I finally broke down and decided to build the wing stand.  I had the right wing laying upside down on top of a table and heavy blanket.  Anytime I am building a jig or stand, I usually get impatient as this activity as it does not feel like I am progressing towards the completion of the plane.  I thought this would take me an hour or two, but as I typically underestimate, I spent a little over 6 hrs on this dang thing.  By the time you get all the hardware and tools rounded up, you have more than a couple of hours in a simple structure such as this wing stand.

It is a good thing that precision is not required on the wing stand!!!  Below you can see the side of the stand to hold the leading edge.  I used a leading edge rib to draw out the shape of the wing.  I was generous when cutting out this profile.  I made the cutout in the neighborhood of 3/16" or so larger around the whole rib to allow for padding.

To pad around the rib template, I used some refrigerant line insulation I had left over from my garage heat pump installation.  I just cut it open and slipped it over the fiberboard.  The shape of the insulation tube actually held it in place on the fiberboard.

Van's tells you to cut a 3/4" deep notch to keep the main spar from slipping off the stand.  I cut the notch about 8" wide .  Again, I used some refrigerant line insulation to pad the spar end of the stand.

Whenever I was able to, I re-used lumber laying around the garage.  About the only thing I salvaged from the larger wing crate was this 3 foot section of lumber that formed the side of the crate.  I think that the painted dollar sign says it all.  Here sits a lot of cash!!!

After Tami got home from Minnesota today, I had her help me move the wing to the wing stand.  I positioned the wing such that the outboard edge of the wing rested in the stand at a rib so that the structure wasn't being held only by the skin.  I don't want any deformities....

After the wing was in the stand, it became extremely mobile.  I wheeled my recently (almost complete) wing structure out to the driveway.  About every car that drove by had the "bobble head" thing going on.  I chuckle about living in this small town as people we don't even know yet stop and talk to my wife at her place of employment ask her what her eccentric husband is building in the garage.  The same questions pop up that I am sure everyone else who is building is getting asked; "Do you really plan on flying in it?"  NO>>>  I am just going to spend 2000+ hours building it so someone else can fly it...  Here's your sign!!!

This side looks better....  It almost looks like a completed structure.

I am just getting carried away with the camera here.

I cut a tub and tile sponge in half and stuck it down at the very leading edge to further cushion the wing in the stand.

This log entry is all about spending money $$$$$$$$.  Something that I never have enough of and can spend quicker than I can earn it.

Building has been really slow the last two weeks.  My stepson graduated high school last weekend and we had company for almost a week to celebrate.  Since I couldn't work on my plane, I ended up just spending money on it.  You know what they say about idle hands....

FIRST ACT OF IDLE HANDS WAS TO ORDER MY FUSELAGE KIT.

I had been sitting on the fence between the nose and taildragger ever since I ordered the empennage kit.  After months of thought with no clear reason for one or the other, I usually leaned towards and finally opted for the taildragger.  I just couldn't get past the "COOL FACTOR" of the taildragger.

The options I went with for the fuselage included:

• Dual Brakes
• Tip-Up Canopy
• Electric Aileron Trim

Subtract $5300 from my checking account...

I originally saw a vanity plate similar to this on Dan Checkoway's web site.  He had set up some rvproject.com stuff he put together with an internet store.  However, by the time I wanted to order the vanity plate, I couldn't find it anywhere on his site.  So I did a internet search for vanity plates.  I found a company that would laser cut these and had a minimum quantity order of one.  It was $20 including shipping.  For those of you building a 7A, you could have a vanity plate cut just for you.  I have the successor to this plate ready to go: "I'D RATHER BE FLYING MY RV-7". 

I must come clean, there is a little hypocrisy in the plate below....  Who am I kidding, I WOULD RATHER BE FLYING MY RV-7

http://www.engravenet.com

Subtract $20 from my checking acount...

I also started "tooling up" for electrical installations.  I ordered 200 ft each of wire from 20 AWG to 16 AWG and ordered 50 ft each of 14 AWG to12 AWG.  I figured that this would be enough to get me started and through the wings.  These wires are the typical aircraft grade, stranded, Tefzel insulated wire.

Also pictured are some low profile cobra tie wraps, a variety of cherrymax blind rivets, and a 60 cc syringe to dispense small amounts of tank sealant (if I ever get to that point).  Aircraft Spruce is always a good place to drop $100 if you are casually surfing the web.

Subtract $274 from my checking acount...

I also committed to the type of quick disconnects I am going to use.  I considered the use of "weather pak" connectors.  Weather pak connectors are similar to the sealed connectors used by the car manufacturers for tail lighs, turn signals, etc.  Weather pak connectors use rubber seals both at the connector and at each wire penetration into the connector.  This keeps environmental influences out of your electrical connections.  The weather pak connector below is from my Duckworks landing light.

I always liked the AMP Mate-N-Lok connectors, but didn't know that they made rubber seals for them.  A fellow builder posted information to a company called Waytekwire on the Yahoo group a while back and when I went to check out their web site, I see that Waytekwire carried rubber seals for the Mate-N-Lok connectors.  COOL, I will be using the AMP Mate-N-Lok connectors when I want to have a quick disconnect.

I ordered a multitude of connector configuations.  Below, is just a sampling of the wire and interface seals.  Also pictured is pins and sockets for the Mate-N-Lok connectors.

I also ordered AMP's ratcheting crimper for the Mate-N-Lok connectors.  This is an AWESOME crimper.  The Mate-N-Lok dies crimp the pin/socket to the wire and the wires strain relief to the wires insulation.  Since the crimper is a modular type that will accept standard AMP dies, the dies can be changed to crimp standard wire lugs in the insulated or uninsulated flavor.  Looking at Tyco Electronics web site, this crimper will accept 75+ different dies.  Including those for coax connectors.

Let me express my opinion about crimpers.  Working as an electrician (day job), the only crimpers we are allowed to use are the ratcheting, full compelling type.  Crimpers that are nothing but a glorified pair of pliers are not allowed FOR ANY ELECTRICAL CRIMP.  The reason being is that a consistent, quality crimp is hard to accomplish.  Additionally, they don't usually form the crimp uniformly around the barrel of the lug.  This results in a crimp that may not fully grip the wire so not only will the wire pull out of the lug easier, it may have a difficult time handling rated current through the crimped connection.

I am occasionally amazed at builders who worry about a gap of 1/64" between the fuel tank and leading edge (just an example), but in their next breath, they use a hammer to crimp the barrel of the lugs to their battery cables.

A good quality ratcheting crimper is not all that expensive.  SPEND THE MONEY....  They are worth it.

I also ordered a couple of terminal strips of each size from Waytekwire.  These are the 150 volt, 20 amp terminals that use a #6 screw.

I recommend taking a look at Waytekwire.  They have some nice stuff.  Not the cheapest in town, but nonetheless, worth a look.  Their website address is:

http://www.waytekwire.com

My impressions of Waytekwire:
THE GOOD: 

• They carry electrical components that I have not found any place else.  For example; I found "breakouts" and T-connectors" for wiring looms.  AWESOME!!!  I was wondering how I could run wires out to the wingtip through the wiring conduit and have a "T-connection" to run 2 wires up to my pitot tube using the same conduit holes in the ribs.
• Shipping was quick, but of course they are out of Minnesota so they are almost next door.

