Alex's Vans RV-10 Build Log

Prior to moving the right wing into the wing stand, I wanted to finish attaching the outboard leading edge. To do so, I carefully repositioned sawhorses away from the outboard end of the wing where the leading edge get riveted in, and made sure there was no chance of the wing tipping with the additional weight of the leading edge by adding weight and clamps to the sawhorses at the inboard end. Then it was a matter of asking my wife and daughter to hold the leading edge up under the main spar so that I could cleco it into place through the spar. I wiped the wing surface with acetone to clean off any fingerprints and markings prior to attaching the outboard leading edge. Top surface looks even better now! Saw horses removed, and outboard leading edge strategically placed under the main spar so that it can easily be lifted straight up into position. Leading edge clecoed to the main spar I then continued by riveting leading edge to the spar web using LP4-3 pull rivets. For the two outboard...

With the aileron nose and main ribs and associated parts drilled and countersunk, I decided to take advantage of the cooler late afternoon to prime everything. Getting ready to EkoEtch the aileron ribs. I split the ribs and parts into 4 unique groups that would make it easy to keep matching parts together without having to tag them AIleron ribs and parts after cleaning and etching Priming went quickly and all parts were left to cure for a while Primer used:   ~55g + 5g distilled water Time Taken:       1.9  hours Dates:                    May 11 2024 RV-10 Build Total Time:      674 .8  hours Priming Total Time:                 81.9  hours  (not included in build time totals)

Continuing on with aileron work, I started to prepare the aileron nose ribs for attachment to the hinge brackets. Since most holes are already final sized, I just had check all flanges for alignment, upsize the #12 holes (using a reamer) in the inboard hinge brackets and ribs, countersink the relevant hinge bracket holes, debur all holes and edges, and dimple the necessary nose rib flange holes. Aileron nose ribs ready to be worked on  All parts marked and ready for drilling and countersinking #12 holes and countersinks were done with the pieces held securely in the vice Countersinking the hinge brackets using a jig with a pilot hole to prevent the countersink from chattering For the outboard hinge brackets, I placed them side-by-side while countersinking to make it easier to hold the countersink cage perpendicular to the bracket, without it tipping over the edge which would cause an uneven countersink Next I finished deburring all edges and holes, and also removed faceting on the ...

Continuing on with top skin riveting on the right wing, my daughter and I completed most rivets on the outboard skin (except for those near the skin overlap), and started riveting the inboard skin from the center outward. Getting close to completing all rivets on the right outboard top skin. Very happy with the results so far. Starting to rivet the right inboard top skin to the ribs I put tape over the universal head rivets at the inboard end of the rear spar to avoid scuffing them while riveting the skin to the rear spar Outboard top skin fully riveted except for the skin overlap area With the outboard top skin riveted all the way to the outboard edge, I was now able to rivet in the outboard aileron bracket. I started by riveting the bracket to the rear spar first, but decided to delay riveting it to the outboard rib because I'll need to move the wing assembly a little to make additional room for the rivet gun. Outboard aileron bracket riveted to the rear wing spar Next, my daught...

I started final assembly of the outboard leading edges by first riveting the nutplates to both left and right splice strips. I had previously decided to dimple the nutplate attach holes rather than countersink them as suggested in the plans, but realized that the aft most nutplate attach hole at the ends of each splice strip would interfere with the wing spar step bars when the leading edge was attached. To remedy this, I flattened out those 4 dimples and instead hand countersunk those holes using the deburring bit to fit a NAS 1097 3-3.5 "oops" rivet. This allows me to squeeze the rivet and still have adequate clearance to not interfere with the spar step bars when the leading edge is attached. All splice strip nutplate attach rivets were squeezed using the pneumatic squeezer. Aft most nutplate installed in the splice strip. Note the "oops" rivet head is slightly smaller than a standard AN426 rivet head You can see the difference in height of the shop head of the ...