adamsrv10

Tonight my local EAA Tech Counselor stopped by for an initial visit. Overall it went well.

We reviewed the VS, which he said was good. There were only 3 rivets he identified that were too over driven, 2 of which really look like they weren’t the correct size, even though I’m pretty sure I used what was called for in the plans. He had said that sometimes happens and to use the rivet gauge when in doubt. Luckily all of these rivets are in easy to access locations so the fix should take 10 minutes. No other qualms with the VS.

We then reviewed the rudder. There was one AN470 rivet on the counter balance rib that had a smiley that he said was not really acceptable. So I will be replacing that. The bigger issue was that a large portion of rivets along the front spar were clinched over too much. I remember using the zero hole yolk in my squeezer for these seeing the leading edges weren’t rolled yet. I needed the extra depth in order to squeeze these rivets. Problem is, the zero hole yolk has a little more play in it, and it was my first time using it. The result was marginal at best. He admitted to not really liking the zero hole yolk himself as it has too much play, and would rather just drive the rivets. That is probably what I should have done… He said if it were him, he’d probably replace them otherwise several years down the road, I’ll end up having some smoking rivets. Oh well… live and learn. This is the whole reason for having a more experienced eye looking over my work from time to time. So I will be drilling out the rolled leading edge pop rivets and redoing several of the rivets along the forward spar. A few hours spent correcting this will give me piece of mind that I will end up with an airworthy airplane.

We then looked over the horizontal stabilizer, which is the piece I just finished. He didn’t find anything wrong with it!!! He commented that it was a very good looking piece, and that my riveting skills have certainly improved! Certainly a good thing to hear.

We spent a little time looking at the elevators in progress and talking about deburring.  He commented that I did a very nice job on the tab bends on the skins.

The perfectionist in me feels a bit beat up, but I suppose all in all it’s not too bad, and everything identified is easily fixed. A good learning experience (as this whole building process will be) and some things to look out for in the future. I’ll take a little time correcting these things and then keep moving forward.