Tim's RV-14 Build - Wing Spar and Wing Ribs

Added 1/4/2013

With the inventory complete, it was time to start the build!

As you will see in the photos, this build is getting some major help...I've hired a team of highly skilled monkeys to do a majority of the real work, while I "stupervise".  They're a good crew, and generally pretty tame as long as you keep them fed.  They thrive on snacks and desserts, but require high doses of music, movies, and television, so we've outfitted the shop with a TV, Media Player, PC for various uses, and speakers and Sennheiser RS120 headphones.  Yes, there are far nicer headphones out there, but when you're buying for 4, and building an RV, you've got to keep it as cheap as you can.  I find that with a little entertainment, we all can go far longer in the shop each day.

Dec. 30, we just got the J-Stiffners cut and drilled...a short night, but for New Year's Eve, what better way to party than to spend it sober in the garage, right?!?!  So we drilled and countersunk away.  For those new to the wings, it helps to know about these J-Stiffners....you aren't ever going to use them on the spar, the spar is just a drill guide...a highly expensive drill guide. The reason you can't match drill both sides completely, and have to skip some holes, is because the hole pattern isn't consistent around the wing access panels.  Other than that, you're just drilling them with a lot of holes, and later you'll install the stiffners mid-wing.

I found myself looking at my RV-10 build pictures a lot, just to have a faster memory of the process.  I can't believe I've been flying the RV-10 now for almost 7 years, and it was almost 9 years ago that I was building the wings!  Time sure fun's while you're having flights!

Regarding Section 11 page 5, I'm looking at these W-823-1 parts that we have in the kit and contemplating a little.  I *think* those were steel parts on the RV-10, and I may just replace those with some 1/8" aluminum angle pieces that I fabricate myself.  For some reason, flimsy bent sheet metal bothers me on an aerobatic capable control area.  I may call Van's about it, but they must have had their reasons for not going with steel.  Re-making them in angle would be easy, except the W-823-AP might be a little more challenging.  We didn't have those brackets in the -10.



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Lots and lots of countersinking to do on these spars! Good thing I had help.
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There are quite a few nutplates to install on the spar.  One of the important things to verify is that you countersink for the screws to the proper size.  Having a test piece of aluminum dimpled to fit the future screws, you can test fit your countersink holes and make sure that in the future they aren't too deep or too shallow.  If you go with the dimensions for the countersinks that Van's provides you should end up in the right place, but verifying by using a scrap piece will give you peace of mind.
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