Bulkheads

I redrilled the doublers to the reinforcement bar of the 705 bulkhead today and tapered them as to the plans. This time I didn't cut anything before the drilling and tapering and it fits much better. After that I started riveting the seatback adjustment pieces to the top of the bulkhead and riveted the sides on, making sure that the rivet holes called out on the plans stayed open.

After that the bottom called riveted on, again making sure the right holes stayed open. I used some safety wire to keep the small shims tied to the reinforcement bar and doublers. That way I won't lose them!

All the bulkheads are done. Next the longerons!

Finished riveting the 706, 707, 708, 710, 711 and 712 bulkheads today. The plans call for some parts not to be riveted, i.e., the 728 channel, so I just left these parts cleco'd. I actually forgot to dimple the 730 plate and the channels behind it yesterday, but that was easily done. Also had to drill out the rivets that connect the 711C angle to the bulkhead as I missed that these should not be riveted yet. Might have to make a new piece as one of the rivet holes is quite large now.

I'm still waiting for the replacement doublers from Van's. They should come in tomorrow and then I can finish up the 705 bulkhead.

Two hours of bulkhead parts cleaning and priming today. Yuk smelly! It's kind of stormy today so I couldn't really open up the garage door, but will do that tomorrow to get some of the smell out.

PS Reached the 500h mark tonight!

What can I say? Deburring and scotchbriting of bulkhead parts in preparation of priming... Oh wait, I drilled the 710B angle to the 710 bulkhead as well.

Got some time in the shop tonight and actually managed to do quite a bit of work. I cut the F711 bulkhead bars and tapered them as I'm building a 7A. Also cut the 711D angle and drilled all the parts to the bulkhead.

Match-drilled the 712 bulkhead plates and cut the tie-down bar according to specs. Using my 3/8 tap I tapped the thread for the tie-down eye. The tie-down bar itself will be drilled later when the vertical stabilizer is attached.

Last I started to cut the 710B angle for the 710 bulkhead and clamped them together. Will drill this tomorrow!

No building today, but I did experience my first flight in an RV-7A today! Mike asked me if I wanted to join him to go and pick up a wing stand at Montgomery County Airport at Gaithersburg, MD. There we met with another Mike (the one with the wing stand) and he asked us if we wanted to go up with him in his 7A. That was a question that did not needed to be answered, you just had to look at our faces :-) So after calling in an ADIZ flight plan, I was the first to go up with Mike. We did a normal take-off followed by a 2000 ft/min climb and stayed in the pattern for a landing. After that we took off again, this time we stayed in ground effect for a while after which he pulled his bird up for a 3000 ft/min climb which made my feet tinkle. We flew to the practice area some miles from the airport where we performed some REALLY steap turns (pulling 3G's standing on a wing?) which made my feet tinkle even more :-) Then Mike let me have the stick and get back into the pattern. Really surprised about the light stick forces! After that the landing was a greaser which showed me I am definitely building the right airplane. Wow, what an afternoon! Thanks Mike!

Drilled the 728B angle to the 728A bellcrank channel and the 729B angle to the 729A bellcrank rib. Drilled both the 1/4 inch pivot holes for the bellcrank assembly bolt. Drilled the 729C angle (bend to 88.5 degrees in my vise) to the 730 plate and the706B fuselage bulkhead bottom.

First a Happy New Year to all my fellow RV builders and the rest of the world! This is going to be a great year as I plan to have my 7A flying before we reach 2010 :-)

Finished filing the slots in the 705G angles.

Deburred all the 705 bulkhead parts, but will have to wait until next week for the package from Vans that contains the new spar doublers.

Fluted all the flanges of the 706, 707, 708, 709 and 710 bulkheads and drilled all the required holes to 5/8 inch for snap bushings. Although I don't have manual elevator trim I decided to drill the holes for the snap bushings anyway to use them for the cabling of the trim servo and tail lights. Clecod 706, 707 and 708 together.

Cut the required angle pieces for the bellcrank channel with my bandsaw.

