Scott's RV-14 Build

Rear Deck Complete/Rudder Mounting Match Drilled

Back in the shop after another break for work and travel. Today I finished all the remaining rivets on the aft deck. It was slow going as solo riveting usually is worming my hand in place with the bucking bar and trying to hold the rivet gun square so the AN470 rivet set wouldn't gouge the skin. That task finished it was time to temporarily mount the vertical stab in place to match drill the mounting holes for the 5 bolts that secure it. I was stymied by 2 nutplates that interfered with the spar mounting flush. That resulted in some head scratching as I consulted the plans. They clearly showed the nutplates there. Further investigation revealed that the plans called for K1000 nutplates but I'd installed K1100s which are for a dimpled screw hole. That was a conscious choice on my part due to inadvertently dimpling the center screw hole when it wasn't required. What I didn't realize is that the K1100 nutplates are considerably taller then the K1000s. Hence the interference issues. Fortunately they were extremely accessible on the aft bulkhead so drilling out the rivets and replacing the nuplates with K1000s went smooth. I used my squeezer to squeeze the unneeded center dimple flat. I should have just done that in the first place. Match drilling the three 1/4" lower bolt holes ended up being a pain. I had a new bit and used drill lube but had huge problems with the bit catching on the multiple layers that it had to penetrate of aluminum and steel. I was using relatively light pressure and a fast speed but the drill kept stalling. The first two holes were less then pretty. I had to remove the drill bit before drilling the final hole. When I completed it to my shock and horror I'd drilled a very nice 5/16" hole instead of the required 1/4" hole. In my haste and being tired I'd picked up the wrong drill bit. Dumb. Just kill me. OK now what? Fortunately 5/16" is the correct bit for the next size up AN5 bolt vs the AN4 bolt. I took some photos and sent a query to Van's tech support confessing my sins and asking is an AN5 bolt an acceptable replacement for an AN4 bolt in that location. I hope so.

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