Installing the ailerons - 9 hours

I purposely left the aileron bushing mounts long. The idea is that I want to “machine” them to the proper size and if you cut too much....you have to start over. So, I began to install the ailerons and then I measured the actual required length and compared that with the plans. The plans vs the actual were nearly bang on, slight adjustment were needed and only by a few thousandths.  
So I went to work with the drill press and fine sandpaper (400 grit, 600 grit and then 800 grit). 


Once I was happy with the fit. I started to install the ailerons. It's not the easiest process to get them installed as the small washers have to be installed in fairly tight locations. I found an easy way to install multiple washers was to wrap them in electrical tape and then using a popsicle stick to slip them into position, allowing the bolt to be slid in. 




I had given some though how to position and secure the aileron for alignment and storage. I decided to use aluminum flatbar as I felt this the best and most secure (as well as precise) method. I marked all the necessary holes to align as per the plans and drilled the holes on the press.
 
I installed them on the wing to check fit and to confirm the location of the ailerons. This would allow me to place the holding "pin" in the exact proper location.



I made holding "pins" using really long, small diameter bolts. These will sit inside the aileron on the trailing edge and help secure the aileron.


Once installed, it help the ailerons in perfect alignment and also allowed for me to install and adjust the aileron control rods. 
 
 
 

Cutting Aileron mount bushings - 1.5 hours

I need to cut the bushings for the Aileron mounts. I cut the pieces needed to a rough size on the bandsaw. Now to start the long tedious process of getting the tubing down to the correct size. The best way I know to do this is take the bushing down to size by chucking the bushing in the drill press and use rough grit sandpaper under the drill press. As I get closer to size, I use finer grade sandpaper. 
 

Closed the flaps and started closing the ailerons - 4 hours

Eager to get things finished now that the pre-close is complete. I started closing up the flaps as I thought they would be the easiest. 

Of course they go together fairly quick, there is still a bit of tricky off angle riveting to do. Fortunately nothing really flexes to the standard riveting with a bucking bar works well. You just need to make sure the bar angle is set up properly.

Once I had the flaps buttoned up, I didn't want to stop so I started in on the aileron. Following the procedure in the manual I riveted the leading edge skin to the to the nose rivets. Then I weighted the aileron down on a very flat surface. I started with the pull rivets on the leading edge/counterbalance pipe. One of the tricks I use is to poke electrical tape onto the pulled rivet mandrel. That way when the rivet is pulled, when the mandrel snaps, the work piece is protected reducing the chance of scratches from the mandrel.


I staggered the installation of the pull rivets similar to the method used for the rudder trailing edge in efforts to get a straight aileron. The result is an extremely straight piece!!!

Rivited the 2nd left aileron skin to the spar - 3 hours

In order to attempt the riveting of the 2nd aileron skin i decided the best course of action was to call in some experienced help. I asked my friend Mike who is an AME to come give me a hand bucking the rivets. Sure enough, we ran into the issue of the rivets wanting to slump straight away. We drilled a couple out and tried again. Yup, they have a tenancy to want to slump. We double checked everything we could, the bucking bar is nice and straight but just not bucking good.

We then decided to brace the aileron with a framework to help alleviate and bending while riveting. We suspect that the forces placed on the aileron while trying to buck is bending/tipping the aileron enough to affect how straight the rivet is with the bucking bar. 

The frame work certainly helps a lot, rivets went together nice and straight. However we found towards the middle of the aileron the there is a tendency again for the rivets to slump. So, we decided to back rivet these with a C-frame rivet set and mike on the bucking bar on the exposed side. We did a partial set of the rivet and then switched back to the bucking bar inside and rivet gun outside with the flush set to complete the rivet buck. Worked like a charm. I am very satisfied with the result. Very good rivets.

I am all ready for pre-close inspection

Started riveting the 2nd left aileron spar - 1.5 hours

I riveted the reinforcement plates to the main spar and then cleco'd the aileron assembly together. I then began to rivet the end/nose ribs to the main spar.

Drilled the 2nd left aileron counterbalance pipe - 3.5 hours

Next order of business is to drill the aileron counterbalance pipe. Truth be told, this is not a process that I enjoy. It takes a bit of time and you pretty much need to do the drilling by hand. I cleco'd the assembly together and started drilling the holes with #40 drill bit. I inserted a #40 cleco in each hole as I drilled. Then, I went back and drilled out all the holes with #30.

Once all the drilling was done, I then set up the drill press and countersink the pipe to accept the pull rivets. One item that I did differently this time round was to dimple the leading edge skin of the aileron by hand with a mallet rather than using the rivet gun on light pressure. One or two light taps with the mallet is all that was needed to provide a crisp dimple.