Drilled holes in the flap bearing blocks using the new plastic drills I bought a while ago and did some filing on the slots in the 705G angles.

Match-drilled the F-705K plates to the shims and the F-705J angles to the top bulkhead channel.

Cleco'd the bulkhead parts together.

When I clamped the F-705G angles to the bulkhead channel I noticed I made a mistake yesterday and cut the angle down to 1.5 inch instead of the 1 3/4 inch stated on the plans :-( Luckily there was enough of the angle stock to make new pieces, but I will order some new angle from Vans together with the spar doublers.

After clamping the new pieces I match-drilled them using the bulkhead channel as a guide. Also used a #12 drill bit to start drilling the slots you need to make in these for the latch of the tip-up canopy (which I will use).

A lot of fabricating today which was quite a workout for my bandsaw: I made the F-705G left and right angles.

Made the F-705J angles.

Cut the F-705L shims and drilled them to the top bulkhead channel.

And cut and bend the F-705K plates in my old tail bending brake.

Drilled a #12 hole in the left seat belt anchor plates using my drill press and then clamped them together with the right seat belt anchor plate and a 3/16 inch shim on the rear spar attach bulkhead. I used a AN4 bolt to make sure the holes for the seatbelt attachment would line up nicely.

The two anchors in the center of the bulkhead didn't need to be trimmed, but the ones on the side do to make space for the rivet heads in the seat ribs.

Note: I'm going to order new spar doublers from Vans because I noticed I cut them wrong! Instead of 1/4 inch radius I cut them to 1/4 inch diameter...

Merry Christmas!!!! Started the F-705 bulkhead today. Drilled the snap bushing holes in the bottom spar attach bulkhead and fabricated the center section bar, the spar doublers and the 705H spacers with my bandsaw (am I glad I decided to buy this machine!).

Drew a centerline on the back of the center section bar and clamped the parts together on the bench for drilling.

This was of course followed by drilling all of this using the spar attach bulkhead as a guide. I did notice that I had the spacer clamped to much outwards which meant the hole was way too close to the edge. Luckily I had another half inch piece left over that I made into a spacer; this time I moved it in a bit and re-drilled. I didn't make the same mistake on the other side :-)

This was definitely a strain on my #30 and #12 drill bits!

Nice long day in the workshop today to finish the 704 bulkhead sections. Drilled all the cover support ribs and the web stiffeners to the forward section. Deburred and riveted all the platenuts on and enlarged holes with the unibit for the snap bushings.

Riveted the forward and after side panels on the center bulkhead sections. Most of these could be squeezed and the rest I did with the rivet gun. I think most came out nicely.

Used my bandsaw to create two 1 7/16 spacers to keep the two center sections the right distance apart. I still need to drill out the 1/4 inch hole in the center section bars. I Beats me why Vans didn't drill these holes to 1/4 inch already as they did for other ones.

Removed the hatched area from the control column mounts using my bandsaw and some scotchbriting on the wheel. Mounted the column mounts on the center bulkhead and put the control column on. Next I sanded the bushing in the pilot and passenger sticks to the correct length (did this is the drill press) and used a 1/4" reamer to make room for the AN4 bolts.

Matchdrilled the 4 center sections to the fwd and aft bulkheads. Used NAS-1307 close tolerance bolts to make sure that parts all lined up nicely (like Van's recommends). Vertical bars on the aft section were lined up with AN4 bolts and clamped in place before drilling.

After that I turned my focus to the control column mounts. Drilled the top hole with a #10 bit on the drill press and matchdrilled the bottom hole through the bulkhead after measuring and clamping.

I started enlarging the holes for all the snap bushings that will hold some of the wiring, rudder cables and fuel lines. Used the drill press for most of this work as it will make sure the unibit will work best. Notice how the center section is nicely resting on the belt-sander for some extra stability.

This was all pretty easy including the snap bushings that have to be shaved a little to fit next to the side panels.

After taking some measurements the holes in the center got drilled and enlarged as well.

Got the F704 bulkhead parts from the shelve (they've been there for a while) to check them out and study the drawing (nr 11).