached trailing edge with 3M VHB tape; clecoed trailing edge and ribs; riveted trailing edge (squeezed); riveted bottom skin to ribs; attached flap to wing (temporary, left side only)
- right leading edge:  7 leading-edge ribs: straightened flanges, fluted flanges, deburred edges and tips, final-drilled #40 and #30 holes; deburred holes in 7 leading-edge ribs; dimpled flange holes; deburred, final drilled and dimpled splice strip; clecoed 7 ribs into the leading edge skin; match-drilled, deburred, dimpled j-stiffener
- Riveted right top skins to 9 ribs (200 rivets, with wife using back-bucking bar)
- Dimpled right leading edge skin; masked and scuffed area for black matte paint (light well/bay)
scuffed, cleaned and primed 7 ribs, mounting bracket for landing light, and mounting wedges for light lens, and skin; primed and painted black all areas visible in landing light bay; riveted nutplates to splice strips, mounting bracket and mounting wedges. Note that Van's doesn't supply enough K1100-08D nutplates, but way too many K1100-08 nutplates ... I guess I just have to dimple the #40 holes in the latter (which I did, and which were not a big issue).
- clecoed 7 ribs and splice strip to leading edge skin (right); riveted all top rivets and aft 3-most bottom rivets on all ribs

Primed shaved skins on inboard top skins (forward overlapped parts):

15 - Rear Spar (completed right side); 16 - Top Wing Skins (doublers, final- and match-drilled)

A decent amount was accomplished this week, including finishing the right rear spar, starting the right top inboard wing skin ... and, taking an EAA Sportair weekend (Sat/Sun) workshop on Fiberglass for RVs, taught by Scott Vanderveen.  This was an excellent class, which gave me the confidence and toolset to tackle the fiberglass parts, including the windscreen transition.

A few details from this week:

- riveted all 14 ribs to spar; installed final 4 sets of bolts and final-torqued and torque-striped
- prepared outboard aileron bracket (oh no!) and primed all 3 pieces
- drilled, countersunk and riveted outboard aileron bracket; prepared inboard aileron bracket; drilled and deburred 3 rear spar doubler plates; drilled aileron pushrod hole in doubler plate; enlarged hole in inboard doubler plate and straightened plate; prepped and straightened rear spar reinforcement fork; clecoed everything to ribs
- final-drilled all #30 holes common to doublers, rear spar and ribs; deburred all parts (edges/holes); primed inboard aileron (service bulletin) and all 5 doublers;machine countersunk #40 holes in spar flanges and #30 holes in W-1007-C inboard doubler; dimpled flanges of rear spar; riveted inboard aileron and doublers to rear spar
- reamed 3/8" inboard hole in rear spar doublers; riveted rear spar onto ribs; done.
- clecoed wing walk doublers and top skin to wing assembly; match drilled holes for nutplates; final drilled all holes common to skin, doublers and ribs; final drilled nutplate holes to #19; dimpled aft nutplate for #8 screw

Flap hinge brackets primed and attached to the 3rd and 8th rib (starting inboard):

Section 16 - Top Wing Skins (j-channel; aileron hinge bracket attach)

The final parts of Section 16 have been completed, including riveting the spars, riveting the long and short j-channels, and attaching the outboard aileron hinge bracket:

Everything riveted on the top skin, except the j-channel in this pic:

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:

Section 16 - Top Wing Skins (riveting inboard skin to ribs)

We started riveting the top wing skins to the left wing assembly (skin to ribs at this point) starting from the center of the inboard skin.  My wife bucked all but the two inboard ribs.  We started by using a flush rivet set on the outside and a tungsten bucking bar on the inside (shop head), but noticed that this method depressed the skin slightly at the rib line.  We next used a back-riveting bucking bar (large diameter flat head) covered with packing tape on the outside, with an extended back riveting set on the shop head.  This method worked great for the ribs and lessened the slight depression in the skin at the rib line.  However, we had to resort to the former method for areas of the skin overlying the wing-walk doublers, largely because those rivets are seated between 0.003-0.005 inches "proud" (i.e., manufactured heads sit slightly above the skin) as recommended by Van's to avoid over-countersinking the top skin. That area will be covered with a wing-walk pad after painting.

My riveting partner (and wife), checking our work:

Section 16 - Top Wing Skins (drilled, dimpled, countersunk, clecoed)

Final drilled wing walk doublers and inboard top wing skin to wing assembly, then countersunk holes in the top wing skin since this area won't be dimpled.  Dimpled the remaining top flanges of the rest of the ribs that do not contact the wing walk doublers, and dimpled all the remaining holes in the inboard and outboard top wing skins.

Inboard wing skin prior to countersinking: