Moving on to a new page in the plans, I squeezed the rivets attaching the bellcrank angles to the bellcrank ribs, leaving open the two holes at the forward end of the right rib.
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| Squeezing rivets to attach the bellcrank angles to the ribs |
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| All rivets set (except for 2 as directed). The nutplates did not interfere with rivet setting |
I then clecoed the bellcrank ribs to the bottom skin and bulkheads, and was able to buck the rivets (long arms helped here).
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| Bellcrank ribs clecoed in position, and ready to have rivets bucked |
Next, I worked on the rivets holding the bellcrank rib flanges to the F-1007 bulkhead. I am attaching the Garmin Yaw Servo mount at this point because it needs to be riveted through 4 of the same holes, but I am using AN470 4-5 rivets in those holes, rather than the plans specified 4-4 rivets.
I had attempted to squeeze the top two 4-4 rivets first because those are not attached to the servo mount, but quickly found that this will not work because there is a nutplate very close to the rivet, and my first attempt caused the rivet to lean over so had to be drilled out. I then decided to buck those rivets instead and that worked well. A
Snap-Soc rivet set cap placed over the rivet set kept the rivet head and surrounding structure relatively clean of any markings after riveting.
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| Bellcrank ribs and Garmin yaw servo mount attached |
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| Bellcrank ribs left side |
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| Bellcrank ribs right side |
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| Bellcrank ribs and yaw servo mount looking forward |
With the bellcrank ribs and yaw servo mount riveted in, I moved to the aft of the tail cone and riveted the longerons to the skins in the areas below where the aft deck will sit. I was able to use the pneumatic squeezer and longeron yoke for all rivets (not including the empannage fairing holes) except the two next to the F-1010 bulkhead as I could not get the yoke to the proper angle. These two rivets were easily bucked.
One thing I did differently from the plans was to use AN426 4-6 rivets instead of the called for 4-5 rivets where a bulkhead tab sat against the longeron. At first I tried a 4-5 rivet, but while the shop head was the correct diameter, the thickness was slightly under spec using the rivet gauge, and it had the look of an overdriven rivet. After switching to the longer rivets, the shop heads looked much better.
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| Longerons riveted to the skins below the aft deck |
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| Rivet shop heads along longerons look good |
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| Longeron rivets looking up at the aft end of the tail cone |
Next my daughter helped me finish bucking the rivets on the bottom skin that I couldn't reach myself. After a few practice rivets on some scrap, she did a great job with her first time on the rivet gun, and we made quick work of setting those.
With the bottom and side skin riveting complete, I decided to attach the static port line brackets to the F-1037B left stiffener in the holes I had previously drilled. These were easily handled by the pneumatic squeezer using AN470 4-4 rivets.
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| Static line attachment bracket riveted to stiffener |
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| Both brackets riveted, and stiffener temporarily put in place to check for positioning |
I then clecoed the aft deck to the longerons and F-1012 bulkhead, leaving off the parts indicated in the plans.
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| Aft deck clecoed in place and ready to rivet |
Riveting the aft deck to the longerons, I was able to squeeze the majority of the rivets using the pneumatic squeezer with the longeron and 3" yokes. For the rivets at the forward and aft ends, nearest the flanges, I used the Main Squeeze manual squeezer for better control.
I thought I could use the 4" no hole yoke to set some of the rivets farther in, but I tried with one of them and had no success getting a nice shop head. It appears that there is too much flex in the 4" yoke trying to set a 1/8" rivet, and the shop head looked like it had been sheared to the side. Needless to say I drilled out that rivet, and will instead buck the remaining rivets that I could not squeeze.
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| Squeezing aft deck rivets that can be reached with the 3" and longeron yokes |
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Remaining aft deck rivets (not including those around angles) were easily bucked
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Next I riveted the F-1011B stop/doubler to the aft deck and flange of the F-1011 bulkhead. The middle rivets were easily squeezed, and for the outer rivets I was able to buck those using the 7" long 1/8" straight rivet set that I recently purchased.
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| Aft side of stop/doubler fully riveted |
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| Aft side stop/doubler shop heads looking good! |
With the F-1011D Attachment Bar Support Angle clecoed in place, and bolts inserted, I then taped off the remaining holes and open areas as I had to match drill holes from the Horizontal Stabilizer Attachment Bars into the angle. I also used spring clamps to ensure that the angle was held tightly against the attachment bars.
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| Holes ready to drill from attachment bars to angle, and tape to keep shavings from falling into tail cone |
I used 12" drill bits and a power drill to first match drill the #30 holes, and then upsize those to #21 and then #13. All drilling was done from the aft. Finally, I reamed the holes to #12. For this step, leaving off the F-1012D Elevator Stop Angle really helped give clearance for the 12" drill bit.
The tape and F-1011D support angle were then removed, and the drilled holes were deburred in the angle and attachment bars.
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| Drilled holes turned out very nicely! |
I was now able to finish riveting the aft deck, and squeezed the rivets holding the F-1012D angle, bucked the rivets holding the F-1011D support angle, and finally squeezed most of the rivets holding the F-1009 frame to the aft deck. The two outermost rivets holding the F-1009 to the aft deck had to be bucked, but those were done so without issue.
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| Aft deck fully riveted to the tail cone |
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| F-1009 frame riveted to the aft deck with outermost rivets bucked and the rest squeezed |
The final task on the aft deck was to install the AN3 nuts and bolts into the various #12 holes. Making sure I chose the correct lengths as outlined in the plans (as well as the correct washers, as the bolts holding the Attachment Bar Support Angle to the Attachment Bars used thinner washers) I torqued all the bolts to the required 20-25 in-lbs and then applied cross check torque seal over the nuts (and bolt heads where needed as it is easier to see if those move).
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| Bolts torqued and marked through the Attachment Bar Support Angle (note the thinner washer used) |
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| Nut and bolt hardware installed, and aft deck is fully installed! |
Build Hints
- I used 4-6 rivets rather then the specified 4-5 rivets when riveting skins to longerons in the areas under the aft deck that also had a bulkhead tab
- I did not have any success setting 1/8" rivets with the 4" yoke. This yoke appears best suited for 3/32" rivets as it flexes too much for anything larger, so I will avoid using it for anything else other than 3/32" rivets in future.
- A longer 1/8" cup set works well for bucking rivets close to the Horizontal Stabilizer Attachment bars, as well as the rivets at the outermost ends of the F-1009 frame. It's much easier to use than the offset cup set.
Time Taken: 11.3 hours
Dates: May 30 - June 6 2023
Tail Cone Total Time: 152.2 hours
RV-10 Build Total Time: 408.2 hours
Priming Total Time: 42.5 hours (not included in build time totals)