THE BAD:  

• Some of their products require a minimum quantity.  For the Mate-N-Lok connector housings, you had to order something like 50+ of each type.  For the housings, I will be ordering from Mouser Electronics.  Mouser has no minimums and their prices were a little better.
• I had a difficult time ordering from them on-line.  After filling my shopping cart up with components, the dang web browser would crash.  I tried both Mac and Windows browsers/computers.

Subtract another $400 from my checking account.

Last, but not least on this spending spree, I ordered a 24,000 BTU ductless, split type air conditioner / heat pump.  This will cool the garage in the summer and heat it in the winter.  Already this spring, we are having temps in the high 80's and low 90's with stiffling humidities.  After working all day in the heat, I want to have a comfortable environment to build my plane in.  My garage is finished and insulated so I think that the air conditioner will work great.  A friend of mine at work is going to get the air conditioner wholesale and install it for me at cost.  WooHoo!!!

Subtract alot of $$$$$ from my checking account.

OUCH....  I got to get back to working on the plane so that I can recover from this spending episode.  Ooh maybe I should be working some OT to pay for this stuff.

I hesitate to publish this next nugget of information (selfish reason).  Kevin Faris, fellow RV-7 builder hooked me up with some Scotchbrite 1" unitized wheels.  While talking with Kevin after the last EAA chapter meeting, I mentioned that I needed to order some more Scotchbrite wheels as I went through several of them when deburring the lightening holes on the wing ribs.  These little abrasive wheels work great, but they don't last all that long.  Retailers get $4.50 each for these wheels.  I thought they were great when I was paying $4.50 each for them.

Surplus Sales of Nebraska has a great deal on these wheels.  Since they are a surplus store, when they are gone... thats it.

They have two different styles here.  The wheels in the bag are polishing wheels.  The ones in the box are deburring (more coarse) wheels.

I ordered 50 of each type which should get me through the majority of this plane.  Here is the BEST PART:

Deburring Wheel
MIS-TY421
$5.00
Box of 10

Polishing Wheel
MIS-5AFN
$12.00
Bag of 50

The deburring wheel is actually a "generic" brand.  The polishing wheel is a true 3M scotchbrite wheel.  Kevin had given me some to try and they worked great.  Just as good as the expensive ones.  THANKS KEVIN!!!
Surplus sales of Nebraska does have a web site that lets you search their inventory, but the deburring wheels will not show up in their catalog (their site lacks a real user friendly interface).  I just called them and Ginny was very helpful and got me exactly what I needed.

For $46.00 (with taxes and shipping), I got 100 of these wheels for the price of 10 from a "regular" retailer.  WooHoo!!!

To contact Surplus Sales of Nebraska:
web site: http://www.surplussales.com
phone: (402) 346-4750
Toll Free: (800) 244-4567

From the last log entry, I am now a week behind where I would like to be.  This last week has been something else.  Always something distracting me from working on the plane.

Sunday-  A shelf in our closet fell off the wall when I was putting laundry away and took about half the drywall with it. Tami said she was glad I did it instead of her.  Basically said screw it and Tami and I put 150 miles on the Goldwing since it was a beautiful day.  Rode to Omaha to the famous Nebraska Furniture Mart and bought some DVD's.

Wednesday-  Had an airport authority meeting.  Found out that the FBO where I am taking flying lessons does not have a plane this year to rent out as all the owners who were leasing their plane(s) back to the airport don't want to do it this year.  WONDERFUL, slight setback.  I wonder how many hours this is going to cost me to back track with another CFI to get where I am now?

Thursday-  A friend of mine realized that I actually knew how to turn on a computer and wanted me to re-load all of his computer software after his kids trashed the OS after trying to "FIX" it.

This log entry is roll up of the minutes I was able to spend putting up the wing stand.  I have been anxious to get the wing stand up so I can start assembling the wing.  I have about 100+ hours on the wings already and don't have any major structures riveted together to show the results of my effort.

My garage lights kind of washed out this picture, but at the top you can see a 2" x 4" (26" long) lag screwed to the ceiling trusses.  Once I had the 2" x 4" mounted to the ceiling, I attached a angle iron (you can get at Home Desperate decking department) to the 2" x 4".

I then hung a plumb bob from the center of the angle iron to mark a point on the floor where the back and center of the vertical 4" x 4" would need to be mounted in order to be somewhat plumb.

I then measured the center of the 4" x 4" brackets and placed the back, center side of the bracket where the plumb bob pointed.   The 4" x 4" bracket was secured to the concrete floor with concrete anchors.

 

When I was mounting the aluminum angles that will hold the wing spar, I looked for any reference on how high to mount these things.  I could not find any info to offer me a guideline of how high to go.  I decided to mount them aluminum angles pretty low.  The top of the aluminum angle is at 42 1/2".  This will allow me to:

• Work on the aft side of the wing while sitting in a chair or a the roll around seat (in the picture).
• Work on the forward side of the wing with nothing taller than a short step stool.

I don't think the height is all that important here or Van's would have given us a dimension for mounting.

With the line level, I was able to get both aluminum angles at the exact same height considering that my garage floor has about a 1/2" difference in height from one side of the stand to the other.

Before drilling the hole(s) to mount the aluminum angle to the 4" x 4" post, I checked that the aluminum angle was level and then double checked the line level.  When everything indicated level, I drilled the aluminum angle mounting hole(s).

One of the first things that will be required after mounting the wing onto the stand will be to take out any twist in the wing.  For that, I wanted some adjustability in the wing stand.  For the aluminum angle support hardware, I used two turnbuckles.  Just turn the center section (buckle) it will rotate the aluminum angle both clockwise and counter-clockwise.  With the smart tool, it is easily adjustable to 0.1 of a degree.

I am finished with the wing stand and tomorrow Tami and I are planning on riveting the wing ribs to the main and rear spars.  Should be interesting.  This is the first time we will be using the rivet hammer with AN470 rivets.  I would expect I will renew my proficiency with drilling out rivets tomorrow as well.

After getting some sleep and recovering (somewhat) from the first leg of our priming marathon, I am ready to spray the AKZO epoxy primer on the wing ribs.  But first, I needed to re-work the spar end rib (W-707F) that I incorrectly countersunk a couple of days ago.  I am not going to beat the dead horse here, but what I wanted to bring up here is that I had purchased a micro-stop countersink with a half skirt (cage).

As you can see below, it allowed me to use the countersink cage even when countersinking close to the bend.  Worked well, cost me $16.95 from the Yard Store.

 

Alright, enough about fixing my screw-ups.  One thing I had to figure out before I started priming was where was I going to put all the ribs to let them dry.  Up to this point, room hasn't been a problem as the priming sessions and parts have been small.  However, this is a lot of ribs to prime.  What I did was take my 10' 4" x 4" that I am going to use for my wing stand and pounded in some 1 1/4" roofing nails to hang the ribs on .  I spaced the nails approximately every 10" to prevent the ribs from banging together.

Just another close up shot...  I think that the 4" x 4" timbers may be a little over kill here.  That's okay, I actually bought them for the wing stand...

Fast Forward>> to the end product.  I primed one side and then hung them on the nail to dry.  When they were dry to the touch, I primed the other side.  Because the ribs like to sway a little on the nail, I always put the dry side of the rib facing the 4" x 4".  This worked really well. 

Here's my "rack of ribs".  The statistics for the priming marathon include:

• 28 outboard/inboard ribs primed
• 10 leading edge ribs primed
• 5 hours of spraying primer
• 16 hours of total effort
• 8 scotchbrite pads
• 18 sets of latex gloves
• 1/2 gallon of Alumiprep
• 8 oz of Alodine
• 16 oz of Acetone
• 1/2 gallon of AKZO Epoxy Primer
• Being done.... PRICELESS (Actually, around $60 for all of the supplies)

I am a day ahead of my "planned" schedule.  If all goes well, I will have the wing ribs riveted to the spars and in the wing stand before I go to work on Monday.

Tami wanted to run to Omaha tonight after work to go quilt shopping (boring) and after some groveling, I talked her into staying home tonight to help me prep wing ribs for priming.  So now she gets all day Saturday to shop quilts.

We set up an assembly line of sorts.  We sorted all the ribs by wing and in order.  The locations on the ribs scribed with a sharpie marker usually comes off during the alumiprep "scrub" so we wanted to make sure we kept track of which ribs go where.

Really...  We are quite organized all though it doesn't look like it here.

By the time we were done tonight, we had accomplished:

• Alumiprepping 28 main ribs and 10 leading edge ribs.
• This represented 8 man-hours of continuous scrubbing of parts.
• Alodined all ribs, resulting in an additional 3 man-hours of effort.

The first stage of this priming marathon is complete.  Parts are drying tonight and I will be ready to spray on the AKZO epoxy primer tomorrow morning since I don't have to work (gotta like these Fridays off>>  get lots done on the plane).

Its 2 a.m., I am beat.  Time to call it a night (morning)>>>  WHATEVER.

Short night for plane work today.  Yesterday, I countersunk the main and rear spar holes in preparation to rivet the wing skins and leading edge on.  All I had left to do today was to do some touch-up primer work on the rear spar rivet countersinks.

I had bought this self-contained paint sprayer a while back to try it for touch up work.  This way I wouldn't have to break out the air hoses, spray gun, yada, yaadda, yaadda stuff to do a little touch-up work.

I mixed the epoxy primer directly in the bottom of the Preval sprayer, waited my 30 minutes and touched up the holes on the rear spar.  Took all of about 10 minutes.

PREVAL SPRAY GUN OPINION:  This actually didn’t work that well.  It is not a HVLP spray gun by any means, but it sprayed the AKZO epoxy primer. I did get spotchy coverage and runs of the primer.  This thing is supposed to spray up to 16 oz of paint.  Tonight I sprayed around 2 oz of primer.  Clean up was quick and easy.  A little acetone in the jar, rinse, a little more acetone in the jar and spray through the nozzle, put the thing away. I would pretty much pass on this method...

This is not a real good picture, but you can see that it pretty much covered the countersink with primer.

Last but not least for tonights work in the garage, I ran fishing line and the plumb bobs again to make sure that the wing was still in the stand straight with no twists.  Amazingly enough, it didn't move at all.  I think that I am ready to start riveting parts on the main spar tomorrow.  Where's my wife hiding now, I need my bucking partner???

Spent some time tonight making our hotel reservations for Airventure.  I said after attending last year that I would make our hotel reservations early so that we wouldn't have to drive so far each day.  Well, it is almost July 1st and I still hadn't made our reservations.  I didn't do to badly considering, I was able to find rooms in Beaver Dam (approx. 40 miles).  Last year, we had to drive 70+ miles.  I checked rooms in Oshkosh in January and they were already booked up.  Next year, I will reserve our rooms early...  (YEAH RIGHT !!!!)

We are planning on attending Airventure July 29-30.  All I could talk my wife into was two days.  I am on a mission this year.  Last year, I hadn't even decided on a kit.  This year we are going to look for tools, instruments, and engines (just to name a few).

If any builders reading this are going to be at AirVenture at the same time and want to try and hook-up, I will leave info on the home page before we leave (I am in the process of changing cell phone providers and don't have my new number yet).  I always enjoy meeting builders and putting faces with names.

Tonight, I had another work surprise, I didn't have to go in on the night shift, but would have to remain on call.  WooHoo, that means I can put some more time in on the plane.

Tonight, I continued on the wing skeleton assembly by fitting the leading edge ribs and drilling to size.  In the figure below, the pre-punched rib attached holes do not line up with the main spar holes.  Van's instructions state:

• Abandon the rib holes in the those locations.
• Attach the rib(s) to the main spar.
• Use the main spar to back drill new holes to the leading edge ribs.

The leading ribs in this picture are the first two W-709 leading edge ribs (or the first ribs outboard of the aileron bell crank assembly).

A big picture shot of the leading edge ribs cleco'd to the main spar.  Oh boy, more holes to debur...

Once I got done with deburring all the holes for the leading edge ribs, I needed to figure out where I was going to run wires through the wings.  I looked to Van's web site on the frequently asked questions (FAQ).  After reviewing those options, I decided to put the 3/4" hole in the lower 1/3 of the rib between the large lightening hole and the next one aft.

In order to ensure that every hole is in the exact same location, I made a template using one of the W-711L ribs.  I used the thin plywood from the wing spar crate.

• I traced the outline of the rib and the arrows indicate which way is UP.  Drawing the outline of the rib is very helpful as the tooling holes in the plywood do not line up on the W-712 rib.  You can then use the rib outline to make a really close placement for the 3/4" hole.
• I drilled two holes into the plywood on the forward side using the tooling holes in the rib for position (left side of photo).  I drilled one aft hole in the plywood using the aft tooling hole.  This will allow me to cleco the W-711L ribs to the plywood.

Once the plywood jig had been drilled, I cleco'd the rib to the plywood and lined up the unibit for proper placement.  When I was happy, I used a couple of wood clamps to hold the plywood in place.

Since the unibit has so many "steps", I used a red sharpie marker to identify the 3/4" step in the bit.  The OD of the conduit Van's sells is 13/16".  Van's instructions state that by drilling the hole to 3/4", the conduit corrugations will "snap" into place when routed through the ribs.

I drilled out all of the W-711L ribs at one time.  When I was done with the W-711L ribs, I flipped the template over, cleco'd a W-711R rib to the plywood, did the "dead man chalk outline" thing on the back side of the plywood and then drilled all of the remaining ribs.

I am not sure at this stage if this will solve all of my wing wire routing issues.  I am planning on having the following options in the aircraft:

• Van's lighting kit #6
• Duckworks HID landing lights (both wings)
• Heated Pitot
• Autopilot
• Wingtip Antenna(?)

So far, Van's has next to nothing about routing of wiring in the instructions and the literature I have from the hardware manufacturers doesn't talk about it much either.  I would imagine that this will occupy my mind for the next period of building time.  Time to do some research...

