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Dave's RV-7A Builder's Log
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Date:  4-17-2007
Number of Hours:  4.00
Manual Reference:  
Brief Description:  Aileron construction

No offense against the fine people at Van's, but I think the aileron on the RV series was designed after a night of hard drinking. For some reason, it seems unnecessarily complex to me...and complex means "opportunity for error". The aileron uses a length of galvanized pipe as a counterweight. No problem there until you consider the fact that galvanized pipe and aluminum don't coexist well...at all. Second, there is the issue of drilling and countersinking the pipe...and therein lies the "error" part of the process.

The pipe is clamped into the aileron leading edge as shown in the left photo. I added a piece of scrap stock between the leading edge and the clamp in the hopes of protecting the leading edge from damage...turns out I damaged it in other ways that were far more effective. Once clamped in place, the pipe is drilled #30 through the pre-punched holes in the leading edge. The first five holes went fine...I used a new drill bit and a lot of Boelube...but after about the fifth hole, the bit started to slip as it began cutting into the pipe. New bit, ok for awhile, then slipping again. After going through three bits, I finished drilling the pipe, only to realize that the slipping bit had elongated three of the holes to the point they would not provide sufficient material to hold the rivet securely. Not good.

The pipe is actually held in place by two nose ribs...one can be seen in the photo on the right...and the counterweight in the leading edge is simply held fast by blind rivets (not that it could ever move once riveted in place), so I decided that these rivets weren't super structural and hence could be "doubled" to keep from having to scrap the leading edge. I simply added three rivets (one between each elongated hole) and went on with my work. Live and learn.

There are a lot of rivets in this small piece of the aircraft. Rivets mean match drilling, deburring, and dimpling, and that took up a lot of time. By the end of the session, I had the left aileron (with three extra rivet hol
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Aileron counterweight clamped in place

Aileron counterweight clamped in place

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Aileron ready for drilling

Aileron ready for drilling

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Leading edge final drilled

Leading edge final drilled

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