OP38 - Aileron Trim (completed); 20 - Bottom Skins (almost finished riveting); 22 - Ailerons (nearly finished left; midway through right)

Lots accomplished this past week on the aileron trim for the right wing, bottom skins (right) and ailerons (left and right).  Specifically, the following were performed:

- attached aileron trim springs to pushrod, using inboard skin as a guide - it was somewhat difficult to get perfect "neutral" position of pushrod
- deburred edges of inboard bottom skin; deburred, dimpled and riveted flap gap and aileron gap fairings; tried to attach pins on micro-molex (got 3 good ones, 2 crappy ones that have to be redone - ordered more micro-molex pins and redo)
- deburred edges and holes of outboard and inboard bottom skins; final-drilled #19 holes; filed down and primed forward overlap of inboard/outboard skins
- attached springs to servo trim arm; attached 3 of 5 wires (with micro-molex pins) to micro-molex connector body
- riveted inboard bottom skin to wing assembly and riveted all nutplates onto inboard bottom skin; also had visitor (Terrell Y.; also constructing an RV-14A) and showed him how I rivet bottom skins
- riveted 90% of the outboard bottom skin - what a pain in the ass
- finished riveting everything on the bottom skins (including access nutplates), except for 29 rivets near skin junction (need wife to help with these); drilled, deburred and dimpled access plates
- deburred holes (4 skins) and edges (2 of 4 skins) of aileron skins for both wings
- finished deburring last 2 aileron skins; dimpled everything for the left aileron and also for parts of the right aileron (prematurely for trailing edge of skins, but this should still work - might be better; UPDATE - the ailerons are very straight, so I might choose this tactic for the right aileron); clecoed together left aileron assembly; reamed trailing edge @ ~8 deg angle (performed outside trailing edge since I already dimpled the trailing edge portion of the skins); disassembled left aileron
- riveted nose skin to nose ribs, top skin and bottom skin to spar, counterweight to skin, and side ribs to each other

Flap and aileron gap fairings clecoed to right wing assembly:

18 - Fuel Tank (installed final screw); 19 - Wing Systems Routing (completed right wing); 23 - Aileron Actuation (torque tube, pushrod, bellcrank); OP38 - Aileron Trim (fabricated EA-10, checked clearance); OP56 - Garmin AP Servos (installed Roll servo)

Van's charged my credit card for the remainder of the fuselage purchase, so in about 3 weeks, I hope to have that kit in my garage!  Exciting, but the clock is ticking for me to get most of the wing kit completed.

This week saw the attachment of the right fuel tank to the right wing, the start and completion of wiring the right wing (including 25' of RG400 for an eventual Bob Archer antenna in the wingtip), fabrication of all parts of the aileron actuation pushrods, bellcrank and torque tube (all but installing the bellcrank-to-aileron pushrod), installation of the roll servo to the right bellcrank, and fabrication and initial checks of the EA-10 aileron trim motor.  Details follow:

Wired the autopilot servo molex connector, and added a little silicone wrap to reduce stress at the bend:

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 21 - Flaps (nearly finished right flap); Section 13 - Main Spar (finished right main spar); Section 14 - Wing Ribs (right wing ribs well underway)

Good progress was made this past week, even with taking a few days for a nice vacation and birthday celebration with my in-laws. A few details below (this post is short due to time constraints):

Riveted top skin to spar and ribs (right flap):

Section 21 - Flaps (almost finished left flap; midway through right flap)

It was all flaps, all week long. I nearly finished the left flap (waiting for a squeezer set from Cleaveland Tool for the trailing edge) and am midway through the right flap.  The hardest part of the flaps is riveting the bottom skin to the spar, but after I figured out how to position the tungsten bucking bar, it wasn't too bad. I checked and confirmed that the twist between the two brackets was <0.1deg using an iPhone digital leveling app.  If Paul Dye uses an iPhone to level parts, I figured it would be a safe way to do it.

Countersunk the inboard and outboard trailing edges for the left flap: