The O'Reilly RV8

Assembling the right elevator for riveting

2009-10-25T21:44:00.004-04:00

Finished riveting the skeleton tonight and put it all together ready to rivet on the skin.

Riveting the right elevator skeleton

2009-10-24T22:31:00.001-04:00

Began to rivet the right elevator skeleton tonight.

Primed the right elevator

2009-10-24T10:20:00.001-04:00

Over the last 2 nights, primed the skeleton for the right elevator.

Over the last 2 nights, primed the skeleton for the right elevator.

Etched and Alodined the Right Elevator skeleton

2009-10-21T21:50:00.003-04:00

After a few days hiatus to sort out some work issues, back into the garage.
Etched and Alodined the skeleton of the right elevator.

Drilling, deburring and dimpling the Right Elevator

2009-10-09T22:37:00.004-04:00

Good progress tonight, drilled all the holes to final size, deburred all edges anddimpled everything.
I also did the #12 ( big ) dimples and countersinking for the lead counterweight.

Right elevator understructure

2009-10-08T22:00:00.002-04:00

Assembled the right elevator understructure tonight, including drilling the holes through the lead counterweight, that is heavy stuff for a drill.

It went together quite quickly really, it looks more complete than it is, it will have to come apart again for plenty of work before any riveting takes place.

Elevator stiffeners all riveted

2009-10-07T22:25:00.002-04:00

Both left and right, and the plate for the trim as well.

Back riveting the right elevator

2009-10-06T21:35:00.002-04:00

I was making good progress too, until I riveted the wrong stiffener,
and only discovered it when I got to the last rivet.

I drilled out the full line of rivets, it wasn't too difficult in the
end, but enough for tonight.

Back riveting the elevator stiffeners

2009-10-05T23:40:00.002-04:00

Just one rivet tonight, I came back quite late from our EAA Chapter
(315) meeting this evening. I got a look at Claudio Tottino's excellent RV-8 for a few minutes and his in-progress RV-12, I will definitely be going back to get some more guidance from him.

Primed the elevator stiffeners

2009-10-04T22:15:00.002-04:00

In 2 steps today, ready for back-riveting to the skin next.

Etched and alodined

2009-10-03T17:28:00.002-04:00

The elevator stiffeners this afternoon.

Finished dimpling the elevator

2009-10-01T22:28:00.002-04:00

Tonight, listening to Thomas Cahill's Mysteries of the middle ages

Left elevator dimpled

2009-09-29T22:50:00.002-04:00

Pictured the cut out for mounting the trim cabling / actuator.

Dimpling the left elevator skin

2009-09-28T22:38:00.001-04:00

Dimpled half the left elevator skin tonight, it's fairly tedious.

Elevator drilling

2009-09-27T20:34:00.001-04:00

Drilled the #40 holes in both elevators & stiffeners.

Rudder Complete

2009-09-26T23:32:00.002-04:00

Attached the clevis pins and locknuts to the rudder tonight - the rudder is now done.
Also finished trimming the last few remaining elevator stiffeners.

All rudder rivets complete

2009-09-24T23:12:00.003-04:00

Tonight, I final sized the holes in the bent rudder leading edge, deburred and fitted the AD-41-ABS blind rivets.
These are the last rivets in the rudder, all that remains are the hinges.

Rudder leading edge bending

2009-09-23T22:38:00.002-04:00

The bend for the rudder leading edge, and cleco'd together...

Rudder skin riveting complete and bending the rudder leading edge

2009-09-22T22:38:00.002-04:00

Busy night tonight, I figured out a way to rivet the skins rivets in the tight spaces on the aft edge of the skin, using a back-rivet plate, and a wood chisel to transfer the action of the rivet gun ( last picture ), so i am pleased with finishing all of the rivets in the rudder skin tonight.
Also began bending the leading edge of the rudder using the taped steel pipe method as outlined in the manual, I will probably enlist some help to get this completed tomorrow night.

More rudder skin riveting

2009-09-21T22:33:00.002-04:00

Using the hand squeezer tonight to avoid noise. Trying to figure out some creative ways to rivet the skin near the trailing edge which is particularly tight.

Closing the rudder

2009-09-20T22:54:00.002-04:00

Began to rivet closed the rudder tonight.
Before commencing I placed a dap of rtv sealant at the tips of the stiffeners where they come together at the trailing edge.

Rudder progress

2009-09-19T23:11:00.002-04:00

Good progress on more elevator stiffeners first today, then back to the rudder.
The new bucking bars arrived so I went back to the rudder horn brace riveting.
It was quite difficult, but using the smallest bucking bar, which only weighs a half pound, I was able to drive the AN470 rivets in the R-710 rudder horn brace. The light bucking bar and the tight space makes it quite difficult.
Once that was done I went back to the top end of the rudder to dimple, countersink and attach the counterweight, looks ok, although more threads are protruding than I would expect ( as you can see in the photo) but the bolt matches the part number called out in the plans.

Elevator stiffeners

2009-09-17T23:04:00.002-04:00

Trimmed more elevator stiffeners tonight, looks like I'll need to order some more from vans, not sure why this time.

Elevator

2009-09-13T22:20:00.002-04:00

Started on the elevator tonight, first step, trim the stiffeners.
So far, so good, trimmed seven stuffeners for the right elevator.

Dimpling the rudder skin (more)

2009-09-11T23:03:00.002-04:00

Dimpled the holes on the edge of the rudder skin, now that i am sure that they need it.
The holes on the leading edge I have not dimpled, as it looks like when I bend that into a curve and blind rivet, those rivets don't require dimpling.

Was going to rivet r-710 onto the skeleton, but I need more lp4-3 rivets for that, also need to see if there is a bucking bar suitably shaped so I can use solid shank rivets.