Alex's Vans RV-10 Build Log

Rather than waiting for Van's to send me parts to replace the laser cut parts that were recommended for replacement, I decided to go ahead and order a few parts so that I could move forward with wing construction. These punched parts arrived within a week and will allow me to fully construct the main wings with the exception of the flaps and ailerons for which I an fine getting replacements parts later. After studying the plans, I separated the ribs in to two piles, left wing and right wing, and placed the ribs in the order that they will be attached to the spar. I also removed all stickers, and labeled each of them 1L-15L and 1R-15R (30 ribs in total). With the ribs labeled, and blue vinyl removed, I proceeded to work on the left wing pile of ribs, to straighten and flute each of them as needed. I also took this time to debur all edges. There are two ribs in each wing that need to have parts of the flanges removed. I took care of these with a cutoff wheel in the Dremel, followed b

I continued working on the left fuel tank by countersinking the row of holes in the skin that attach to the baffle, skipping every 10th hole. This was relatively straightforward once I had the countersink cage dialed to the correct depth. The only issue I encountered was while working along the bottom of the skin, I could not get the countersink pilot through the hole, as the baffle and skin holes did not line up perfectly. At first I decided to start reaming these holes, and while this worked, I wasn't happy with removing 1-2 thousandths of material on one edge of the baffle holes to get the countersink pilot to fit through. Instead of reaming, I decided to remove all clecoes from the bottom baffle flange, and recleco the skin to the baffle, this time taking extra care to ensure the holes were lined up from the start. This worked much better, and I was then able to countersink without needing to do any reaming  The reason this worked was that clecos don't fill the entire hole,

Continuing on with the fuel tanks, I worked on separating the stiffeners. Due to their length, these were easiest to separate using shears. The tabs were then removed on the disc sander. I also cut and kept two vent clips that had been attached to the ends of the pre-formed stiffener angles. Separating the skin stiffeners using shears Shears tend to bend the cut edge slightly, especially on the first cut. I found it better to first cut on the side with the widely spaced notches (where the stiffener end angles will eventually reside), as the bent edge would be trimmed away.  The end angles were then marked for cutting with the band saw. Cuts are made relative to notches in the aluminum angle. I drew lines to help guide a straight cut. Once the 28 stiffeners were cut to size, final deburring of these and 2 vent clips was done using the deburring wheel. I also reamed all the holes with a #40 reamer. Stiffeners and vent clips deburred and ready for test fitting to skin Next I straightened,