Seatbacks and Other Stuff
I'm behind on my Builders Log and need to get caught up. I've spent the past 3 build sessions jumping around doing various things. I finally bought an air powered palm drill. I've been using a cordless electric drill which for the most part works OK. But there are times an air drill would've worked better. I took the plunge and bought a Nova palm drill which many RV builders are using. It'll get here in a few days. Can't have too many tools. I got the four access panel wing covers dimpled and primed. Then countersunk the skin rivet holes on the pitot mast after buying a mini extension chuck allowing the drill to clear the mast and get the countersink cage square on the mast plate. After more research I remade the mast support L-bracket. Th last one was made from a scrap piece of aluminum angle. Although it probably would've worked fine, the angle wasn't the correct material due to the sharp 90 degree bend it made. The lack of a radius would've created stress risers and maybe cracking down the road. The pitot mast is light but the pitot tube the mounts to it has mass. I was concerned about buzzing and vibration at certain speeds due to the moment arm with that vibration being transmitted to the support bracket. So I created another L-bracket by bending a piece of scrap .040 with an appropriate bend radius per The Standard Aircraft Handbook. I think this final version is much better over the long term. Today I got to work on the cockpit seat backs and spent hours creating the sub-assemblies that go into the finished seats.

My latest and last pitot mast support L-bracket.

Wing access covers dimpled and primed.

Match drilling components for the seat backs.

Countersinking the skin rivet holes on the pitot mast. Needed an extension for the drill that would accept the countersink cage.

A big pile of parts that go into the seats.
This post is from Scott's RV-14 Build