Matt’s RV7 Build Log

Okay–so after reading about putting this part together and an aborted attempt last night, I finally got around to bending the trim tab tabs for real.

First, I made another oak break with the interlocking notch at the top. I highly recommend oak or another hard wood because you are going put a lot of pressure on this break and you’ll want to minimize the flex.

The bends on each side worked very well this time. My only complaint is that I ended up with kinks on each trailing edge. This was caused by the trailing edge of the positive break was a tad thinner than the radius of the trim tab. So when all that pressure was applied the edge of the wood break put a kink in the trailing edge of the trim tab.

Tasks Completed:

• Bent inboard and outboard tabs of the trimtab
• Pop riveted elevator skin tabs
• Finished riveting left elevator skin to skeleton 

This evening the right elevator was completed. I doubled the number of pop rivets in the middle section to create a nice tight edge. I temporarily installed the elevator to the horizontal stab. It was very satisfying to see a moving control surface. I marked approximately where I need to remove some of the outboard edge of the HS to allow the counterbalance arm of the elevator to swing freely. 

Tasks Completed:  

• Drilled out leading edge holes to #30
• Added rivet holes to middle section
• Pop riveted leading edge
• Installed rod end bearings and jam nuts 

I just recovered from a week long cold. I had to get back into the shop just to say I did something. So tonight I just chose to finished off the rudder leading edge. I got all of the pop rivets in except for the very top one. It does not sit well with the bulky pop rivet tool I have right now hitting the counterbalance skin and rib. I’ve read about getting a small cheap pop rivet tool that will fit better in a place like this.

• Pop riveted rudder leading edge 

Note: “Walking” the leading edge together with duct tape worked great this time and required much less effort than before.

–Drilled back most holes in ribs to 7/64″ and installed pop rivets.
–Started prep work for trailing edge riveting

So after doing some punch list work on the rudder riveting so far, I began to set up the aluminum angle for completing the trailing edge.

Note 1: Drilled out bad rivet on ride side forward most bottom rib hole.

Note: 2: Need to find a way to squeeze rivet in 2nd most rear hole of right top rib for symmetry.