Jessen RV-10 Rudder Main

Rudder
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Section 7

The Rudder is finished!
Long live the Rudder!

The rudder is certainly a step up from the VS in difficulty, with a few new techniques to learn, such a back riveting. But there is nothing all that difficult. The most challenging for me was getting the trailing edge straight, but in the end it was mostly nerves and not ability that was difficult. The one section I'd do over if I had the chance would be the bending of the forward edge. Mine did not come out as round as I have seen on other RV-10's. There's a tip on mounting the lead counter weight, which caused me unnecessary difficulty.

Total time for the Rudder =

Page 7-2

Here the main rudder components are laid out prior to starting. It doesn't look like that big a deal. Not many parts at all (only one skin is shown and a few other parts missing).. This seeming simplicity of parts is similar for each of the sections of the Empennage. Each looks easy in the beginning, especially the VS. There's a reason Van's has decided to start builders at the VS. The number of hours put into the project really has to do with all the little details.

As of this writing, Cirrus estimates they have decreased, down to 2,200 hours, the number of person hours it takes to roll a completed SR-22 off the assembly line. And this is in a production environment, not some garage with a person who has seldom bent aluminum, let alone riveted anything. The only point here is not to under estimate what lies ahead. On the other hand, there's no reason to become intimidated. Just one step at a time.

Steps 1 & 2. The first thing to do is to cut a bunch of parts, in this case the top and bottom rib parts. Mark the parts to keep same with same.

You have to be careful that the aluminum thickness is such that the tool used to do the cutting isn't too aggressive. If using the band saw, also be careful that you have the saw tuned. Later I will get in trouble because of this when doing the Tailcone, having the blade wander on me because it wasn't tight enough. The parts on Page 7-2 can all be done with the band saw or other implement of choice.

06/01/05 - 1 hour Bandsaw