Leading edges

Somehow I forgot to post this blog entry.  This was originally suppose to be posted on the 28th but alas...here it is...a little late.

This week work on the leading edges continued.  These are really fun parts of the airplane to work on because they are big but there is relatively little detailed work (other than drilling, deburring, etc) and when you are complete there is a large visible portion of the airplane taking shape.  Next up is the fuel tanks which may take a little longer due to the sealing process.  Lots of Proseal (trade brand for a super sticky sealant that is fuel resistant and works great for sealing fuel tanks).  There will be a few modifications to the fuel tanks as well which will be fun.

Oh, one more item of note...I ordered the fuselage kit this week.  There is an 8 week wait period on that kit so I expect delivery some time in Feb/March.  Hopefully I will be done with the ailerons and flaps by then.

This is the right leading edge after drilling/deburring/dimpling.  It is ready for riveting at this point.

And here it is after one night of riveting.  Not quite done but only three rows on this side and about 5 on the other side are left.  I'm doing this alone and its getting a little hard to reach all the way down on both sides; one holding the rivet gun and the other holding the bucking bar. 

Both leading edges are almost complete.  You can see a little tape on the forward section.  Those are rivets that I need a little help with.  Ben came over Thursday afternoon and helped me finish these up.

Speaking of Ben, here he is helping with the attachment of the leading edges.

A bit hard to see but this is a picture of both wings with the leading edges cleco'd on.  These wings are getting BIG.

Happy New Year

It's been a great past couple of weeks around here.  I've had 2 five day weekends in a row.  Add in lots of family and friends, and no small amount of flying and you have the mixin's for a memorable time.

Speaking of flying I spent a couple of days working on the 9 this week.  I have had heated seats installed in the airplane from the beginning but I didn't have them wired up.  Well this week I started the process of making that happen.  Last weeks flights proved to me that a little seat heat would do wonders in making some of those cold flights more bearable.  I didn't quite get to the point of hooking the seats up because I have to pull the seat panels and that is a long job that may have to wait until I do the annual inspection in the next couple of months.  However, I now have power available.

Another interesting thing happened with regard to the 9 this week.  Part of the rewire process is creating an "Essential" buss of power.  This bus has two power feeds, a normal from the master switch and a backup that comes directly from the battery through a fuse and a special switch.  On this bus I have moved both of my ignition power leads as well as power for the electric fuel pump and the G5 backup EFIS.  In an emergency where I lose the Master solenoid I can still fly the airplane.  However, the unexpected benefit to this change was that the airplane starts MUCH faster now.  In the past when I went to start the airplane it always took a couple of seconds to fire.  When I started it for the first time after making the change the engine fired immediately!  The only thing I can figure is that when I engage the starter my battery voltage is dropping far enough that the VPX is rebooting.  Since my ignition power was coming from the VPX they were not getting power until the VPX completed its boot cycle which is very short.  I may have to reach out to Chad at Vertical Power and see if anybody else has reported this.

Finally, related to the work on the 9 I had to do a test flight once all the work was done.  So, Harry and I saddled up and flew to Oregon to pick up a few supplies for some Apple Pie Moonshine.   Can't wait to see how that brew tastes!

The leading edge is attached and riveted on the left wing.  The only step left to complete in this picture is riveting the top side and Ben was nice enough to stop by and help me do that on New Years day.  :-)

Leading edge installed on the left wing with the same caveat that the top rivets are yet to be done in this picture.

Ben took this picture of me and the wings after we had finished the riveting of the leading edge and stored both wings in the cradle.  Thanks again Ben!

Why I fly...

Thanks to Harry another wing top skin is riveted on! Harry stopped by on Friday and it only took us 2 hours and 45 minutes (including a break in the middle) to finish riveting the right top skin.  I finished up the aileron brackets and the inboard nut plates on Sunday as well as got started on the leading edges of both wings.  Things are moving right along now.

I got to do a little flying this week as well.  Martin's RV-4 is at Synergy Air in Eugene Oregon and he needed to deliver a few parts for them to work on so we flew down.  It was  a great flight both up and down but we had a nasty headwind on the way back so it took a little over an hour.

