Elevators 9-14-6, 9-14-12 to 9-15-2, 9-18-1 to 9-18-3
Next steps for the elevator assembly involved back riveting the trailing edges. I followed the same method as with the rudder trailing edge, but this time inserted all rivets along the top side of the elevator so that the shop heads would all be along the bottom trailing edges (and therefore less visible).
After taping the rivets in, I flipped over the elevator and used a narrow flush rivet set in the rivet gun to partially set the rivets. Starting from the middle and working towards the ends, I partially set each 5th rivet, then each rivet in-between, and finally the remaining rivets.
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| Rivets inserted and taped along top trailing edge |
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| Rivets partially set along bottom trailing edge |
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| Acorns in dimples after squeezing rivets flush |
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| Top side rivet heads set flush against the skin |
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| Straight trailing edges looking good |
With the trailing edge riveted, I then worked on riveting the remainder of the tip rib to the skins. The first two rivets on each side were easy to set using the pneumatic and hand squeezers. The last rivets at the very end of the tip ribs are trickier, and I took my time with these. Working first on the top skin rivet, I
- put a rivet in the hole and squeezed it slightly using the Main Squeeze and a thin nose yoke
- gently hammered the rivet down using a mushroom set as it sat proud of the skin after squeezing
- flipped the elevator over and back-riveted using a 2" x 4" x 3/32" steel plate to set the rivet most of the way
- again gently hammered the rivet down using a mushroom set as for some reason backriveting using the steel plate caused the rivet to rise slightly proud of the skin
- finished squeezing the rivet with the Main Squeeze as there was now enough room to fit the thin nose yoke in
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| Back-riveting the end tip rib rivet into place (on the top skin) using a steel plate |
This technique took about 10 minutes per rivet, but worked well on both elevators, with both rivets ending up flush with the skins. For the remaining bottom skin rivets, I had to use MK-319-BS blind rivets as there was no room for even the 3/32" steel plate to fit in the remaining gap in the tip rib.
I first reamed the holes for the blind rivets to 7/64" as suggested in the instructions, but quickly found that the rivets were still too big to fit the hole. After some head scratching and online searching, I discovered that 7/64" is actually the nominal size of the rivet, but the best option for the hole is a #33 bit. Luckily, I had a 6" #33 bit that was included in my Cleaveland tool kit, and after drilling the hole to #33 the blind rivet fit nicely. I was then able to use the manual puller to set the rivets without any issues.
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| Blind rivet set at end of tip rib in bottom skin |
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| Blind rivets used at tip rib end and in two places near the front spar |
I then finished riveting the closeout tabs to the shear clips using CS4-4 countersunk blind rivets. I could set the two outer rivets using the pneumatic rivet puller, but had to use the manual puller to get at the innermost one.
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| Blind rivets attaching the shear clip to the closeout tabs |
Next I decided to start working on the trim tab hinges. Although it will be a little while before I am ready to attach the trim tabs (due to the tab bending issues I had earlier), I would like to complete as much of the elevators as I can.
I started out by marking the 35" lengths on the 6' long piece of hinge. I also made sure to mark the hinge so that they would attach to the elevators exactly as shown in the plans, with a full hinge tab closest to the middle shear clip. I'm not sure if this is absolutely necessary, but it can't be a bad thing.
After marking the hinge, I used a hacksaw to make a rough cut separating it into two pieces.
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| Rough cutting the hinge pieces using a hacksaw |
I then used the band saw to cut the hinge pieces to the correct length and cleaned up the cut edges on the bench grinder. I then marked and cut two holes on one end of each piece using the drill press, again paying attention to how the hinge would attach to the elevator to make sure it matched the plans diagram.
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| Drilling the initial holes (drilled #41, then reamed #40) in the hinge using the drill press |
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| Hinges ready for initial attachment to the elevators |
Next I disassembled the hinge halves and clecoed each hinge half in place on the elevator, using cleco clamps to align the edge along the rear spars. I then match drilled the hole at the inboard end of the hinge, as well as the middle of the hinge, and a couple more holes inbetween those.
With these holes clecoed, I removed the cleco clamps and reattached the hinge parts together. Making sure that the hinge continued to swing freely, and that the elevator skins were tight, I match drilled #41 the remaining holes into the hinge working from mid elevator to inboard end.
After drilling, I removed the hinge from the elevator, wiped away any aluminum chips, reattached the hinge and reamed the holes to #40. With the elevator side done, I will come back to working on the hinges once I have made progress on the elevator trim tabs.
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| Using cleco clamps to help with initial alignment of the trim tab hinges |
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| Hinge match drilled to elevator |
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| Half of the hinge done, the other half to go! |
Build Hints
- Take time to set up the trailing edge squeezer set correctly to ensure that the trailing edger rivet shop heads are flush to the skin when squeezed. Also hold the pneumatic squeezer as perpendicular to the skin as possible to avoid any smiley marks when finishing the squeeze.
- When using MK-319-BS pulled rivets, drill the hole to #33 rather than 7/64" as described in the plans
- For CS4-4 rivets, I found the manual rivet pull resulted in a cleaner pull (cleaner edges where the mandrel snapped off) than the pneumatic puller. Not sure why, but might need to lower the air pressure (was set at around 90PSI) next time.
Time Taken: 6.6 hours
Dates: January 25 - January 29 2023
Elevators Total Time: 92.3 hours
RV-10 Build Total Time: 268.8 hours
Priming Total Time: 26.4 hours (not included in build time totals)