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RV-9A Rudder assembly

CaptPausert

Active Member
A question on the RV-9A rudder assembly. The assembly instructions say to rivet the stiffeners to the skins prior to doing the rest of the assembly, match drilling and riveting. Is there a reason you cant do this with the stiffeners clecoed in place? Since I am spraying primer I would prefer to get the skins completely match drilled and dimpled so I can spray primer prior to riveting anything.

Thanks
 
Clekos don’t center the parts as well as rivets do.. perhaps you can cleco and leave a couple of unsqueezed rivets taped in place to help locate the stiffeners? I prefer to scuff and prime BEFORE dimpling.. a good primer will stay stuck throughout the dimpling process. Trying to scuff or prime with the dimples make is hard on the scotchbrite pads and often leaves shadows trying to spray around the dimples.
 
A question on the RV-9A rudder assembly. The assembly instructions say to rivet the stiffeners to the skins prior to doing the rest of the assembly, match drilling and riveting. Is there a reason you cant do this with the stiffeners clecoed in place? Since I am spraying primer I would prefer to get the skins completely match drilled and dimpled so I can spray primer prior to riveting anything.

Thanks

If there is room to install the cleco, install it. That's extatically what they are made for. They ARE a temporary assembly tool used for that purpose on every riveted aircraft ever built.
 
You can easily do it with the stiffeners just clecoed on. Because of how the stiffeners just attach to the skin and no other structures, even if the clecos do have a little bit of wiggle room and don't line everything up perfectly, in this case it really wouldn't matter at all.
 
Thanks for the responses. I was just wanting to make sure I wasn't missing something. I am getting all of my empennage parts up to the point of priming so I can make my cleaning and priming setup and work through all of the parts. According to Van's my wing kit is going to show up over a month earlier than I expected when I ordered it so I need to get my Empennage done:D
 
It can be done by just clecoing on the stiffners but keep in mind that you will have a much higher risk of doing damage while doing the rest of the initial work because anytime the rudder is laying down on the table it is laying on all of the stiffner Clecos. It is very easy to tip Clicquot’s and cause dents in the skins.
 
Scott, So if 9 builders are match drilling stiffeners, why aren't they clecoing to a board like we did on the 6 rudder?.. so simple..:confused:
 
Scott, So if 9 builders are match drilling stiffeners, why aren't they clecoing to a board like we did on the 6 rudder?.. so simple..:confused:

Because there’s really no practical reason to do so. On an RV six Rudder there are no pre-punched holes in either of the parts so you are positioning a stiffener relative to pen lines marked on the inside of the skin and trying to hold it in alignment while you drill the first couple holes. Usually one at each end. With pre-punch parts you can Cleco the stiffener into its final position before even picking up the drill.
 
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