Rudder 7-6-8 to 7-9-1
Continuing with the rudder build, I began by finishing a few steps on page 7-6 and countersinking the trailing edge wedge. I waited to do this because I wanted to get hold of some aluminum angle that I would later use to hold the rudder edge straight after prosealing, and I first used the trailing edge wedge to match drill #40 holes in the aluminum angle.
With the Cleavleand trailing edge countersink jig clamped to my drill press, and my #40 countersink cage set up for the correct depth (flush rivet + 7 clicks), drilling all the countersinks was very straightforward. I only had to keep checking that the lock collar was tight after every 10-15 holes as it had a tendency to come loose over time. I didn't notice this the first time, and a few of my countersinks were slightly deeper than expected (but not by much, just a couple thousandths extra and nothing to worry about).
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| Jig clamped to drill press holds the wedge securely and at the correct angle |
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| Nice round consistent countersinks in the trailing edge wedge |
Next up I proceeded to start riveting the rudder parts together. The first few steps have you assemble the bottom rib and rudder horn. After attaching the nut plate to the rudder horn I diverged slightly from the instructions and riveted just the two holes common to the rudder horn and bottom rib halves. The reason for this will become clear later.
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| Starting to assemble the bottom rib |
I also riveted the doublers and additional nut plates to the spars.
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| Top doubler and nut plate |
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| Bottom doubler and nut plate |
I then back riveted the stiffeners to the skins. This was easy and all shop heads were nicely set.
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| Back riveting the stiffeners to the skin |
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| One side of stiffeners done, another to go |
Next I had to rivet the top and bottom ribs to the skins. The top rib was easy as it was still in two pieces so I was able to squeeze the rivets. The bottom rib, however, had to be riveted to only the right skin as it was (partially) assembled.
The instructions originally called for fully assembling the bottom rib halves and the rudder horn. The problem with doing this though is that the rib trailing edge rivets are very close together, and it would have been an issue getting the squeezer yoke to fit in there (as a number of other builders have found).
My solution was just to put in a couple of rivets (as discussed previously) to hold the rib halves and rudder horn together, and then when I clecoed the rib to the skin, I was able to push the top rib half to the side enough to easily squeeze the trailing edge rivets. Once I had those in, I riveted the rest of the bottom rib together using the AN470 rivets, and squeezed the remaining AN436 rivets along the skin.
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| Riveting the bootom rib to the right skin |
The last parts to get riveted to the skin prior to joining them are the shear clips. No issues here using the manual rivet puller and some blind rivets.
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| Right skin ready to be joined to the left |
Build Hints
- When countersinking many identical holes, check that the countersink cage collar is locked every 10-15 countersinks as it had a tendency to come loose over time
- Read ahead in the plans and try to understand how earlier actions may affect later actions. I have found that the steps don't need to be followed in strict order, and doing so may make things unnecessarily harder later on. Ensure that all steps are done, but don't be afraid to reorder the flow slightly, especially when doing final assembly.
Time Taken: 6.5 hours
Dates: August 4, August 11 - August 14 2022
Rudder Total Time: 23.0 hours
RV-10 Build Total Time: 59.7 hours
Priming Total Time: 8.8 hours (not included in build time totals)