As you saw in my previous post Harry, Jeff and I flew to Sandpoint Idaho on Saturday so its been a great week in Darin's little aviation world.  These two flights epitomize the reason why I like to fly.  The trip to Eugene would have been a 7-8 hour trip on the ground and we were able to do it in just over 2 hours.  The trip to Idaho took us 4 hours and a drive of that length would have taken probably 10 hours minimum.  Both trips had some spectacular views and while I often complain about the backward political stance and the horrible traffic in the Puget Sound you can't deny its one of the most beautiful places in the world.

A picture as the sun set over Portland as we flew north.

The right top wing skin with rivets loaded and taped...ready for riveting.

Pretty hard to see but the second wing with the top skin riveted on sitting on the stand with the two leading edges on the tables for work.  Aluminum can certainly be a challenge to photograph at times.

One of the modifications I am making to the airplane is the ability to add extended range fuel tanks to the outer leading edge of the wings.  Part of that process is installing access covers to the bottom of the inboard bay of each leading edge skin.  This is where any pumps and plumbing will be installed to move fuel.  This is a picture of the hole I cut out of the bottom of each skin.  Still lots of trimming and filing to be done yet as this is just the rough opening.

This is the hole after I had cleaned it up and cleco'd the backing plate in place. Actually this is the other wing from the first picture.

And here is the cover plate sitting on the backing plate. When complete this will be fastened to the backing plate flush with the bottom of the wing.

And finally, here it is riveted in place with cover screwed on.

Oh and guess what?  We have a "WHITE CHRISTMAS"!!

Sandpoint Idaho trip

As one or two of you have noted I haven't been posting many flying pictures lately.  Its not because I don't fly much but because the pictures are always the same stuff...nothing new.  Well today that changed.  Flying in the winter can be absolutely stunning in beauty.  Sandpoint Idaho is nesteled in a valley that is worth the trip.  Harry, Jeff and I flew over there today for a "$5 cup of chili" as Harry puts it.

A few clouds as we got ready to launch.

Headed Eastbound (looking North at the Cascades) as we climbed up to our 9500' cruising altitude.

Jeff and Harry on the climb out.

Jeff was playing photographer again today so Harry was lining up for some great pictures.

Jeff swinging around so we can hopefully get a good picture of him.  He always takes the pictures with his SLR and the best I can do is my iPhone which takes great pictures but fixed lens.

Yep thats ice on the tarmac...and no we didn't land on our butts.

Unedited glamour shot of N1605A

Jeff's N825LL glamour shot.

Harry's N529LW "The Rocket".

Sandpoint got about 2' of snow recently.  We had to land on an ice covered runway which was 'fun'.

 

Headed home.

Mt Rainier with a few clouds at the base.

Starting our decent back into the Puget Sound.

Another wing top skin

Not much to post for pictures this week.  I spent much of the week working on prepping the right wing for the top skin.  Again with ... cleco it on, drill the holes, countersink the appropriate holes, remove the skins, debur, dimple, and reinstall.  So as the wing sits now its ready to rivet.  I still have to finish loading the first round of rivets as well as tape them down but that shouldn't take more than another couple of hours.

I also spent a bit of time working on the electrical design.  I've seen several good plans posted on VAF in the past so I started researching what will be best for me given my mission with this airplane.  I think I have a solution that will work well but its not final since I am sure there will be changes as new avionics/electronics become available.  I made a couple of assumptions with the ignition wiring.  I am planning on using some form of electronic fuel injection, just haven't settled on the particular vendor.

Lastly, I did a little work on the 9 this week as well.  One task I hate to do is checking the tire pressure and as a result the pressure is always lower than I would like it to be.  I recently found a handy little tool that is sold by Cleaveland Aircraft tools that makes this job much easier.  This little inflation tool is long enough to allow me to check the tire air pressure and refill from outside the wheel pants!  All I have to do is drill a small 3/4" hole in the side of my wheel pants that is easily covered with a simple snap in cover available at any hardware store.  I forgot to take pictures so you will have to use your imagination for now.

Right wing ready for rivet loading.

See the cross marked on the wheel pant?  Thats where I drilled a 3/4" hole to give me direct access to the tire inflation stem.  Using a 3/8" socket on an extension I can reach in and remove the valve stem cover.  Then stick the inflation tool in to both check pressure and inflate as necessary.

Version 1 of the RV-10 electrical power distribution plan.

