Sunday, July 25, 2010

Just because

Hey its a blog about me building an airplane! I can put some random aviation stuff here.

This weekend I went and looked at a small two seater to use for training. I've finished my private pilot, but need a large chunk of pilot in command cross country before I can begin IFR training. Buying a plane makes sense if it can reduce the cost of training. This was a pretty cheap plane, so it would've fit the bill well.

On the way back I stopped at the FBO to try and get a few charts but instead ended up spending ten minutes on the ramp. Due to the airshow in town (more on that in a second) they were out of parking spaces at the base, and so one of the Air Force pilots who was doing cross country flights to stay current parked it at the FBO. This meant that as I pulled in I did a rapid double take as there was an F/A-18 sitting there!

Definitely not something you see everyday. The next day was day 1 of the airshow. I went, and got completed sunburned. It was a pretty cool show though, with the Thunderbirds performing and a short visit from a B-2 bomber! Again, not something you see everyday. They of course had the Blackhawk helicoptors, transports, refueling tankers, and F-15 and F/A-18s out, but they also had a B-1 bomber. Since the RV project has meant selling off my cameras, I did not snap any pictures, but it was cool! Despite the conveniance, I hate being the guy pulling out his cell phone to take pictures. Unless of course its to video a B-2 bomber flying over....

Rudder

So I screwed up a piece on the horizontal stabilizer again. As i'm reading Moby Dick currently, I can't help but feel like the horizontal stabilizer is turning into my white whale...

I did however get started on the rudder today. Vans suggests spending an hour or two often, instead of waiting a week and spending an entire day. Unfortunately my schedule doesn't always agree, so I hadn't gotten into the workshop since the previous Saturday, and spent the from 10:30 to 6 there today.

The rudder skin is in two separate pieces. Rather than have ribs down the entire length, it has ribs at the top and bottom, and then reinforcement along the inside of the skins. The skin is
really thin, meaning it wobbles and I had to be careful when deburring and dimpling.
Here is a picture of the reinforcements clecoed on to the skin. You'll notice they're square on each end still, and the plastic is still covering everything.

Here is a picture of the skin with the plastic removed where the reinforcement will go, and the reinforcements roughed out to the proper shape.


The reinforcement comes pre=bent and pre=drilled, but has two reinforcements per bar, and eight bars per bundle. I had to do a lot of trimming, and thus deburring on the pieces. Each piece also had to be cut down in length as the rudder is not one width the entire length.

Once everything was carefully deburred, I primed where the reinforcements would hit, and the reinforcements themselves, and prepped for some serious back riveting. Here is the primed skin with the rivets taped in for rapid attachment.


A lot of rivets were put in today. I find back-riveting to be very satisfying as it goes rapidly once you get them all taped in. Here the skins are all ready for the next step!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

New Headset

I have been looking for a new headset for a bit, but hesitated due to the cost.  I wasn't going to try and get any ANR (Active Noise Reduction) headsets because they were out of my price range.  I was thinking I'd get a set of David Clarks due to their customer service and longevity. However, in discussing headsets with my instructor, he told me about a student of his that had a sweet setup for his Bose QC15 headset.  As my parents had purchased a pair of the original Quiet Comforts for me when I was flying to and from college, I was intrigued.   I had some wear and tear on my original Quiet Comforts, and had stopped at a Kiosk to inquire about repairs.  I was given the new QC2s (new at the time, this was some time ago) for the low low price of $50.

UFlyMike took the existing headphone jack inside the ear piece, and created a custom one that included a line for a microphone, the microphone, and aviation plugins.  Now the setup only works with the Bose QC15 and QC2, which is important. Also, to have a TSO'd headset, you have to have an ear bud inside the ear piece so that if the battery fails you can still hear.  But for just over $200 dollars, (or $500 if you don't have a set of Quiet Comforts) you can get a very light set of ANR headphones for the plane.  I went ahead and took the leap, and have been really happy with the sound quality!  The microphone clarity surprised me, but it was really nice to have the reduced engine noise.  Not relevant to the airplane build, but relevant to aviation.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Vertical Stabilizer

Woke up pretty early (thanks work...?) so went ahead and went to the workshop.

First things first, I checked to see if all of the primer looked good.  Once I was sure of that, I started clecoing together the rear spar.


From Drop Box

Rear spar.

I then began riveting!

From Drop Box

The first rivet of the vertical stabilizer!


From Drop Box

Riveted rear spar.

Next came the front spar and ribs.


From Drop Box

Skeleton clecoed.

Next, I used a soldering iron to gently melt the plastic around where I would need to be riveting.  This way I could rivet on the skeleton while maintaining protection for the majority of the surface.

And then a lot of riveting in tight places. A lot. Riveting took a lot more time than I expected...


