#homebuilt

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Aut

Our Tuesday build night made good progress on the Zenith kit. I worked on making the leading edge slat brackets while others worked on getting ribs attached to the wings. It's nice working with clear instructions.

#eaa #zenith #kitplane #experimentalAviation #avgeek #homebuilt

Nose rib for an aircraft that has a trapezoidal shaped bracket coming off the front.
Wing spar of aircraft sitting on sawhorses with ribs attached. The ribs are sticking up and down vertically making the whole thing shaped kind of like fish bones
Mar 26, 2025, 14:33 · · 1 · 0
Aut

Tuesday build at the EAA hangar. We started by making some slat support backets for the nose ribs while another team identified the ribs for the wing. An encouraging start to our build as we have nice instructions, a nice kit, and nice videos to help us.

#eaa #experimentalAviation #avgeek #kitplane #homebuilt

Several members in a hangar at a very large work bench, each working on sorting and categorizing some aircraft parts.
thin aluminum angle that has been marked out with various points and had relief holes drilled on the bend. These will become nose rib reinforce brackets for the slats.
Some people figuring out the placement of ribs on a wing spar using a tape measure. The placements are given in millimeter offsets from the end of the spar (so-called stations)
Two people carrying a wing spar with ribs clecoed in place where they will live. The wings have been marked with marker for their position.
Mar 12, 2025, 02:55 · · 0 · 0
Aut

TUESDAY BUILDNIGHT

My EAA chapter completed the purchase of a Zenith CH-750 kit to complete and we moved it into the hangar and then began inventory and cleaning.

#EAA #experimentalAviation #kitplane #homebuilt #avgeek

Four people loading a partially completed fuselage of a small plane onto a trailer. There is snow on the ground and all the trees across the street are barren as it is winter.
A partially assembled aircraft fuselage with a person working on cleaning it. It had 10 years of grime atop it and required quite a few passes and scrubbing to get the aluminum to clean up.
Various airplane parts and control surfaces scattered across tables and taking up the entire meeting space. They are quite dirty.
Close up picture of some wing assembly for the Zenith aircraft. Diagrams showing the various parts and where they go are present.
Jan 29, 2025, 04:06 · · 1 · 0
Aut

Sorry everyone (maybe 1 of you) that was waiting for my Tuesday build night post. Here it is, still working on the tail and riveting the skins on the tail cone. Now we're on to the curved side parts and the directions are pretty vague about the fitment.

#EAA #kitplane #homebuilt #experimentalAviation #generalAviation #avgeek

A man is inspecting and deburring holes drilled in bulkheads that make up the tailcone of an aircraft.
Close up of aircraft skin with rivets being put into the skin and holding it to the airframe. Some temporary rivets are visible in the line of rivets being actively set.
Close up shot of curved corner skin on aircraft tail. It is held on with a lot of clamps and hopefully the placement is semi-accurate. The directions leave a lot to be desired.
Jan 16, 2025, 01:01 · · 0 · 0
Rachel Brindle

Airplane work? Airplane work!
Today I “routed” out a section of foam for the LB-23 part! I needed to cut rat section out at a 45 degree angle, and fairly deep in, so I made a simple drill guide out of wood, and made many plunge drills with a handheld drill. I held the drill guide against a straightedge to hit the line I needed. This turned out pretty accurate for how crude it is!

#avgeek #aviation #ElectricAircraft #ExperimentalAviation #homebuilt

Close up showing the line of foam I cut out of the bottom of my fuselage.
The area I cut out earlier, now with LB-23 partially in. This is also a wider shot than the previous image, with some foam torn out from when I removed the landing brake, which I still haven’t gotten around to repairing.
An angle from the aft end of the landing brake area, looking towards the forward end. LB-23 is still only partially inserted here, though there is hardly any contrast between the tan foam and the birch plywood that makes up LB-23.
Jan 13, 2025, 02:49 · · 0 · 0
Aut

Yesterday was Tuesday which means more work building the tail of a Murphy Rebel with my EAA Chapter. Deburring and riveting of the skins. Check out alt-text for description of what is being shown.