Tonight, I was supposed to work the night shift to support some maintenance initiatives on our diesel generators.  The bad news was that they sent us home and I lost out on 10 hours of overtime pay, but the good news was that I got to work on the plane.  WoooHoo!!

Tonight, I started clecoing the wing ribs to the main spar on the left wing.  This is not difficult, but particular attention needs to be paid to whether you are installing a W-711L or a W-711R.  The rib flanges are oriented in a particular direction to facilitate bucking rivets when attaching the skins.

This was one of the more eventful nights so far on the Wing Kit.  To date, I have around 80 hours on the wings and it hasn't resulting in assembling any large structures.  This is the first night for assembling large parts and looking like I am working on a real airplane.  Hey, you got to strive for the small, but achievable goals here to stay motivated.

Here is what the wing structure looks like after clecoing it all together.  The next step Van's calls out is to final drill the holes attaching the ribs to the spars to their final size (#30).

I thought that this was a neat picture (Got the idea from Dan Checkoway).  One of the things that continues to amaze me about the RV-7 is how well all these pre-punched parts line up.  Here the wing is just sitting between two saw horses.  I have done nothing to take out any twist or sag in the spars.  Everything lines up great without any jigs.  If it don't line up correctly, you put it together wrong...

When I was match drilling the rib/spar attaching holes, I noticed that one hole took a little more effort and I immediately stopped drilling to see what was different.  Sure enough, there was no pre-punched hole in the W-711 rib that lined up with the rear spar in the wing walk area.  I thought maybe that I lined something up incorrectly.

I went back to Van's instructions and buried at the end of the second step (paragraph), it mentions that the W-711L & R in the wing walk will have two holes that will be abandoned on the ribs and that two new holes will be drilled using the rear spar as the guide.

As you can see from my photo, there were actually only 5 new holes that were required in the ribs.

When I got done with drilling all rib to spar attach holes to final size, I marked location of each rib (i.e.: which wing, top/bottom, and position within wing).

• Arrow points to the top of the rib.
• R- Right, L- Left
• Number- Starts at 1 on the inboard side and goes to 14 being the outboard rib.

Finally, I disassembled the left wing and begin the repetitive task of deburring all the holes I just drilled.

Under "Preparing The Wing Ribs", Van's states to make provisions for running wires for lights and strobes. I am putting in landing/taxi lights and wingtip strobes (Van's lighting system #6).  Van's web site has a FAQ on where to put the holes to run those wires.  Below is a drawing from that document.  I am leaning towards the location of the 0.75" hole.  I think that I will sleep on it and figure it out another day.

I happened to web surf to the FAA web site today and punch in the N-Number I requested a couple of days ago and MY NAME showed up...  I haven't got anything from the FAA yet, but since it is showing up in their system, I can only assume that they accepted my request.

This does not constitute a single rivet being set, but for some reason obtaining this N-Number reservation felt like real progress to eventually having an airplane...  Whoop-De-Dooo!!  COOL!!  It didn't take the FAA even close to the three weeks the web-site said it would.

After letting my primer dry overnight, today's task was to assemble the rear spars and begin working on all the wing ribs.

In the picture below, I am riveting the rear spar reinforcement fork (W-707G) and rear spar doubler plate (W-707D) to the rear spar.  I cleco'd the holes that I did not want to put rivets in and then put some masking tape over the top so I didn't brain fart, remove the cleco and put a rivet in the wrong hole.  Drilling out rivets sucks.

Here is a picture of the rear spar center reinforcement (W-707E) riveted in place.  Almost wasn't worth the effort at this stage.

And finally, the spar end reinforcement (W-707F).  Note that this reinforcement has countersunk holes on the edge and one filled with a cleco at the bottom on the left.  Now, if there is a mistake to be made, I am going to make it.  If you look at the picture below, I countersunk one to many holes.  My extra countersunk hole is covered up at the bottom with a cleco.

Van's instruction's state: "Some of the holes in the W-707F are machine countersunk for flush rivets".  In the picture below, the rear outboard spar detail (i.e.: detail A) shows 5 holes that have flush rivets.  The four holes on the left, highlighted in yellow, are supposed to be countersunk so that the aileron hinge bracket assembly will sit flush on the spar end reinforcement (W-707F).  The hole that is highlighted in red calls out for a AN426AD4-7 rivet (flush rivet), however, it is the aileron hinge bracket that is to be countersunk and NOT the spar end reinforcement (W-707F).

You can't just look at the detail on this reinforcement to determine something simple like which holes get countersunk.  You also have to look at the isometric figure as well.  If I had spent more time looking at how the 3 layers of aluminum are put together, I might have caught the fact that the red shaded rivet did not require countersinking on the W-707F.  Minor mistake, I just hate making them.  What am I going to do when this airplane building gets hard??? 

We have a saying at work:  "If you are not getting in trouble, you are probably not doing much".  I guess that goes for airplane building too.  If you are not making mistakes, you probably aren't doing a whole lot of building.  I know, rhetorical nonsense...

Below is how my rear spar fork reinforcement looked after I set the rivets.  As far as I know, there is no hard set way to orient these AN470 rivets.  I usually orient them in a manner in which I can:

• Place the factory head on the thinnest material.
• Orient them consistently.  It looks like crap when some are oriented one way and some the other.  Just doesn't look professional.
• Place the factory head on the side that can be seen after this thing is put together.

So what does this mean??  Nothing really, I guess the builder can orient them as they see fit.  I haven't found anything yet that says they have to be one way or another.  I am sure someone out there has an official and published criteria, I just haven't found it yet.

However, it should be noted, if I was going to redo this, I would probably place the factory head on the rear spar (forward side of rear spar) and the shop heads on the doublers / reinforcements...  When I begin riveting the ribs to the spars, I believe that I will be putting the factory heads on the rib flange side which means that the shop heads will be facing aft and on the same sides as the spar reinforcements.  This will break my 2nd bullet statement above.  DANG.  I guess I could just delete that criteria...

Once I got done with the rear spar, it was back to the main spar tie-down brackets.  Here I am getting ready to rivet the plate nuts to the spacers and tie-down bracket.

It must be the spring air as Tami washed her car AND MINE!!!  Thanks Dear, your the best! She told me to keep working on the plane. Sounds good to me!  Little did I know, how much she was going to help me today.  What's this going to cost me down the road?

Here is the tie-down brackets mounted to the wing spars.  I attached the tie-down brackets with an AN3-7A bolt, AN960-10 washer, AN960-10L  washer (nut side), and AN365-1032 nut.  I then torqued the nuts to 25 in-Ibs and applied torque seal to the nuts.  That doesn't seem like a lot of torque, but that is what Van's instructions call out in section 5 under "Nut and Bolt Torques".

Just a shot from another angle.  They look straight anyway.

GOT RIBS???? 

Sorry, I know, not very punny.  After I got the spars ready to go, it was onto the ribs.  I started deburring the edges on the bench grinder and the scotchbrite wheels.  It took me about 3 hrs of non-stop deburring.  I caught Tami in an unusually cooperative mood today.  She is usually cooperative, but not like she was today.  I ask her if she would help debur the lightening holes and she said YES (I didn't even have to grovel).

