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Dave White RV-7 Build Site
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Date: 8-30-2013
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Number of Hours: 4.00
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: Counterweight / Rivetting the RH elevator
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The elevator has a honking great piece of lead in it, which is used as a counterbalance for the mass of the elevator itself to keep the control forces low under aerodynamic load. The LH and RH elevator come with the same type of lead weight inn the kit, but the one for this side needs to be cut down since the other elevator will be heavier. (Why? Wait and see!)
So it was into the drill press with one piece of lead, and after lots of lubrication - and one broken bandsaw blade (careless!) - I had the lead in the right shape for now. Further mass will be skimmed off it later, for fine balance once the elevator is painted - but for now, it's fine.
Having prepared the skin and the elevator skeleton, and bent the skin (a job that was a lot easier than I'd thought it would be), it was time to close up the elevator by riveting the skin onto the skeleton.
Or, at least riveting HALF of the skin onto the skeleton - I need to leave it open for my LAA Inspector to pronounce on before the final rivetting takes place.
So, out with the squeezer, a very careful check of the plans (because there is a mix of rivet lengths, and it would be easy to use the wrong one - and away I went. Very satisfying. :-)
However, when I had finished, I turned the elevator over, and... what's THAT?!
One of the lower stiffeners has a rivet standing proud from the skin. Ugh - How did that happen? Don't know, but it won't do.
So I dug out the rivet removal tool, and went at it. Actually, I had to remove two other rivets too, in order to gain access - but those will be easy to replace. The rivet taht caused the proiblem i the first place is in a very tricky place. I will need to back-rivet it again, but that's not going to be easy now that the skin trailing edge is bent and the skeleton is half rivetted on.
Hmm. I think I know what needs doing, but I shall sleep on it. I'm off to the LAA Rally at Sywell tomorrow, taking my pal Tom. When we get back - assuming it hasn't been a tiring day such that the pub is a wiser idea
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Counterbalance weight, with cut-out visible.
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Another view of the counterbalance in position
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