#eaa #avgeek #aviation #generalAviation #experimentalAviation #kitplane #homebuilt

Showing the metal burrs on the inside of the bulkheads (left vertical row of holes) that result from match drilling the holes in the skins to the bulkheads which didn't have holes. The drill bit raises these burrs and in order to make sure the rivets sit well the burrs have to be removed before riveting.
A chapter member holding a tail side skin up for inspecting while cleaning and deburring the skin. It is a large triangle and much taller than a person.
The tail of the airplane with one skin removed showing the internal structure of the bulkheads.. The other skins are being held on with Clecos, which are a spring loaded temporary rivet.
A skin after it has been riveted to the bulkheads. It has that characteristic look of an airplane where there are nice rows of evenly spaces rivets along the surface.
Jan 08, 2025, 19:36 · · 0 · 0
Aut

It is the last build day of the year for my EAA chapter. We got the tail skins on and match drilled to the bulkheads without any major issues cropping up. It was nice to make progress without any strange things getting in the way.

#homebuilt #kitplane #experimentalAviation #avgeek #planes #EAA

Two people working together to match drill the holes in the skin to the bulkheads that do not have any holes to receive them. One person is working the drill while the other puts clecos in (temporary rivets) to keep things going smooth.
Wide shot of the tail section of the aircraft. The skins have "spikes" on them, which are temporary rivets to hold everything together.
Dec 18, 2024, 03:56 · · 1 · 0
Aut

Tuesday night, that means building with the EAA chapter! Got to actually start riveting together the tail bulkheads after match drilling them together for weeks (having only two hour work sessions slows things down). But we got the corners smoothed, holes deburred, and the first bulkhead riveted together and ready to go.

#eaa #homebuilt #experimentalAviation #avgeek #kitplane

Metal part with sharp edges sitting in front of a running belt sander. The sharp corner is about to get rounded off for safety.
Metal bulkhead piece sitting in front of belt sander. The sharp edge from the previous image has been rounded off to a benign curve.
Four bulkhead sections riveted together using pull rivets. The overlapping sections have a 3x3 grid of rivets but they aren't regularly spaced due to oddly placed tooling holes that the instructions don't tell you about. This is the smallest of the bulkheads and they will increase in size as they get put together for the tail
Reverse side of the riveted bulkhead showing the tail of the rivets. Pull rivets pull a mandrel and squish the tail until the mandrel breaks. In front of the rivets a tooling hole can be seen that caused some creative decision making when putting the holes into the metal to join it. This part started with no rivet holes at all, now it has 9 in a grid on this web.
Dec 04, 2024, 05:03 · · 0 · 0
Aut

Continued work at my #EAA chapter plane build. Working on getting the bulkheads matched up properly and drilled together. Final stretch before riveting them together for the tailcone.

#experimentalAviation #kitplane #homeBuilt #avgeek #aviation #airplane

Builkhead parts dry fit to the skin of an airplane in order to determine alignment. The skin is a giant triangle that tapers towards the back and the bulkheads get progressively smaller as you go toward the tail.
Aluminum parts that make up the bulkheads laying on a table. They are various sized parts with right angle bends in the middle.
Bulkhead part with a line drawn on it sitting in front of a bandsaw. The bulkhead parts are too long sometimes and need to be trimmed down so there is only a 4" overlap between them.
Overlapped bulkhead parts on a drill press where holes are being added in a 3x3 grid. These holes will be used to rivet the bulkheads together.
Nov 27, 2024, 15:48 · · 0 · 0
Aut

Tonight I worked with some other members of my EAA chapter on our educational build of a Murphy Rebel. My subteam was working on the tail cone assembly and as such we had to trim bulkheads and drill them for riveting into the support structure. Not too complex of work for a Tuesday night and a great experience all around in teamwork.