To debur the lightening holes, I used a Dremel tool with a wheel similar to the scotchbrite wheels (didn't hold up as well as the real thing).  After a short lesson on the finer points of a die grinder, I gave Tami the die grinder with a 1" scotchbrite wheel.  These worked GREAT.  As you can see from the picture below, Tami was cuttin' grooves (no pun intended).  To debur all of the lightening holes, I went through 2 wheels and the picture below shows what remains from the 3rd scotchbrite wheel.  These puppies are about $4.50 each.  WELL WORTH IT.  Between Tami and I, we spent 3 man-hours deburring lightening holes alone.

Tami was still in a cooperative mood after deburring the lightening holes as she agreed to help adjust all the rib flanges (i.e.: ensure 90 degree to web) and flute the ribs.  Again, another short lesson on how to use the hand seamer, the square, and she was off.  She seamed and I fluted.  We got all the ribs done with another 3 man-hours worth of work.  Thanks honey!!!  Just imagine all the quilt stores you can hit in one day when this plane is done...

Because of my wife's help, I am really close to beginning assembly of the first wing skeleton.  I got to hit the college books again for a couple of days (almost done, two more weeks).  It is hard to study when you want to be working on the plane.  Aristotle, Nietzsche, and Plato cannot hold a candle to Van's.

Today was a nice day to be working in the garage.  We had a slight breeze and temps in the 70's so it was a nice day to prime wing parts.  It is a sure sign of Spring being around the corner.  Having every other Friday off is a weird schedule, but it makes it nice for getting a full day of plane building in while everyone else is at work.

Before I got very far this morning, Jay Hauserman, retired dentist and president of Auburn's Airport Authority stopped over to see how the plane building was going.  The Airport Authority (which I am currently on the authority) is trying to obtain federal and state grants to concrete our two runways.  We are one of a very few public grass strips in the state of Nebraska.  If all goes well, Farrington Field will be concrete before I get the RV flying.

As far as building goes, this was an uneventful day.  The task of drilling everything for the rear spar is pretty straight forward.  Van's instructions state to dimple the holes in the upper flange of the spar above the reinforcement fork.  That was easy enough, but Van's didn't make any mention of drilling out to size and dimpling the flange holes where the spar center and end reinforcements are riveted to the rear spar.  Since those could not be dimpled after they were riveted, I dimpled those as well.  I hope that I didn't miss anything in the instructions to the contrary...

Below, you see a picture of the spar end reinforcement (W-707F).  On detail 'A' of DWG 10A, there are several holes that take a AN426 rivet (5 to be exact, but only 4 were supposed to be countersunk).  These 4-holes are countersunk so that the aileron hinge bracket assembly will sit flush on the rear spar.  All the holes are your standard countersink with the exception of the hole in the picture.  It was so close to the flange that the countersink cage prevented the cutter from lining up with the hole.  I removed the cage and then carefully used the drill press to control my countersink depth.  I would take out a few shavings, check it with a rivet for depth, and then do it over again until I got it just right.  NO PROBLEM...

Once I got the rear spar reinforcements drilled and de-burred, the majority of the day would be spent on priming activities.  I really like the AKZO epoxy primer, but it is REALLY man-hour intensive.

This was my first priming session using the the Alodine dunk tank I made out of 4" PVC pipe after I fixed the leak I had in it the last time I filled it up.  The purpose of this dunk tank is to submerge the larger parts I will run into in the wing kit.

As listed in the picture below, it took 2.5 gallons of Alodine 1201 to fill the 4" PVC pipe up to about 40".  I use suspending ceiling wire to attach and hang the parts on the side of the PVC pipe.   It is very flexible so it is easy to make hooks and secure the parts to the wire (Don't want to go "fishing for parts" on the bottom you know).  This dunk tank WORKED GREAT and best of all it doesn't leak!!!!  The only thing it couldn't fit so far was the rear spar itself.  This will work great for the aileron gap fairing, the flap brace, aileron pushrods, etc.  (You get the idea).

Below is a picture of the rear spars after priming.  What I did here is take some left over plywood and laid it between two saw horses.  I found some painters paper at Home Depot so I covered the plywood with the paper.  When I am done, pull up the paper and throw it away.  Plywood is as good as new.

Below is a picture of all the tie down hardware for the main spars and the reinforcements for the rear spars.  I again laid down some painters paper and put the parts on top of that.  This was nice as I could prime one side of the parts, grab and rotate the paper 180 degrees to get the other side of the parts.  WORKED GREAT...

UPDATE> NEXT DAY: The paper works great BUT... remove the parts from the paper after they are tacky to the touch, but before they are fully dry.  The paper wants to stick to the parts or it wants to remove the primer.

I will let these dry overnight as the epoxy primer is a lot harder if it sets for several hours first.  It dries to the touch in about 1/2 hour, but is somewhat "soft" for several hours.

12 hours and all I did was drill some holes and prime some parts...  Doesn't feel like one of the more productive days.  Got a lot done, it just doesn't feel like it.

Crap... I had every intention to continue working on the rear spar preparation tonight.  Long story short, I fell asleep on the couch after I came home from work and by the time I woke up, it was to late to start anything in the garage so I figured I would take care of some miscellaneous activities with the plane (Oh yeah, and ensure I got my homework done for tomorrow nights class...  Gotta have my priorities ya know).

Anyhow, I went searching on the FAA's web site for possible tail numbers.  Everything I could think of was already registered to other aircraft.  The FAA's web site is really decent for searching and reserving registration numbers.  After some search queries, I found a number that will work AND wasn't already taken...

This number worked on several levels.  If my wife asks, the "TM" stands for her initials.  If my parents ask, the bottom explanation will be used.

I wanted to use our anniversary date "N22302" so that I would never be able to inadvertently forget that date (I have been absent minded from time to time with grave consequences, for example:  forgetting wife's birthday>>  That is a NO-NO!!).  However, our anniversary (and my wife's birthday) were already assigned.

The two FAA web sites needed to search and reserve an "N" number are listed below.  Numbers are reserved for a year at a time and cost $10 which they let you pay with a credit card over the net.  The FAA explains all of this on their web site.

FAA N-Number Registry search:  http://162.58.35.241/acdatabase/acmain.htm
FAA Aircraft Registration and Renewal:  http://registry.faa.gov/aircraft.asp#SpecialN-Number

After the FAA takes your money, they state that it will take 3+ weeks to confirm your reservation.  That is okay, I am plenty early on this.  I should have stated that the "10" in the N-Number represents the year that I will get this bird flying.

In case you haven't followed my log entries, I hate e-bay!!!  However, I did it again!  I bid on a 50' Semco hose for my sealant gun.  I don't know if I will use this that much.  I figure 50' will be plenty of hose when sealing the firewall and I won't have to drag around my heavy compressor hose.  The hose that came with the gun is really small and pliable, but short.

Today was the first day in a couple of weeks I could spend on the plane.  I picked up on fabricating the wing tie-down assemblies.  To determine placement, the prints have you measure one hole on the top right.  After the first hole is drilled, run a AN3 bolt through the hole to help with alignment.  Once I was happy with my alignment, I used two vise-grip clamps to hold it in place.  I then flipped the main spar over and back drilled all the remaining holes.

