Alex's Vans RV-10 Build Log

It's time to start work on the fuselage.  The first section in the fuselage plans involves assembly of the mid fuselage bulkheads. After locating all the parts required, I started working on the first of the four bulkheads. All bulkhead parts located, and ready to be worked on. As always, I debur all edges of a part before I start working on it First steps involve creation of two stiffener angles that will be attached to the ends of the center section bulkhead spar Angle is clamped flush with the end of the center section bulkhead spar... ... and match drilled to #30 Match drilling in progress, using a drill stop to minimize chances of any mishaps Next various nutplate screw holes in the center section bulkhead side channels were countersunk for the head of a #8 screw. Countersinking nutplate screw holes for a #8 screw. Given the thickness of this piece, I used an additional piece of angle with a #19 hole to act as a pilot for the countersink bit. This resulted in perfectly round c...

Having rolled the rudder leading edges a while back, I was never really comfortable with the process of duct taping a 1.25" diameter wooden dowel to the leading edge, and using vice grip pliers to roll the sheet metal around the dowel. There were several issues that I fought with while using this process As the initial rolling with the vice grips progresses, it becomes increasingly more difficult hold the dowel against the workbench Adjusting the vice grips to add additional roll is impossible using just one pair of vise grips, and difficult at best with a pair of vise grips at each end of the dowel, as the dowel wants to lift as soon as you loosen the vise grips It is difficult to obtain the maximum amount of roll because the vise grips tend to hit the spar first as the roll progresses. Due to this, more hand rolling is then required. Hand rolling tends to form waves in the rolled skin due to uneven hand pressure. I also found it difficult to get the rolled skins to come together...