I then prep'd and primed all the remaining pieces and began riveting the nose rib to the counterbalance pipe.

Match drilled 2nd left aileron - 5 hours

Managed to put in a big day (well sort of) on the build. I finished up the back riveting in short order.


I had picked up a material yesterday to build the bending brake and the wood dowel so I could bend the skins. I was sure this time to slightly notch the wood dowel to allow the skin to be bent without the stiffeners digging into the dowel preventing a nice tight bend.


Once the skin was bent. I began the task of match drilling all the aileron spar components. Everything went well, same as the first one.
 

Back riveting stiffners - 1 hour

Not a whole lot to comment on, 2nd time just same process as before. I was sure to use some 3145 RTV on the last inch of the stiffener.

Prep and prime 2nd left aileron parts - 3 hours

I deburred the holes in the stiffeners and skin of the 2nd left aileron. I cleaned and scuffed the parts, de-grease, MEK and primed. Good to go!

Match drilling 2nd Aileron Stiffeners - 2 hours

Back around December shortly after I messed the first left aileron up I had ordered a replacement aileron. When it arrived I started in on trimming the stiffeners and shaping them. But after that, it just sat there as I was fully committed to complete ground school. So...after many months of ground school I decided I need to take a break and shake things up a bit. I pulled out the aileron parts and decided to get that done.

I needed to de-vinyl the skins, and then I match drilled the stiffeners onto the skins.

Disaster stikes the Left aileron - 3 hours

Well, I have gone and done it. Totally ruined my left aileron trying to rivet the skin to the main spar. What an awful area to try and rivet. The spar flange has a slight acute angle to it which presents a bit of a challenge to get the bucking bar at an angle to help sit flush with the rivets. I used just about every method I could think of to try and rivet these properly. I used a small oak shim in an attempt to prop up, or adjust the tungsten bucking bar to the appropriate angle. I've tried different bucking bars, different angles, different shims, taking angry, talking pleasant, massaging it, giving it a break, everything!!!! and in the end, every rivet shop head wants to dump to the same side every time. Worse than the right aileron.  Of course once a dimpled rivet hole has been dumped now the nightmare begins. Will it dump again, well chances of it going awry are growing. Too many times, now an opps rivet. ****! the oops rivet has dumped...They all dump in the same direction. After about 3 hours if consistently terrible rivets all dumped the same direction I have successfully ruined a potentially perfect aileron.

Today....building my plane has not brought joy to my life!!

Just a sampling of how things have gone astray....It all starts going downhill from here!

In retrospect I am trying to figure out why this is happening. I'm not sure if its a fitment issue with the three pieces, if I have a bucking bar angle problem, or am I simply pressing too hard with the rivet gun. Perhaps if I am pressing too hard with the gun, the angle inwards is going to increase that angle, lending itself to dumping those rivets down. The more I think about it, I bet that's exactly what happened!

Riveting the right aileron - 3 hours

Well...Having a difficult time riveting the top skins on the aileron to the spar. I have cut down the wood shim to lower the bucking bar which provides a much better angle to the rivet. When eyeing it up it is perfectly flat to the rivet.

But unfortunately the rivet has a tendency to dump down. I tried various configurations of the bucking bar, different shims, positions, ect. They all have a tenancy to slump the rivet down. I am puzzled. I finally defaulted back to the method I had used on the flaps and taped the end of the bar up to give proper offset.

This resulted in an acceptable rivet set. The tricky part is to set the rivets that are directly in line with the stiffeners. Seems that I may need to default back to the other bar setups to clear these.


Not the easiest riveting, but I am happy with how it turned out.

Begin assembly of the Ailerons - 4 hours

With everything primed, I am ready to begin assembly. I had borrowed a small space pop rivet tool which is very much needed to get the rivets into the front nose rib. I can imagine being able to do this with any other rivet puller.




Next I had clecoed the entire aileron together so I could get the nose ribs sitting proper to rivet them to the spar.
 
Bit of head scratching on how to set these, no way I want to pull out the double offset rivet set.
Fortunately my pneumatic alligator squeezer is perfect for this job. Takes a little bit of time to get it set up right. But it does a great job!




Since I am on a roll....Why not keep going. Next I need to set up the ailerons to rivet the top skins to the spar. So I set up some blocks and screwed the aileron to the them.

 Next I needed to set up the bucking bar for the required angle. I used my stubby tungsen bar and wood shim. The wood shim is a bit wide, so I will need to cut it down a tad to get a perpendicular plane on the rivet .