#eaa #homebuilt #kitplane #experimentalAviation #avgeek #generalAviation

Two people standing at opposite ends of a tall triangular aircraft skin that is laying flat on plywood.
Two metal bulkhead pieces being held on a drill press and having holes drilled into them for attaching together with rivets.
Bulkhead part sitting on a bandsaw with a line drawn on one edge that needs to be cut for fitment.
Multiple bulkhead parts being test fit to an aircraft skin that is attached to plywood. Two people are working together to figure out the orientation of the parts.
Nov 13, 2024, 05:46 · · 1 · 0
Rachel Brindle

I published my latest video, on all the work I’ve done so far to the main gear strut! Including a pretty embarrassing mistake caused by skipping over 1 sentence of text. 🤦🏽‍♀️

Come check it out! youtu.be/51KAaRIYoQ8

#avgeek #aviation #ElectricAircraft #ExperimentalAviation #homebuilt

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original…

www.youtube.com
Oct 08, 2024, 17:01 · · 0 · 0
Aut

Self Promotion: Airplane Build Blog

One nice thing about not making blog posts for a while is that when I do it gives a better overall view of the work. You don't have to remember what the last blog post was because I hadn't made one for four months :ablobfoxbongo:

I made a blog post that is from April through today with the work being doing on my elevators.

blog.sideslip.social/ups-and-d

#avgeek #aviation #kitplane #homebuilt #blog #rv10 #airplane

Aug 18, 2024, 02:52 · · 1 · 0
Aut

Airplane Build: Started some riveting on the elevator tip rib. Decided to get the tip ribs scuffed, cleaned, and then riveted together. My yoke didn't fit over both flanges so I had to use the rivet gun on the web of the ribs. I realized that I primed the outside of the skin, which I haven't been doing because I was going to do that when I paint the plane. oops; guess it'll be primed for now. The skin was very tight and was slow to rivet

#homebuilt #kitplane #rv10 #experimentalAviation #avgeek

Airplane elevator tip rib and skin sitting on cardboard covered work table (made with two steel saw horses and plywood sheet). The ribs have been sprayed with their first coat and are aluminum with a tinge of green. There is a canister of acetone on the table, nitrile gloves, an open spray paint cat, and a rag. Silhouettes of things sprayed before can be seen on the cardboard due to overspray. The work table is sitting on the edge of a driveway and the yard is visible behind it. A pear tree is dropping pears into the yard so there is a smattering of fruits sitting in the grass.
Elevator tip rib assembly with rivets in most of the web. The leading edge rivets are flush and the rest are universal head rivets. In the middle of the rib is a tungsten bucking bar that was being used as well as a rivet gauge to make sure the rivets are set correctly. On the right of the assembly is a rivet gun that was being used to set the rivets in the web.
Elevator tip assembly with clecos holding the skin to the ribs. The instructions call for starting at the front end and slowly working your way back while switching sides. The fit is very snug.
A finished (for now) tip rib assembly and skin. The flanges are flush riveted (hand squeezed).
Aug 18, 2024, 01:10 · · 0 · 0
Aut

Airplane build update: I had ~30 minutes to do a little airplane work and a special tool had just arrived. The end of the elevator outer rib is super tight (and I've read elsewhere that Van's used to dimple this for you) but mine was not. So I ordered pliers with a dimple die welded to it allowing access to that area and dimple it. No idea how I'm going to buck that rivet. I thought I had time to debur and dimple a skin.... nope

(Continued...)

#kitplane #rv10 #homebuilt #experimentalAviation

Pliers with a dimple die welded to the teeth.
Pliers with welded on dimple die being used to dimple an aircraft rib flange
Top skin of an elevator on the RV-10 airplane. It is undimpled and sitting across a two workbenches. Inbetween the workbenches is a custom jig with a c-frame dimpler clamped to it. A rubber mallet rests next to the c-frame dimpler.
A top skin for an RV-10 elevator that is about 2/3rd dimpled. I ran out of time to finish it. It is sitting in the c-frame dimpler and ready to continue later.
Aug 17, 2024, 16:00 · · 1 · 0
Aut

On Friday I took advantage of my EAA chapter having a bandsaw and decided to make the foam ribs for the trailing edge of my elevator. Van's provides some nice templates and once I verified the scale I cut them out and spray glued them to the foam blocks. Then it was pretty easy to cut them out with a band saw and finish shaping them with a belt sander.

(Continued...)

