More elevator riveting!

 Yesterday I put the two elevator skins together for each elevator to form the elevator.  Cleco'ed the rear spar to the skins.

 Then I cleco'ed the ribs together making sure to have them overlap properly.  Did both elevators.

 Next I squeezed the rivets on the rear spar to skin where I could.  Have to leave the top skin area clear in the area of the trim tab.  This is because those rivets also hold the hinge on that gets installed later.  Did both elevators.

 Next I had to rivet the ones that I have been dreading for months.  You have to use this special long bucking bar to reach up under the skin overhang and blind buck the rear spar rivets outboard of the trim tab area.  I drew a centerline on the bar to make sure I aligned it properly under the hole.  Had to remark it occasionally but it worked well!

 Turns out this was not bad at all.  I took my time and these rivets came out great!  No damage to the skins either!  So glad this worked out!  Did both elevators.

Today....I pop riveted the rib halves together.  It is very tight in there but I got it done.  Luckily my rivet puller was able to reset between the ribs without needing to use a special spacer as called out in the plans....  Easy but time consuming and the hands were tired by the time I was done!

 Right side ribs all tied together for good!  Did both elevators.

 Next the front spar gets pop riveted to the ribs. Cleco'ed.....

 And done riveting.... Did both elevators.  Van's is really getting skimpy with the hardware they provide.  When I built my RV-7 they always gave you way more rivets than you needed.  With this kit, I have 5 LP3-3 rivets left over.  They were way short on AN426AD-3-3 rivets....I had some left over from the 7 and used them.

 Next I used the 4" no hole yoke to squeeze the front spar flange to skin rivets.  Easy Peasy!   I did both elevators.

Right elevator done.  I put the blue tape on those holes that don't get rivets yet.

 Left elevator done.  Same deal with the tape.

 Next I squeezed these 4 rivets on both elevator root ribs.  Two in the rib flange to rear spar web.  Two in the root rib web to rear spar gusset.  Was able to get both elevators with the small squeezer yoke.

And finally for tonight I finished riveting the root rib flange to skin and the front spar flange to skin rivets on both elevators.  It is OK to rivet these front inboard rivets now since the reason for leaving it open has been accomplished (riveting the gusset).

The elevators have been a ton of work.  Most so far I think.  Most number of parts, most number of weird part arraignments and most number of awkward riveting situations.  It gets even weirder soon with foam ribs and trim tabs to work with!

Elevator Rear Spar Riveting

 Tonight I squeezed the rivets that fasten the rear elevator spar to the aft rib flanges.

 On the outboard end I also attached the shear clip

 On the inboard end I attached this angle clip/brace.

 On this one due to the limited clearance I used the hand squeezer to hit the rivets that hold the inboard shear clip on.  The hand squeezer is much more narrow.

 Rear spar all riveted in place...on the bottom right skin.  This one gets the entire length riveted at this time.  I also did the top left one.  It does not get riveted where the trim tab hinge goes....yet!

These rivets where the skin hangs over are too far to reach with the squeezer.  I had to blind buck these by following the directions on how to clamp it down and reach under and buck them.  Had to drill a few out that clubbed over.  The outboard most one near the shear clip is a real pain to buck!

Elevator Ribs to Skin Riveting

Tonight all I did was back rivet all the ribs to the elevator skins.  Careful attention to the orientation!

All done with that task!

Elevator Skin Dimpling and Riveting

 First I dimpled the elevator trim cable closeout cover reinforcement plate screw holes for #6 flush screws.

 Then I set out to rivet the countersunk nutplates to the closeout cover reinforcement plate.
I am using these NAS1097AD-3 rivets.  They are considered an oops rivet because they have the shank of a 3/32 rivet but the manufactured head of a rivet a size smaller.  When used as a 3/32 nutplate mounting rivet, you can countersink for the head instead of dimpling the skin and the ears of the nutplate.  The head is so small and thin, it only takes a very slight countersink to make them sit flush.  This lets you install them in some really thin material.

 Here is all the countersink you need.  Normally this thickness of material can't be countersunk for a 3/32" rivet but you can for a NAS1097 rivet due to the thin/small manufactured head.  Notice the one hole toward the top still has plenty of material left after the countersink.  Not knife edged like it would be with a regular 3/32 rivet.

 All the nutplates riveted on...

 The other side.  I did both elevator's reinforcement plates.  I have seen several build blogs/sites where the builder used the wrong kind of nutplate on these.  They used regular nutplates sitting up on top of a #6 dimple instead of countersunk nutplates like these.  Using a regular nutplate sitting up on top of a #6 dimple is not correct!

 Next I used the DRDT-2 to dimple all 4 elevator skins.

And finally I backriveted the reinforcement plate assemblies to the bottom skins of both elevators.

Elevator Skeleton Assembly

 Worked tonight on riveting the hinge doublers and nutplates to the front elevator spars.

 Here they are all riveted.

 The other end....

 Love these simple task!

 Pop and done!

 Then I riveted the 3/32" flush rivets that attach the inboard root rib to the front spar. 

 Used the no hole yoke for these due to the angle.

 All riveted.  Did both left and right elevators.

 Next was riveting on the control horn.  Some have managed to rivet these on backwards so I was careful not to do that!

Control horns all riveted on on both elevators.