Empennage: Empennage attach.

This section had to wait 2 years until I had the space to complete it.  To start, I had to place 165 pounds from my weight set on the engine mount to keep the airframe from tipping back.  Even with that much weight up front, it only took about 20 pounds more on the tail, with everything mounted (stabs, rudder, fairings, etc.), to tip it.

Below is the only image I obtained of the horizontal stabilizer after match drilling it to the F-01411C Horizontal Stab Attach Bars.  It's important to keep the drill bit perpendicular to the parts and not let it chatter or wobble.  These holes need to provide a snug fit for the AN4 bolts.

My friend, who was helping me this week, and I decided to mount and match drill the elevators when the horizontal stab was on the aircraft, contrary to plans.  We felt that it would provide us more space to work with and help align things better.

It was found that the rolled leading edges were contacting both the HS-00903-1 Rear Spar and the HS-912 Hinge Brackets.  My friend spent some quality time massaging the edges into a shape to prevent this.  Recall, I was not pleased with how my rolled leading edges came out back in August 2014 when I rolled them and finally when they were riveted after being "re-rolled" by my friend in January 2016.

Next, the elevators were clamped into an in-trail position.

  

Following the plans with the "E drill bushing" (that bushing needed to be "turned down" on a drill press with sandpaper prior to getting a good fit into the bearing), I could match drill the left horn first (left).  Layering pieces of 0.020" aluminum strips provided for a good spacer.  The right side could then be match drilled in the same way.  Then both holes were upsized with a unibit to accommodate the AN4 bolt (right).  The washers necessary to prevent binding of the bearing are also visible.

My aft-most elevator horn was the right side.  So the hole was marked on that side first to accommodate the elevator pushrod (top left) then it was drilled to size (top right).  A spacer was fabricated, with a perpendicular hole pre-drilled, that was clamped in place to match drill the left horn (bottom left).  The spacer and its hole were important to ensure a perpendicular hole.  The horns could then be attached to the pushrod (bottom right).

Read Van's RV-14 Control Deflections Letter before adjusting control surface stops.  The horns contacted the F-01412C Deck Angle (which serves as the control surface stop in the "up" direction) prior to achieving the required full up deflection.  Quite a bit of it had to be filed away to accommodate the required travel.  I confirmed with Van's that this was acceptable:  "Your work as shown in your picture is perfectly acceptable. This angle is intended to be filed away to allow the appropriate elevator deflection."  Two other builders I contacted did something similar.

My elevator horns contact the Deck Angle simultaneously with the control stick stops in the upwards position.  In the downwards position, the control stick stops engage just prior to the control surface stop (the latter being the F-01411E Deck Doubler).  I have 29 degrees up and 24 degrees down elevator travel.  Were I do build another RV-14A (ha!), I would forgo the hours I put in filing down the control stops on page 36-13 until this step is reached.

I took the occasion of the elevators being attached to test the wiring of my pitch trim. It worked.

The vertical stab is then placed (left) and finally the rudder (right).

Rudder deflection is checked, left and right.  I am at 9/16" on both sides which is 3/16" short of the 3/4" spec.  This means I need to add offset tabs to achieve spec.