How do you drill the rudder blocks to the fuselage?

How do you drill the rudder blocks to the fuselage?

I can't see how I could possibly do it without an angle drill with a long #10 bit. I'm sure I could make the first bold fit , but I'm sure the other three would not.

I assume the way people are doing this is by match-drilling the blocks to the fuselage angle, which (at least once the structure above it is installed) requires an angle drill. Maybe this is a "Quickbuild only" problem?

Thanks,
Martin

Just remove the aux longeron

Well, I hope you've got a slowbuild and not a QB. With the slow build, you can just remove the aux longerons and drill 'em on the bench. Check out this page:

http://www.rvproject.com/20021116.html

About 2/3 way down you can see what worked easily for me.

If you have a QB, then yeah -- you're gonna need to use your angle drill. Don't have one? Good investment...easy to rationalize long term.

)_( Dan
RV-7 N714D (605 hours)
http://www.rvproject.com

You could match-drill a little strip of .063 to your blocks then clamp it to the angles and use it as a drill guide. You're still better off if you have an angle drill but you wouldn't need a long bit. You might also be able get by with a 12" bit in a regular drill by bending it as you drill. I think the angles shoud be drilled #12, only the blocks need to be #10.

Good luck!
Jim

Thanks

Yeah, I have a QuickBuild...add this to the list of disadvantages.

Thanks for the responses. I bought an angle drill about a month ago, thinking this would be the first application...a rare case of prescience on my part!

One other option....

Sometimes a transfer punch will work in this situation.
Put the block in place, punch and mark one hole, drill it, drop in the bolt and punch the adjacent hole.....
Drilling a small pilot hole into the punched mark is much easier than trying to go straight to the #12 drill when you are using an angle drill or adapter...
I find the large size bit can wander on me in this situation...

A small transfer puch set, such as this one from Cleaveland is a good investment...

http://www5.mailordercentral.com/clevtool/prodinfo.asp?number=TPS7

good luck ......gil in Tucson -- can't have enough tools

az_gila said:

One other option....

Sometimes a transfer punch will work in this situation.


good luck ......gil in Tucson -- can't have enough tools

Click to expand...

Alas, a transfer punch is how I botched it. It's not too big a "botch", in that the hole almost lines up...but I want to get better at doing this. I think what happened is that my angle drill wandered a bit while I was drilling the pilot hole.

Difficult drilling.

Good thing you have an angle drill. It won't be the last time you use it. I have found an angle Hex drive screwdriver attachment and angle hex drills very compact for tight areas. The real fun is trying to ACCURATELY drill the HS to the rear deck. Very tight.
pete.

Long #50 bits.....

This can be done without an angle drill.... takes a little practise, but is neat when you get the hang of it...

If you have a punch mark as a location, try drilling with a #50 12 inch long drill in a cordless drill.

It's amazing how much curve you can put in the drill bit to miss obstructions and still drill. Use your fingers at the drilling end to keep the bit end in the mark and normal to the surface being drilled.

Once you have a #50 hole (1/16) then the angle drill is easy to use without slipping. Do this with a cordless drill to keep the rpms down.... not sure this would work with an air drill.

Same with the angle drill and large bit sizes (such as #12)... the cordless may be easier to handle due to the lower rpms...

gil in Tucson