The next task was to fabricate the spacers that go behind the tie-down bracket.  The trick with these is to measure out the first spacer from the block material you get and cut your 1" lightening hole before you cut off your spacer to length.  If you cut your spacer to length first, it is really hard to hold on to when drilling your lightening hole.

After you get the lightening holes fabricated and cut the spacer to length, you need to match drill with the holes in the main spar.  If you note, the holes for the K1000-3 nutplates are not centered on the spacers.  It is not possible for these to be centered.  It looks odd, but if you look closely at Van's prints, they don't look centered there either.  Once the nutplate holes were drilled, the rivet holes that are used to mount the nutplates to the tie down bracket are countersunk (AN426) rivets, so I machined countersunk the spacers so that the factory head will be flush up against the main spar when everything is put together.

I took the picture below to illustrate a misinterpretation (I had anyway) with the instructions on Van's print (DWG-15A, Rev 3).  Van's has you measure for the first hole (Top Right) in order to determine placement.  Additionally, there is a note that says the edge of the W-731 tie-down bar is parallel to the outboard edge of the main spar web.  Where I was confused was that I interpreted the parallel to the main spar web to mean flush.  This is not the case.

What I did to measure placement of this bracket was put a AN-3 bolt through the hole I drilled and then eyeballed alignment.  To get it straight, I measured from the edge of the main spar web to the edge of the tie down bracket (i.e.: how far the tie down bracket overhung the spar web) both the top and bottom and made sure they were equal.  SHOULD BE STRAIGHT.

My next step is to prime and mount the tie downs to the main spar with the aileron bell cranks.  I am waiting until I have more parts to prime before I finish these up.

I was a little disappointed with Van's instructions on the next task.  I moved on to the rear spar fabrication and one of the first things the instructions state to do is to trim the edges of of W-707G & D (Rear Spar Reinforcement fork and Rear Spar Doubler Plate).  So I broke out my print (DWG-10A) and in detail C there is a note for RV-7/7A builders only that states to trim the rear spar reinforcements but there are no dimensions listed.  The note on DWG-10A also refers you to DWG-38.

I don't have DWG-38 because that is a fuselage print, but guess where the dimensions for trimming the wing spar reinforcements is located?  if you are trimming the reinforcements in the Wing Kit, WHY DON'T THEY PUT THOSE DIMENSIONS IN A WING KIT DRAWING???  However, you do have all the drawings in the preview plans, so I looked at DWG-38 and sure enough there were the dimensions for trimming the rear spar reinforcements.  I am a little leery about making cuts to parts from prints in the preview plans as Van's states that they are not always current.

Anyway, when measured out on the rear spar reinforcements, this is what it looks like.

We always "match drill" in this kit so here I am match cutting.  I cleco'd the two spar reinforcements together and made one cut.  I cut them a little long and then went to the Scotchbrite wheel to take them to final dimensions.  They turned out really nice I just hope Van's hasn't revised those dimensions.

The next step was to fabricate the W-707E (Spar Center Reinforcement).  This is the component that has the weird or oblong shaped hole in it where the aileron pushrod goes through.  This is one of the few pieces I have run across that isn't pre-punched.  Just measure 50 3/4" from the outboard end of the spar, clamp in place, turn the spar over, and back drill.  Piece Of Cake...

Here is the oblong hole I was talking about where the aileron pushrod goes through the rear spar.  After I drilled the rivet holes, I cleco'd the spar reinforcement in place.  I then took a 3/4" Unibit and drilled out the initial hole.  I bought a rotary burr cutter set a while back and I used one of the smaller bits to shape the reinforcement plate hole to its final shape.  These bits work great !$!$!  (Hint that these bits weren't cheap).  You need to hold the die grinder securely as the rotary burr cutter will "bite" take the die grinder right out of your hands if you don't watch what you are cutting closely.

Here is what that same hole looks like after I got done with the rotary burr bit.  To further finish this off, I de-burred with the Dremel and a sanding drum.  To finish the deburring process, I used a 1" unitized EXL Scotchbrite wheel in the die grinder.  These holes turned out great!!

No exciting pictures, but I also completed the spar end reinforcement plate (W-707F) that is on the outside end of the spar.  Same deal, make flush with end of rear spar, clamp in place, turn spar over, back drill, rinse and repeat for the other wing.

Up to this point, I have done all the work on both wing simultaneously.  Once I am working in the jig, I will work one wing at a time.  It felt good to get back on to the project.  Only 3 weeks of classes left, but my homework is winding down.  I should have more regular entries in the log over the next couple of weeks.

02/23/04, 0.0 hrs
 
Two weeks ago, I decided that I was going to attempt to try and bid on a Semco sealant gun for dispensing tank sealant while working on the fuel tanks.  Builder's who have used them, rave about the ease of use and how quickly they clean-up.  The first one of these sealant guns I bid on went for $110 (to rich for my blood).  The sealant gun I had the winning bid on was won with a bid of $76.  This sealant gun was in better shape than the more pricey one auctioned the previous week.  Even though I have had some luck with e-bay, I still HATE it!!!  The bidding process is just like going to the casino and can be very addictive and time consuming.

I am also bidding on a automatic sealant mixer from Semco, which I had never heard of until I did a search on e-bay the other day.  It will take the 2.5 oz, 6 oz, and 8 oz. Flamemaster (ProSeal) cartridges from Van's (Aircraft Spruce, etc.) and mix them automatically.  The dang thing would be handy, just flip the switch and let it do its thing.  Let the mixer reciprocate that plunger a minimum of 50 times instead of my arms.  It is at $50 and I don't know how bad I want it.  Less money to put towards something else on the plane, ya know.  Let the e-bay insanity continue...

The pitot tube bracket I ordered from Aircraft Spruce arrived today.  I ordered the Chrome finish for my pitot tube bracket.  I am frequently amazed when building this airplane.  A number of parts I have ordered are wrapped in kleenex or paper towels and placed in a zip-lock sandwich bag.  It is as if these parts are made by out of the garage or a basement of some individuals home.

I unwrapped the Gretz Aero pitot bracket from its high tech paper towel packaging and it looks GREAT!!!  The pitot mounting holes even line up with the pitot (had to make sure I didn't screw up when I ordered).  Since my wings are far from ready to talk about pitot tubes, I wrapped it back up in the paper towel it came in and put it in a clearly labeled divider drawer.

Also arriving today via UPS, was my heated pitot tube from Chief Aircraft.

http://www.chiefaircraft.com/Aircraft/InstallationSupply/PitotTubes.html

I contemplated whether or not to go with a heated static source and then finally opted for the standard, run of the mill heated pitot WITHOUT a heated static source.  I looked at other builders web sites and referred to information from Gretz Aero on the advantages of the two types of pitot tubes http://www.gretzaero.com.  The pitot tube with a heated static source looks like the one below.  Notice the two tubing fittings and the longer snout.  This model does not have a constant resistance heater (larger current in-rush at turn on). Gretz Aero states that this pitot tube, in combination with his mounting bracket, is slightly more accurate than the PH502-12CR pitot tube (without heated static).  When I went out and looked at other builders web sites, I found at least one builder who didn't like this pitot tube as he found it to be very inaccurate.  He ended up removing this pitot tube and putting in the PH502-12CR.

