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Dave's RV-7A Builder's Log
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Date: 2-14-2016
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Number of Hours: 3.50
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: VHF comm antenna installation
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The final session of the day was devoted to finishing up the fabrication of the doublers and figuring out a way to get them riveted in place. Using the right side as a template, I had the left doubler fabricated, drilled, dimpled and match drilled to the fuselage in only about an hour. Dimpling took another 35 or 40 minutes because I averaged about 1 ½ minutes to dimple each hole…that was a pain. After cleaning and priming the underside of each doubler, I developed a plan to back rivet them in place.
Back riveting is a system I used in the early parts of the project to minimize sheet metal deformation on the thinner pieces of metal. Instead of driving the head of the rivet, in back riveting you put the sheet on a metal plate, head down, and drive the “shop head” with a special tool. My thinking was that I could use a saw horse and 2 x 4 shims under the fuselage to support the back rivet plate while I riveted from above. The picture shows the method I employed, and it actually worked—pretty well in fact. By climbing up on the wing, my weight compressed the gear just enough to put even pressure on the plate, allowing the rivets to all set flush.
Right side is installed, I will install the left during my next session, and then figure out what I want to do about ADS-B and transponder antenna installation. Progress!
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Finished doublers
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Left side antenna test fit
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Back riveting the right side
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