Scott's RV-14 Build

Tapping Rollbar and Upsizing Holes for Countersinking

After getting the rear plexiglass drilled and fitted, I started the long, tedious process of upsizing the holes along the roll bar to #36 using a reamer and then tapping all roll bar holes 6-32 to accept a flathead screw. Initially the plexiglass and roll bar are tapped but the plexiglass holes will be further upsized to #27. The rear holes along the skins will be upsized to accept 6-32 screws and nuts. The 6-32 tap was pretty skinny so caution was used on the tap handle not to over torque it and snap it off. Using lubricant, patience and alternately screwing it in then backing it off a couple turns to clear the metal shavings yielded good results. Once the rollbar was fully tapped the window was removed and the long process of upsizing every to #27 hole began. This took a while because reamers must be used, so I couldn't just jump from a #41 hole to #27 all at once. I first had to upsize everything to #36, then #30, and finally #27. All while using caution not to chip or crack anything. Using my garage mounted heat pump and a small electric space heater I can get the canopy area to 85-88 degrees which really seems to help. Now I have to countersink all holes, another long and tedious chore fraught with hazards.

Previous post:
Drilling the Rear Glass Drilling the Rear Glass

This post is from Scott's RV-14 Build