Take this information with a grain of salt.  Many builders web sites I looked at did not going into any great detail on advantages and disadvantages of the two types of pitot tubes.  I figure that there are several variables contributing to the accuracy of the pitot tubes that I could not verify the installation of others while  researching this from my computer in the basement.

I like the pitot tube from Aero Instruments shown below.  It has a constant resistance heater (PH502-12CR) as indicated by the CR at the end of the part number.  The constant resistance heater means that it will draw the same current at turn on as it will when it comes up to temperature.  The fit and finish of this pitot tube is EXCELLENT...  The only thing I found wrong with it is Aero Instruments misspelling of ELECTRICAL on the box

I debated on my timing for ordering the heated pitot tube as it was fairly expensive and I was at least 5 months from needing it.  I looked on Aircraft Spruce's web site a couple of months after I received this pitot and prices on these have more than doubled in the last 3 months.  I paid $415 (which I thought was expensive) and within 3 months, they are selling for $995.  That is ridiculous!!!  In hindsight, my timing for ordering the pitot was great!!!  I got a great deal by comparison.
 

RTV 732 rubber sealant.  I globed RTV in trailing edges of the stiffeners in the elevators during their construction.  My understanding for this is that the trailing edges are very thin and putting this sealant in their bonds the two stiffeners together and prevents vibration during flight.  Sounds reasonable to me.  I expect to be using RTV during the wing kit as well, so I stocked up when I made my last order to Aircraft Spruce.  This stuff is around $6.50/tube.

The dreaded "black death" tank sealant.  My only experience with this stuff was while working on the trailing edge of the rudder.  Just that little bit was messy and would be easy to get out of control.  Sealing the tanks ought to be interesting.  Of course, after I received this, I see that Van's now sells pre-assembled fuel tanks.  I am glad I am doing my own anyway as I am using capacitance fuel senders and will be installing flop tubes in both tanks.  Besides, I like being able to say, yep, I built it...

These rivets are used to replace drilled out rivets where the hole may have been oversized.  Typically the head on these rivets is smaller than the normal AN426 rivet, so an oversized AD3 hole can be opened to an AD4 size and the head will be similar to the original rivet.  I have been lucky on all the rivets I have drilled out, but I decided I better get some OOPS RIVETS before my luck runs out (OOPS Rivets is actually what Van's calls them).

I didn't like the fuel selector that comes standard with the kit, so I upgraded the fuel selector to the lift and turn model.  This has a very nice feel to it.  I am able to switch between left and right tanks without lifting the knob.  However, the knob needs to be lifted to rotate the fuel valve to the OFF position.  (ANDAIR's DESCRIPTION:  Lifetime materials, compatible with all fuels.  The FS20x20x3 is a 3 way duplex fuel selector and allows for two fuel lines to be switched simultaneously, this means that the return fuel from the engines fuel injector/manifold block can be returned to the same tank from which it was drawn. 

The valve is configured with a dual valve with 3/8 inch port for fuel supply and 1/4 inch port for fuel return to the selected tank.  This return feature will prevent overfilling a fuel tank (should I have had a single return line to a predetermined tank).  I am planning on a fuel injected engine which will require a return line.

This fuel selector valve is made by Andair.  They have a really decent web site explaining their different fuel selector configurations.

http://www.andair.co.uk

I don't know at this stage if I am going to do any recreational aerobatics, however, I think that I am going to configure the plane so that I can if I want to.  Therefore, I ordered two flop tubes for my fuel pickup.  (VAN'S DESCRIPTION:  If you intend to perform "sustained" inverted flight in your RV then you will need to purchase and install a "flop tube" in at least one of the fuel tanks).  I am not sure what they term as "sustained" 1 sec, 5 sec, 1 min, etc.  Right side up or upside down, the engine should get fuel now and I don't have to worry about any placards telling me what tank I need to select for aerobatics.

Under the false assumption that I was done with nutplates for a while, the next instruction is to prepare and attach two K1000-4 plate nuts to the forward side of the spar.  It took me a while to ensure that I had the right nutplates.  They are detailed on DWG. 11.  Ooh, yeah, I could not find where the print(s) or the instructions stated which size rivets to use when attaching these nutplates. 

These nutplates are installed such that the flush head of the rivets securing these nutplates are facing aft.  In later construction, center section vertical bar (F-704G) will go between the W-706 front spar assembly and the F-704E center section 5/8 bar.  In plain english, this means a bar will be placed over these rivets as a spacer when bolting the wings to the fuselage.

This must not have been to much of a problem with other builders.  I couldn't find any other references by builders web sites I frequently check.   Ooh well, I figured it out it just took me time to ensure I wasn't going to make any mistakes...

I finished up drilling the fuel tank attach plate nuts and this morning I began riveting the plate nuts to the spar flange.  This was pretty straight forward, so I won't bore you with more details.

Once all the fuel tank plate nuts were riveted to the spar, I started drilling the inspection cover plate nuts on the bottom side of the wings.  The ritual was pretty much the same as for the fuel tank attach plate nuts.

• Make a test sample out of 0.032" aluminum for a #6 hole. (drill, debur, and dimple).
• Drill a series of holes in the scrap aluminum angle with a #40 drill bit.
• Eyeball center of hole and cleco into place.

When I got the countersink cutter where I thought it should be, I noticed that the countersink cutter was cutting all the way to the edge of the spar flange.  These nutplate holes are pretty close to the edge of the spar flange, but I didn't expect the countersink to cut that closely.  Therefore, I went on a pilgrimage to other builders web site's.  I found a number of other builders who's holes looked the same.  Anything shallower and the test sample didn't sit flush to the spar flange.

This was again time consuming, but after figuring out the fuel tank nutplates, this went pretty smoothly.  However, I am not sure how Van's counts out their parts, but I was one nutplate short (K1000-06).  I will need to call Van's to get an additional nutplate...

Today, the real work on the wing kit begins.  Van's has you starting the wing kit by preparing the main spar(s).  I was going to work on one spar at a time, however, after I started countersinking, I decided to prepare both wing spars before moving on.

You begin countersinking the spar to accept a #8 screws that attach the wing tanks.  In order to obtain the correct countersink depth, I took a scrap piece 0.032" aluminum left over from the empennage kit.  I drilled, de-burred, and dimpled the hole.  Use this scrap to set up your countersink so that this scrap will sit flush on the spar flange.

Prior to beginning the countersinking marathon, I masked off the cracks between the upper (W706D-L) and lower (W706B-L) spar bars and the spar doubler (W-706C) of the front spar assemblies.  There was a TON of aluminum shavings while countersinking and I MEAN A TON.  The goal was to keep the shavings out of any cracks where they could result in rubbing causing stressors on the spar assembly.  I used this "expensive" sensitive materials masking tape.  Don't spend the money on that junk!!  It splintered when taking it off and took forever to get it all off.  There was also a bit of tape adhesive residue that I had to remove.  From now on, I will use vinyl electrical tape (Scotch 33+).  The vinyl won't splinter and pulls off very easily.  It isn't that much more expensive than this high dollar masking tape.

