Matt's RV7 Build Log

Center Section Parts Fab. Final

mulder185 — Tue, 27 May 2008 06:45:14 +0000

I finished all the parts fabrication and drilling this evening for the center section. Now I’m ready to clean, etch, and prime all the parts for the firewall and the center section this week before my trip to Arizona.

Tasks Completed:

Finished drilling the conduit holes in the cover support ribs.
Fabricated the spacers out of the aluminum tubing.

Catching Up

mulder185 — Mon, 19 May 2008 06:44:39 +0000

We had great weather in Seattle over the weekend for the first time in ages. I worked here and there on the project this weekend so we could all enjoy the outside as much as possible.

Tasks Completed:

Drilled and countersunk the web stiffeners
Started drilling the conduit holes in the cover support ribs
Dimpled the forward bulkhead for the web stiffeners

Center Section Blah Blah

mulder185 — Sun, 11 May 2008 04:55:30 +0000

Tonight I started marching through all the remaining parts prep. The center section is proving to be quite tedious. There are a bunch of little items to do and you have to pay attention to the plans much more on the fuselage. I am reading the plans over and over to avoid drilling the wrong hole on these parts.

I almost plowed ahead with drilling a third hole in the small cover support rib before really seeing how it goes together. Also Ken Scott confirmed for me that you actually dimple the web of the forward bulkhead. I had initially assumed this would be countersunk! If I can get a good day’s work in later this week, I should be ready to prime the firewall and center section parts as soon as the weather is good.

Tasks Competed:

Installed all the nutplates to the bulkheads
Drilled and prepped right web stiffener
Drilled and prepped cover support ribs

More Center Section Fun

mulder185 — Fri, 09 May 2008 04:52:22 +0000

The F-633 R control mount replacement magically appeared on the front steps today. I promptly went downstairs, drilled and trimmed the part per the plans. Using my drill press this time around yielded a perfect result. I mounted both brackets and test fit the control arms. It all worked perfectly.

Tomorrow I will be drilling and riveting all the nutplates and …

Tasks Completed:

Remade F633R
Mounted F633R to aft center bulkhead

Center Section Riveting

mulder185 — Wed, 07 May 2008 04:22:20 +0000

The right side control mount didn’t turn out to my liking. It didn’t sit flat with the bulkhead because the holes are slightly off 90 degrees. I ordered a new part and moved on to riveting the forward bulkhead and arms together. A couple of rivets look suspect. I’ll drill out and redo tomorrow.

Also I spent time with the plans trying to figure out whether to countersink the bulkhead for the web stiffener riveting or dimple it. The bulkhead is .040. Technically for an AD4 rivet the material should be .050 thick. But if I dimple the material I am afraid I will enlarge the hole on the .063 web stiffener angle. Time to write Van’s.

Tasks Completed:

Riveted F704A,C, and D together.

Center Section Fitting

mulder185 — Mon, 05 May 2008 07:34:07 +0000

Tasks Completed:

Started to rivet risers
Fabricated web stiffeners
Riveted spacers
Disassembled Firewall
Prepped firewall pieces for priming

Center Section Drilling

mulder185 — Sun, 04 May 2008 04:09:25 +0000

Tasks Completed:

Matched drilled and deburred holes for F704 A,B,C,D parts.

Started QB Wing Inventory

mulder185 — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 05:32:44 +0000

Tasks Completed:

Started QB wing inventory

QB Wing Arrives!

mulder185 — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:24:04 +0000

My friend Ryan and I took the train down to Portland and then picked up a Uhaul truck and drove it over to the factory. Barbara and co. were ready with a my QB wing crates. Technically I could have picked them up uncrated but I thought $300 is small price to avoid any dents during transport. After a great lunch at Pho Van outside Portland we drove back to my house. Fellow builder Jason met us there and the three of us unloaded the wings directly out of their crate on the truck and into the wing cradles I got from Dave Parsons. Thanks Dave! We unloaded the second box and stashed it in the garage. It’s pretty crowded now in my build space but it’s nice to be surrounded by so many airplane parts! Pics to come soon.

Center Section Prep

mulder185 — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 04:42:45 +0000

With the size of the prefab’d center sections I just used the air drill to create the 5/8″ wire pass throughs in F704A and B. Actually I made the first one with the airdrill and almost screwed it up because of the high RPMs of the airdrill. I went back to the cordless at lower RPMs combined with some Boelube and got much better results.

Task Completed:

Drilled wire pass throughson F704A and B
Clecoed 704 assemblies together