From Drop Box

Vertical Stabilizer! Complete!

Vertical Stabilizer

Woo! Tools came in, and the replacement parts for the front spare of the horizontal stabilizer.  But i want to complete the vertical stabilizer while its still fresh in my mind so I worked on that instead.  I got out of work around 5:30 and hit the hanger near 6 pm Friday night.

First, I had waited to match drill the skin until I had fluted my ribs.  Now if you don't know what fluting is, fluting is when you bend the flanges of the rib to straighten the rib out.  When the ribs are made, they tend to have some bend to them, and by shortening the length of the flange, you effectively get rid of this bend.  I was waiting for the fluting pliers, and since they got here, I was able to flute the ribs.


From Drop Box

Rib after fluting with fluting pliers.

Once the ribs were fluted, I put the skeleton back together and put the skin on with clecos


From Drop Box

Look! It looks like an airplane part!

Next I did a lot of edge finishing, deburring, and dimpling.... A lot...

From Drop Box

Skin after dimpling.

I was still feeling awake and motivated so I kept going, and went ahead and primed the ribs.


From Drop Box

Primed ribs (get it..?)

And was still feeling good so I primed the spars and the spare reinforcement.


From Drop Box

Entire skeleton primed for the vertical stabilizer.

And then went ahead and figured might as well prime the inside of the skin too.  I only primed where the metal would be touching other metal, or where I had inadvertently scratched the aluminum.


From Drop Box

Primed skin (inside).

At this point I really did go to bed, but it was midnight.  All thats left before I can start putting it all together is some deburring on the skin!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Vertical Stabilizer

While I'm waiting for replacement parts for some pieces I was disatisified with to arrive, I started on the vertical stabilizer.

From Drop Box

Here is the rear spar assembly of the vertical stabilizer being set up.

From Drop Box

Heres the whole thing.  I sure am getting good with clecos....


From Drop Box

Almost looking like an airplane part!

I also finished cleaning up the rear spar reinforcements, and so I primed them.  I am still using a can of self-etching primer because of convenience.  I'm not sure if in the future I will switch to something else but for now this will work.

From Drop Box

You can see the 3 view drawing for the nose wheel being put to good use as my box wasn't long enough.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Private Pilot Complete!

Yesterday I passed my checkride for my Private Pilot, so I should now have a less cluttered mind/schedule. I don't have the financial ability to dive into instrument with quite the same gusto at this point, but I am starting it, as well as intending to complete complex, high powered, and tailwheel.

I mentioned that the first thing I'd riveted on the plane was a bearing housing. Heres a picture of that.

I've also begun the front spar.  More clecoing and match drilling, but I'll need to trim down the ends of these aluminum braces (note the sharpie markings).  I still need to get a grinder to make this a lot easier, because these two pieces need quite a bit of material removed.  More coming soon!

Monday, July 5, 2010

Step 1... -ish...

Well I have all the tools I think I need right now, and I'm sure more will be added soon. I've begun the actual airplane now, having finished the practice tool kit and practice trim tab. I learned a lot from them, such as how to rivet, and more importantly, how not to rivet. They're ugly, and don't look good, but I learned from them.

But I won't. I started setting up the rear spare for the horizontal stabilizer. The first step requires you to "break" the rear spar reinforcement bars. This meant I spent a lot of time with a grinding wheel taking down the edges and rounding them out. I still need to round off the ends, which is a pain with a hand file, but I can't stomach a bench grinder at the moment.

From Drop Box

Here is the bench setup for working on the rear spar. Notice the neatness quickly disappeared.

Most of this step was match drilling holes for the entire length of the spar reinforcements, and also for the rear hinges.

From Drop Box

Here you can see the line of clecos. I understand why some people want the pneumatic cleco gun, but I'd rather just build up some strength and save money. I am quickly becoming ambidextrous with the cleco pliers though, as one arm will wear out quickly for the time.

I also primed the bearing for the rear linkage point for the elevator, and then riveted the hinges around the bearing once it was dry. These were the first six rivets driven for the actual airplane. I had to drill out one, but the rest went relatively well. Still need to pick up some more clamps to make my life easier though...

The first boxes arrive: Inventory

This is my blog, detailing the steps for building a Vans RV-7 kit airplane!

I'd ordered the first portion, the Empennage, and it arrived Thursday. I couldn't get in to the hanger until Saturday and so it sat in the trunk of my car until Saturday. But when Saturday rolled around, I quickly opened up the box and started laying everything out nicely so I could do an inventory and make sure it was all there.


From Drop Box

Here is everything all laid out while I checked the list with the help of a friend.

From Drop Box

And then stacked nicely so I take up as little room as possible! I am renting a small workshop in the back of the EAA Chapter 79 hanger, and its not just me in there so I'm trying to be neat. More on this soon.