When countersinking, these holes are pretty deep.  What this means to the countersink cutter, is that there will be no material to hold the countersink pilot in position to make a nicely machined countersink hole.  Fortunately, for me, there are other builders out there that published their mistakes so others can learn from them.  Without having something to guide the countersink cutter pilot, this is what you are likely to end up with (picture below).  This is from a fellow builder, Tom Wruble.  This is his "ugly.jpg" as he calls it on his web site.  Click on the link below and scroll to the bottom of the page, you can't miss it.  Thanks for publishing this Tom, because of this, I did not have one countersink that looked like this.  This freed me up to make my own, unique mistakes.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/thomaswruble/Progress.htm

The method I used to prevent this was a derivation I took from Dan Checkoway's web site.  My technique was as follows:

• Obtained some scrap aluminum angle from Home Desperate or Menards.
• Drill a #30 pilot hole (actually several, I'll explain later).
• Center the #30 pilot hole in the aluminum angle in the hole to be countersunk and cleco it in place.

I recommend reading Dan Checkoway's web site to review is method (which is no longer available on-line).  His is a little more precise than mine.  I guess the big difference between Dan's method and mine is that I "eyeball'd" placement of the pilot hole in the center of hole to be countersunk.  I have to admit, all my nutplate holes look excellent with the exception of two.  Those other two....  are good but not great.

When determining the depth of the countersink, I struggled a little bit at this point because it seemed like after a certain point, there was no additional benefit of continuing to set the countersink deeper.  When I set the scrap piece of aluminum with the #8 hole on the spar it seemed to set off of the spar flange by a couple of thousandths of an inch (heck, that could be the my sample dimple to).  Going deeper with the countersink cutter did not help any.  Once the upper edge of the countersink cutter goes past the top edge of the spar flange, you won't get any noticeable improvement in the fit.  Once I figured that out, I backed the countersink cutter off so that I did not get those "lips" on the countersunk hole.

Also, because the countersink goes so deep into the spar, the scrap aluminum I was using also started being cut by the countersink cutter (See the picture above).  After one or two holes in the same pilot hole, I began to get "ugly holes" like Tom's above.  Therefore, I just drilled a series of holes in a row on the scrap and when the countersink cutter began to chatter, I used a new hole.  Hey, it worked for me.

The rivet holes for each nutplate are pretty straight forward.  I didn't need anything to hold the countersink cutter in place and that dramatically increased the speed of countersinking.  However, those holes are slightly undersized and will need to be drilled to a #40 prior to countersinking.  I then used a rivet to set my countersink depth and began countersinking. 

Van's instructions state to prime spar parts where the anodized finish has been removed.  In the picture below, you can see that the prepared holes on the left have a similar look to the original spar color while the right is un-touched after countersinking.  All I did here was take a Q-tip and dab a drop or two of Alodine 1201 in until I got adequate conversion (color).  Then I blew the holes out with low pressure air (carefully not to splatter Alodine all over) and wiped dry with a rag.  All the holes looked great when I got done!!!

There are some 60 nutplates to countersink per spar (just to attach the fuel tanks), multiply that by two and you have 120 nutplates.  That is a ton of holes....  On average, each nutplate hole took me 5 minutes.  That doesn't sound like very long, but that is roughly 10 hours of drilling.  That doesn't count the riveting time this will take or the 48 nutplates you countersink for the inspection plates.  This was a very long and monotonous day.  I was dang tired of drilling!!!

Another builder posted a question on the Yahoo RV-7/7A group regarding some scratches that looked like de-burring marks that were on the main spars and center section assemblies.  I went out and looked at my wing kit as well and I also have the same de-burring marks as the other builder.

The pictures below are the scratches I observed on my wing spars and center section:

Below is Van's response to reviewing the de-burring marks on those assemblies:

After getting burned out on the left elevator again...  I spent about an hour pulling wing ribs out of the crate and de-burring the edges.  The ribs are de-burred with the exception of the lightening holes.  It was after 10 pm, probably closer to 11pm.  As you can see Letterman is on in he background.  What a tedious job this is going to be.

Today, the wing kit arrived via Pawnee Freight out of Humboldt, NE.   Total cost of freight from Oregon to here with residential delivery was $237.   PRETTY REASONABLE!!!

The driver pulled up to the house promptly at 8 am.   He helped me unload the wing spar crate while we waited for Bob Engles and Rick Janssen to show up to help unload the other crate.   The crate holding the wing skins was the lighter of the two.   Two people could have easily unloaded these two crates even though they are listed at nearly 200 pounds each.   They sure didn't feel that heavy.   The driver did make a comment after Bob and Rick left that he thought it was pretty impressive to get the mayor of Auburn out to unload my plane.

I, of course, had to go to work after getting the crates in the garage.   DANG!!!

When I got home, I decided to open up the crates and begin the tedious task of inventorying all the parts.   Tonight, I broke apart the bag containing all the paper bags containing the small parts.   It took me the whole night to organize all the small parts into bins and get them labeled.   Sure wish I was done with the empennage.

Tonight, Tami helped me inventory the remaining larger parts of the wing kit.   Lots and lots of ribs, spars, and aluminum angle.  Putting this together is going to take some time...

Not much excitement here.   The parts all appeared to be accounted for...  There is a lot more room in the crate after you carefully remove all of the packing paper.  Van's does a really nice job getting all the parts into these crates.  Their shipping staff has definitely done this before.

I ordered a landing light for the wings, Van's standard lighting kit #6 for use with the sheared wingtips.  When I need to order parts from Van's, I try to group components since they charge you a "shipping fee with a minimum of $5".  While I was ordering a replacement spar for the horizontal stabilizer, I used it as an opportunity to order some "wing stuff".  I decided to go with the HID landing light option.  These HID lamps are supposed to be up to 3x brighter than their halogen counterparts.  Before, I received the first light, I decided that I wanted a second landing light and ordered another HID landing light kit.  If you go with the HID style of landing light, hold onto your wallet as it will require you to fork over $450 per kit.  That makes the HID light an expensive option.  While looking up HID lamp costs outside of Van's web site, the HID lamps alone, represent around $380 of that $450 price tag.

Here is my second HID landing light.  I also decided to upgrade the fuel caps to the deluxe locking style caps.  These fuel caps need to be installed at the time of fuel tank assembly as they use a different filler flange than the fuel cap that comes with the kit.  They have a nice fit and finish to them and both use the same key (I am sure Van's figures that out prior to shipping).  Also, you will see a small tube of flamemaster tank sealant in the foreground.  This is for riveting the trailing edge of the rudder (see rudder entries).

Okay, I had to see just how bright these HID landing lights were.  I dug out the Goldwing battery and some jumper leads and hooked these babies up.  MAN ARE THESE THINGS BRIGHT!!  One of these lights is brighter than both of the headlights on my Grand Prix.  I found somewhere on the web, that these lamps put out somewhere in the neighborhood of 360,000 candlepower each using significantly less wattage than the halogen lamp.  These should offer great "see and be seen" characteristics.