#kitplane #experimentalAviation #rv10 #avgeek #homebuilt

Five foam rectangle blocks sitting on a sheet of template designs for foam ribs. Each of the templates has two wedge shapes to be cut out of the foam.
Hand holding a can of 3M SUPER 77 Multipurpose Adhesive spray. Next to the can is the stack of five foam blocks and next to those are the cut out templates that will be glued to the foam.
One foam block with a template glued to the top sitting on a band saw and about to be cut.
A rough cut foam template wedge sitting on a bend sander that is being used to shape the wedge to the lines presented on the template.
Aug 11, 2024, 20:21 · · 0 · 0
Aut

Tonight's work session involved a lot of dimples so that rivets sit flush on my elevators. This is the left elevator I'm working on and I started by dimpling the trim inspection plate doubler (seen below in a before and after), a clip needed dimples, the very end of that rib in picture two needed dimples so the counterweights can sit nice. I dimpled the flange of the rear spar for the elevator, then a lot of dimpling of the bottom skin.

#avgeek #kitplane #experimentalAviation #rv10 #homebuilt

Elevator inspection plate doubler for the left elevator on an RV10. The holes have no dimples yet and need to be dimpled. The plate is a trapezoid shape with a big cutout in the middle and a bunch of holes dotted around the metal for rivets.
Elevator inspection plate doubler for the left elevator on an RV10, as well as a sheer clip, an end rib for the elevator, a squeezer tool with dimple die in it, a deburring tool for holes, and a file. All the holes on the inspection plate have been dimpled to allow for countersunk rivets to sit nice and flush.
An aircraft skin in a C-frame dimpler. Two of roughly 200 holes have been dimpled so far. A rubber mallet sits in the background and it is about to get a workout. The c-frame sits between workbenches on its own little bench to set the die at a good working height.
A fully dimpled bottom elevator skin sitting on a workbench top with nothing else. The roughly 200 holes have all been dimpled.
Aug 08, 2024, 01:29 · · 0 · 0
Aut

Brief workshop session after some yard work. Got the front elevator spar holes deburred (dang, there is a lot of them) and then setup a little dimple jig to save myself some hassle. Second photo there is the spar half dimpled (right side). Not the quickest work but those flush rivets sure do look nice when everything is put together. Sad part is that I have to do everything twice since the plane has two sides :OhNoBubble:

(done)

#experimentalAviation #kitplane #rv10 #homebuilt #avgeek

A hand squeezer secured to the side of a work bench with a clamp. An aluminum spar is laying across the work bench surface.
Picture looking down the front elevator spar with all of its holes. The flange holes on the right side are dimpled while the holes on the left flange are not.
Jul 09, 2024, 04:29 · · 0 · 0
Aut

In the past week of airplane building I got the skins all match drilled to the skeleton and everything was happy. Then I also screwed up drilling the trim plates (both of them). Ordering more.

Anyway, I started the week by drilling the sheer clips to match the trim close-out tabs on the skins. I had to use a long bit to get a good angle that close to the spar.

Then I upsized the elevator horns and got the skins drilled.

(continued...)

#homebuilt #kitplane #rv10 #experimentalAviation #avgeek

Cleco pliers, a pneumatic drill with a long #30 bit, and a chuck key sitting on a workbench next to a plane elevator.
Three bronze colored clecos holding the trim closeout tab to the sheer clip on the back of the elevator.
Elevator control horn with upsized #30 holes being held to the spare with bronze colored clecos.
Two full elevators (minus trim tabs). sitting on two workbenches. Used nearly ever cleco I have. The skins still have the blue vinyl covering to protect them from scuffs.
Jul 08, 2024, 02:20 · · 2 · 0
Aut

Got a few hours to mess around in the workshop. Started by cleaning up and then placing the trim inspection plate doublers and match drilling to the skins. After that there were these cute little parts called "gussets" in the instructions that I also cleaned up and installed on the rear spar. Those holes got upsized to 1/8" from the 3/32" they come as originally.

Continued...

#experimentalAviation #kitplane #rv10 #homebuilt #avgeek

Two mirror image reinforcement plates. One is set in its pocket and secured down with temporary rivets while the other is sitting on the workbench and has not been smoothed or cleaned yet.
Flipped the elevators over to show how the inspection plate doubler sits on the skin and a bunch of clecos are sticking out from the skin (little cylinders) to hold the skin to the skeleton. The skin still has blue film on it to protect it from scratches.
Small aluminum part being held in my hand. The part it bent about 110 degrees and has four small holes in it.
The small bracket from the last picture is nestled in a corner where the inner rib of the elevator meets the rear spar.
Jun 27, 2024, 03:34 · · 1 · 0

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