Fuselage – Page 48

Rear Bulkhead Work

Posted on November 8, 2014 by Michael — No Comments ↓

Time: 6 Hours

Today I had breakfast with the guys at our favorite pancake house, Juicy-O’s. I always come away from these breakfasts feeling motivated to continue the build. I think due to the fact that both of my friends are building but more to the fact that they are much farther ahead of me. So when I got home got right into the Hangar to work. Today’s items are the rear bulkheads, there are 6 of them starting from the tail end to the last that ties the mid fuselage section. The plans have you match drill the several parts of one bulkhead. Then scuff, debur, prime and then rivet before moving on to the next bulkhead. I decided to follow this plan as opposed to working on all the parts at the same time and priming all together to help break up the monotony. While waiting I between primer coats I worked on the next set and clecko’d the following sets.

I got 4 of the 6 bulkheads finished minus riveting which is only a few rivets connecting the left halves to the right.

Not a whole lot of pictures but a lot of work deburring all the edges and holes, another good day in the Hangar.

Rear Seat Throttle

Posted on November 7, 2014 by Michael — 1 Comment ↓

Time: 6 Hours

When you put the mid fuselage sides together including the arm rests the plans make a not that if you are going with the optional rear seat throttle now is the time to make the required cuts on the arm rest. I bought an after market throttle for the rear from DJM manufacturing. I had ordered the Van’s throttle so I would have all the extra parts needed to attach and mount the throttle. The new one I bought was not a “drop in” throttle and required a little bit of thinking and planning on my part. My plan was to have the throttle arm come up through the arm rest where the stock one would have. I also wanted the plate to be flush with the underside of the arm rest. The DJM throttle has a very nice anodized plate that has engraving on it for the labels. It’s a solid piece that has bolts that go thru it for mounting. Since the arm rest and the mounting plate are not a 90° angle I had to do some extra calculating to get the plate to sit flush. First up was to find where the plate will sit and mark the arm rest for cutting.

Then I cut the opening with the Dremel tool

I used several different parts from DJM and Van’s to get the line up just right.

I decided that I would mount the mounting plate on the outside or inboard side of the arm rest and vertical supports. It is supposed to go on the inside but I found that I would have a much easier time and it looks a lot better doing it this way. In order to do this I needed to trim the bottom bends of the mounting plate so that it would sit flush.

I put the plate in place along with the aft cover and the roll bar support piece to see how the fit was.

I then removed all the parts and tuned up the opening that I made in the arm rest. I then put all the parts back together and returned the parts to the arm rest area but under the lips of the arm rest and vertical supports. This allowed me to mark the screw holes on the mounting plate. I drilled all the holes to a #19 on the drill press so that I could clecko the whole setup in place.

In my planning phase I noticed that the mounting bolts would go through both the arm rest and the mounting plate. When removing the mounting plate I would need to unscrew the 7 screws as well as the 2 upper mounting bolts that go through the entire throttle. The nuts would be in very tight space between the throttle and the skin. So I decided to notch the arm rest so that the throttle would only be mounted to the mounting plate for support and the mounting plate would get its support from the 7 screws.

I made the notches large enough to go around the spacers I made out of aluminum tubing to get the throttle to sit just right on the underside of the arm rest. Here are a few photos of the throttle in place. It is a breeze to slide into place when I remove the 7 clecko’s. The rear side plate sits real nice on top of the mounting plate as well.

Overall I’m real happy with how it turned out. It took a long time but that’s because I don’t have a lot of fabricating experience and really have to think about all the dynamics of the moving parts. I’m getting better and really enjoy this process.

Aft Bulkheads Start

Posted on November 2, 2014 by Michael — No Comments ↓

Time: 6 Hours

Today I started on the aft end of the fuselage. First up was to cut and separate several parts for the elevator/rudder attach point along with the rudder stops.

The rudder stops are to limit the travel from side to side the rudder as you press on the rudder pedals. I decided earlier on in the build that I was going to use an internal rudder stop that goes between the lower rudder hinge. This stop is made by FlyBoys Accessories and is some type of plastic material. Since I’m using this I eliminated the rudder stops that Van’s gave me.

I then grabbed the two most aft bulkheads and the tail spring assembly. This assembly is what the tail whee connects to and provides shock absorbing. I separated the attach point from that assembly and made some measurements for a centerline mark. I also made that centerline mark on the forward side of the bulkhead.

With the two bulkheads clecko’ed to each other I used my hand seamer to bend the flanges of the forward one to match (parallel) the aft one so that it would be inline with the shape of the tail.

I then clamped the tail spring attach to the bulkheads lining up the centerline mark and the top mark. The top mark was measured by using the plans which are a little confusing. Luckily I found several references on the VanAirforce forum to help. I also found that there might be an error on the plans that shows a measurement of 7/8″ but several builders call for a 1 23/32″. I will do some more checking on that one.