Riveting the right wing top skin

This week I finished the dimpling of the wing ribs, trimmed the corner where the two skins overlap, and started the process of riveting the skins to the ribs.  I know I've mentioned this before but all too often I come upon a step in the process that seems like it should be very quick.  Take this next step of riveting the top wing skin on.  If you look at the first picture below it looks like I'm ready to start riveting right?  Well, that's not really true.  First I have to load all the rivets in their respective holes...one by one...by hand.  OK, sounds like a pretty simple, but time consuming process, but its not that simple because its not just a single size rivet...its several different sizes of rivets and they have specific holes they have to be in.  I suspect that it will take me about 2 hours just to load the rivets.  Then I have to place a small piece of scotch tape over each rivet to make sure it doesn't fall out of the hole before I am ready to smack it with the rivet gun.  That's probably another hour.  Then I'm ready to start riveting....but wait, I can't reach both sides of the wing myself so I will have to have some help riveting... enter Harry....again.  Harry is always there when somebody needs some help and even more often when that help is airplane related!  Harry came over on Saturday evening and helped me rivet the top skin.  It was pretty darn quick having two guys who know what they are doing.  We managed to do the entire wing in less than 4 hours!  I think each skin on my 9 took close to 8 hours.

One note I will make about these Van's kits... These pre-punched parts are awesome!  Before attaching the top skins to the spar/rib assembly I put a digital level on each end of the spar to measure for twist and found that there was as much as 1 degree of twist.  That concerned me so I clamped the spar down to the bench with the appropriate support so that it was perfectly strait before I started fastening the skins to the assembly.  After completing the process I measured the twist again without the clamps in place and there was no twist!  Now I have to make sure I keep it that way as I rivet the top skins in place.

Right wing ready to start loading rivets.

All rivets loaded and taped...except for the holes with cleco's of course.

I took this picture so I could show how I handled the skin overlap joint at the leading edge of main wing skin.  These two skins overlap each other and where they mate up at the spar will be double height if you don't do something.  Van's suggests that you grind down each to about half height and then rivet in place.  I tried that on my 9A wings and found that getting a good smooth transition was almost impossible.  This is my answer.  I trimmed the bottom skin back to just aft of the main spar (up in the photo).  Now the top skin lays flat on the spar and the lower skin is supported by the rib.  I did this on all 4 joints on my 9A wings and it worked out nicely so I decided to do the same on this wing.

Wing skins riveted on with the exception of the inner most row where all the nut-plates are.  I finished that up after the picture.

Outboard aileron hinge is the last step in this section and its done!  

I need a place to store the wings now that they are coming together.  This cart will allow me to store them both in the garage here and in the hangar when I am done with them.  As you can see the garage workshop is rapidly running out of room!

Wood work

You know, for a guy who is building an aluminum airplane I sure did a lot of wood work this week.  Two projects had to get completed.  First I sold my 3 blade Catto prop to a nice guy from New York.  That means I have to ship it and that means finding a way to pack it so it survives the shipping process (something not easily done).  After several phone calls I found that the best way to ship it is through a regular carrier and I chose to use EngineShipping.com again.  They require a pallet for the prop so my 50 pounds worth of prop, spinner, extension and other related gear turned into 100 pounds with the specially designed pallet.

Wood project two was a new stand for my dimpler.  I originally built a platform that I could wrap around the dimpler as it sat on my bench.  Well that wont work for these really long wing skins so I decided to build a small mobile stand that I could sit beside or between my benches.  This way I can feed the skins from one table to the other without as much risk of bending.

Once all that was done I did get the two top right wing skins dimpled.  Next up, dimple the ribs, trim the leading edge corners where they overlap, and then start a long process of riveting the top skins on.

This is actually two pallets put together to make one that is 6 feet long.  There is a support in the middle that holds the prop vertical as well as make sure that any down force is focused on the hub in the middle.  Lots of plastic wrap and I think this is ready to go.

This is the new cart for the dimpler.  It worked well on the first set of wing skins.

Here you can sort of see that it is at the right height so that my skins can feed from one bench to the other.  Of course the dimpler cart can move back and forth to keep the skins on the table.  I remember doing this on my 9 wings without the cart and I had to do all kinds of funky stuff to try to keep the skins level.