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What is the plate with all the holes in the empennage kit?

CubedRoot

CubedRoot

Well Known Member
OK, this might be a stupid question. I bought my tail kit unstarted from another builder, and I have it completed now. However, I had this little plate in my kit, and just thought it was something the previous builder had done themselves.

Now, I have noticed this odd little plate included in several other tail kits that have came up for sale here on the forums, so I am questioning just what this thing is and if its something Van's ships with all the empennage kits.

Here are some photos of it:

1MCruZRl.jpg



knfSFkxl.jpg


I can sort of guess what some of the holes are for, like sizing AN3 and AN4 bolts. But the string of holes drilled diagonally across the plate are cryptic, especially since they are missing a few numbers in the sequence (-18, -28, -29, etc).


Can someone shed some light on this? Thanks!
 
It's a bolt gauge: place the head of the bolt against the edge with the shaft pointed towards the holes. Where the end of shaft touches a hole that's the bolt length.
 
Don't lose it! that thing came in handy all the way through the build to the very end.
 
Thanks everyone! That was quick answers!

Luckily there isn't very many bolts in the tail kit, and they were pretty easy to sort out when I did my inventory way back at the beginning.

However, this plate looks like its gonna come in very handy during the wings and the rest of the build. It will find a nice home in my tool box instead of the parts shelves.

Wings are on their way, to be crated on 5-29-17 :)
 
Hang on to it!

I still have mine laying around right in front of my bolt cabinet from many years ago. It's a very handy tool and way nice of Van's to provide it.

Vic
 
I never got one of those in my RV-3B kit. Of course we all know that the -3 kit is a bit different.... So what's the part number of this thing?

Thanks,
Dave
Now skinning the fuselage
 
so jelly

I'm so jealous that you had one of those in your kit. Identifying bolts for me consists of measuring bolts with a caliper and then going to ACS to compare...
 
CubedRoot said:
Thanks everyone! That was quick answers!

Luckily there isn't very many bolts in the tail kit, and they were pretty easy to sort out when I did my inventory way back at the beginning.

However, this plate looks like its gonna come in very handy during the wings and the rest of the build. It will find a nice home in my tool box instead of the parts shelves.

Wings are on their way, to be crated on 5-29-17 :)
Click to expand...

Also, how did you find out your crate date? I ordered my wings shortly after you and haven't heard anything of the like.
 
jcarne said:
I'm so jealous that you had one of those in your kit. Identifying bolts for me consists of measuring bolts with a caliper and then going to ACS to compare...
Click to expand...

No need for doing that (or even using a bolt gauge for that matter....)

Just learn to measure them with a ruler.

AN bolts come in diam. increments of 1/16", and length increments of 1/8 ".
The first number is in the part # is the diam.
The second # in the part # is how many complete 1/8 " it is in length, unless it is more than one digit. Then the first digit is the length in inches and the second digit is the additional 1/8ths

That is why the numbering system jumps from AN3-7 to AN3-10
The AN3-7 is something over 7/8" in length but not yet all the way to 1 inch.
The AN3-10 is something slightly over 1 inch but not quite to an inch and 1/8".
In the same way it jumps from AN3-17 to AN3-20, and so on.

So just measure with a ruler. The length size is how ever many complete inches and / or 1/8 inch increments it measures.

And of course an "A" added on the end means no cotter pin hole (hole is "absent").
 
jcarne said:
Also, how did you find out your crate date? I ordered my wings shortly after you and haven't heard anything of the like.
Click to expand...

Jereme,
The crating date is on the invoice they send you for the wing kit. Here's what I did.

1. Emailed my wing order form, along with a note in the email of all the things I wanted to add/subtract/modify in the order.

2. I got a response the next day that they received my order, and will be working on the invoice and send it to me for review in a week or so.

3. After about 5 days, I got an email that had my invoice in it, with a total of everything and they mentioned my crating date. They asked for the down payment, and advised that I'd need to pay in full by the crating date to avoide any delays in shipping. I went ahead and paid my invoice 100% in full. I also had to print the invoice out, sign it on the line verifying everything looked correct and send it back to them. I did this via email.

4. They confirmed my payment and said that I'd be getting another email as soon as the wings ship, which should be the week of my crating date.


Did you get your invoice back from them already that shows your total amount owed and the signature line to verify it looks correct? If you did, look at the top line right next to order date. There is a "Crate date" on there.
 
CubedRoot said:
Jereme,
The crating date is on the invoice they send you for the wing kit. Here's what I did.

1. Emailed my wing order form, along with a note in the email of all the things I wanted to add/subtract/modify in the order.

2. I got a response the next day that they received my order, and will be working on the invoice and send it to me for review in a week or so.

3. After about 5 days, I got an email that had my invoice in it, with a total of everything and they mentioned my crating date. They asked for the down payment, and advised that I'd need to pay in full by the crating date to avoide any delays in shipping. I went ahead and paid my invoice 100% in full. I also had to print the invoice out, sign it on the line verifying everything looked correct and send it back to them. I did this via email.

4. They confirmed my payment and said that I'd be getting another email as soon as the wings ship, which should be the week of my crating date.


Did you get your invoice back from them already that shows your total amount owed and the signature line to verify it looks correct? If you did, look at the top line right next to order date. There is a "Crate date" on there.
Click to expand...

Lynn thanks for the order of things. I emailed my order and did the add-ons via the website, got my confirmation email, deposit paid but haven't received my invoice yet. It has only been one business week since I ordered though so I'm not worried, just wondering the process as it is a little different than the emp. I imagine my invoice should be sent soon.
 
rvbuilder2002 said:
No need for doing that (or even using a bolt gauge for that matter....)

Just learn to measure them with a ruler.

AN bolts come in diam. increments of 1/16", and length increments of 1/8 ".
The first number is in the part # is the diam.
The second # in the part # is how many complete 1/8 " it is in length, unless it is more than one digit. Then the first digit is the length in inches and the second digit is the additional 1/8ths

That is why the numbering system jumps from AN3-7 to AN3-10
The AN3-7 is something over 7/8" in length but not yet all the way to 1 inch.
The AN3-10 is something slightly over 1 inch but not quite to an inch and 1/8".
In the same way it jumps from AN3-17 to AN3-20, and so on.

So just measure with a ruler. The length size is how ever many complete inches and / or 1/8 inch increments it measures.

And of course an "A" added on the end means no cotter pin hole (hole is "absent").
Click to expand...

Scott thanks for the description of how to identify bolts. I more or less did the same thing (overkill using calipers) and vaguely knew the nomenclature but I just haven't used it enough to memorize it yet. I have however bookmarked this post so I can look at it until I do have it memorized!
 
Also, an "H" in place of the dash means the head is drilled for safetying...

e.g., AN3H7A or sometimes AN3H-7A
 
In your instruction manual there should be a page with a diagram of this gauge and all of the markings.

Like all (?) the other aluminum pieces, this comes covered in blue plastic.

After continually wiping off the markings, I used a punch set to permanently mark mine, including the proper drill sizes for the bolt diameters.

Like the others, I keep it next to my bolt tray and still use it.
 
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