I took the clamped parts to the drill press to drill two holes in the spring assembly by matching them to the bulkheads.

I countersunk those two holes on the aft side.

I then deburred all the edges and holes of the three parts. The two bulkheads need the 10 common holes dimpled for flush rivets on the aft side. I then scuffed and cleaned all the parts using MEK on the spring as it had some type of oil on it for rust protection. Then over to the spray table for priming.

I have a busy flight schedule this week and will rivet these bulkheads later in the week.

Another good day in the Hangar and it feels good to be back up and running!

New Firewall Work

Posted on November 1, 2014 by Michael — No Comments ↓

Time: 6 Hours

The new firewall arrived last Saturday in prompt fashion from FedEx all crated up and secure from Van’s. Unfortunately, for the build, I had a very busy flight schedule this week flying all 5 days with a couple of overnights in there. That put a pause on the work in the Hangar for the week but I got back at it today. First up was to un-crate the firewall and get to deburring.

What I did get done last week I between flying was to touch up the paint on the parts that I removed from the damaged firewall.

I finished deburring all the edges using a file and sandpaper, man this stainless steel is sharp!

I then final drilled all the holes to their final sizes, this was done in conjunction with the other parts on the first firewall. After that I grabbed the DRDT dimpling machine and dimpled all the required holes. With all that work done I clecko’ed the substructure pars to the firewall for riveting.

As before the best way to rivet these parts is with the back rivet set.

Since I left the bottom support in the forward floor I left all those rivets out as well as both of the bottom engine mounts. This allowed me to slide the firewall back into position.

I was then able to get the remaining rivets with the bucking bar and gun.

Then it was just a matter of returning all the parts I removed to get at the firewall.

So I’m back in business and moving forward again. You might notice that the firewall is no longer resting on the table and is elevated about an inch or so with a couple pieces of 1″x4″ under the gear towers so this doesn’t happen again! Overall this mistake has cost me 10 hours of extra work, not as bad as I was figuring but I don’t want to do it again.

Renewed Energy

Posted on October 24, 2014 by Michael — No Comments ↓

Time: 4 Hours

This last week I traveled to Orlando, Florida to attend the NBAA (National Business Aviation Association) annual convention. This is the largest aviation convention in the world and the 7th largest overall convention.

I attended various classes on several different topics including weather advances and fatigue management. Along with classes, seminars and presentations there is also a very large static display at the airport showing all the latest and greatest business aircraft.

Another thing the week did was to give me some down time away from the RV-8 build and Hangar to regroup and renew my build spirit after the huge mistake I made last week. So I had the new drive and ordered a new firewall and had it shipped for an arrival this weekend. So after running all the errands this morning I got in the Hangar to start the big job of disassembling the firewall.

If you remember all the parts on the firewall were riveted to it first before being riveted and ProSealed to the forward floor. I decided to leave the bottom support of the firewall attached to the forward floor so I don’t have to remove the old ProSeal. I looked at all the rivets and think I can get to them after the firewall is placed back into its position. So that row of rivets was the first up on the drill out schedule.

So now that the firewall was off the forward floor I put it on the workbench and started the drilling. I worked on one side and then the other so I could keep the parts organized. I drilled just deep enough so I could snap off the head and used the auto punch to pop out the shaft. All worked pretty good and I only had a few enlarged holes.

So all I have left to drill out are the 2 horizontal supports along with the various nutplates in them. I have an EAA chapter meeting tonight so that’s where I quit for the day.

Once I have all the parts off I will do some sanding and cleaning of the parts and put a fresh coat of paint on them. Hopefully the new firewall will arrive tomorrow and I can get to work finishing the edges and holes along with dimpling.

Total Time – 1938 Hours

Empennage Total – 218 Hours
Horizontal Stabilizer – 83 Hours
Elevators – 53 Hours
Vertical Stabilizer – 22 Hours
Rudder – 37 Hours
Fiberglass – 23 Hours

Wings Total – 536 Hours
Wing Structure – 216 Hours
Fuel Tanks – 135 Hours
Ailerons – 53 Hours
Flaps – 42 Hours
Wiring – 11 Hours
Fiberglass – 56 Hours
General – 23 Hours

Fuselage Total – 1184 Hours
Canopy – 124 Hours
Engine: 115 Hours
Cowl – 64 Hours
Firewall – 62 Hours
Firewall Forward – 16 Hours
Forward Section – 285 Hours
Center Section – 57 Hours
Seat Substructure – 27 Hours
Mid Fuselage – 131 Hours
Aft Fuselage – 190 Hours
Wiring – 113 Hours