Back to "creation time". One of the fun things to do while building your own aircraft is that Van's let's you create your own parts. It's always fun time when the plans say: "Make from".
Today I'm working on the spacers that are used underneath the F-714 aft deck.
They fill up the space between the F-710 and F-711 bulkhead assemblies. The side longerons lay on top of these bulkheads and thus create a void in the middle that must be filled up with some material in order for the aft deck to lay flat.
First started by making the spacer for the F-710 bulkhead. It's a long piece of thick aluminum in a form described as per the specs on DWG-27A.
Making F-710C is easy, it's just cutting the part and tapering the sides a bit. Edge cleaning and done.
F-711E is more fun to make. The down elevator stop has an odd shape and it takes some time to think about the step sequence how to make it.
I first cut a rectangle according to the final outer dimensions and made help lines for the different dimensions.
Then drilled 2 holes where the radiused bend should be
Then cut out the small squares that should be removed until into the drilled hole. Used scotchbrite wheel and die grinder to finish it off to final dimensions.
Checked multiple time on the plane to get best possible nesting inside the F-711 opening.
Then tapered the top sides and cleaned it all up with sanding paper.
Drilling the parts is next. I positioned the spacers in place and used duct tape to fix the parts in place.
Yes, lift your eyebrows. A plane is constructed using good old duct tape.
Then you place the aft deck over the spacers and cleco it in place.
Finally drill the spacers using the holes in the aft deck as drill guide.
Removed the aft deck and checked the result. Perfect !
Same on F-710C
The parts when removed and drilled.
Drilling the parts also drills the holes in the top of the bulkheads F-10 and F-711. Also here, the positiong of the holes as well as edge distance is perfect.
Very happy with this productive day.