Organization, Horizontal Stabilizer and Rudder

Tonight was a bit of a hodgepodge as we moved a few things to our storage site (Darren's).  We then finished up organizing some of the rivets and other key parts.  We also assembled one of the elevator hinges for the horizontal stabilizer (pretty much the last task on the horizontal stabilizer before the inspection.  Finally we resumed work on the rudder.  The part arrived last week and we match drilled, deburred, dimpled and primed the counter balance rib.  Before we called it a night we machine countersunk the counterweight.  We're ready to assemble the rudder on Saturday.

Finishing up unpacking and orginizing the rivets.

I have a feeling there is still lots of riveting left to do...... 

 Time to finish up some unfinished business on the horizontal stablizer.

 The hinge cleco's together and awaiting assembly.

  The hinge cleco's together and still awaiting assembly.

After riveting the hinge together, it was time to get to work on the rudder.

Wing kit has arrived

Well, today was an inventory day as the wing kit arrived here yesterday morning.  This morning I installed a few more shelves and put some brackets on the wall to hang the parts trays.  The wings are just that much more complicated so we wanted to make sure that we keep ourselves as organized as possible.  Once we got going on the inventory, we first inspected the boxes for any damage and I must say that they were packed exceptionally well. 

We next opened the crates up (and we're talking about some old school wooden crates here) and the fact that the wings are much larger with many more pieces hit home.  Lots of dohickeys, thing-a-magics and whatcamacallits in this one!  We made sure that all the pieces were included in the kit and none of the large pieces was missing or damaged (did I mention that it was packed really well). 

Finally, we inventoried the nuts, bolts, rivets, etc.  The scary part is that we're going to have to install about 400 nut plates somewhere on the wings.  (Each nut plate means 2 rivets so that's a lot of work).  There was only a couple of nuts missing for the pitot static system.  Van's has been great and will probably have those nuts on their way to us as soon as we call.  In any case, they won't be needed for a long time.  From start to finish it took about 3 or 4 hours to make sure that everything was included in the kit.  

The parts we ordered for the rudder have arrived so we will hopefully wrap up the rudder (as far as we can take it before the inspection) on Tuesday night. 

The boxes after arrival, and prior to being opened. 

Scott anticipating the opening of the boxes. 

The newly installed wall mounts for our rivet containers.  

 The first box being opened.

The top off of the first box. 

Scott taking a look at the packing/inventory  list.

A look inside the longer box containing the wing spars. 

 A closer look.

Elevator Progress

Darren asked me to provide a special update today (I type, he uploads the pictures - I've gotten the better deal). 

Tonight we used the thing-a-majig to make the sinky thing in the what-cha-ma-callit.  We're waiting for some more dohickeys before we can finish up the work

Translation: 

We finished dimpling as much of the right elevator skin as we can.  We're waiting for a couple tools (1/8" pop dimple dies and a torque wrench) to finish up a few last tasks.  Once they arrive we can prep, prime and assemble the right elevator.  

We moved onto the left elevator (it's more complex because it has a trim tab).  We assembled the spar and reinforcement plates and match drilled.  We next assembled the spar, ribs and skins and match drilled.  Finally we assembled the counter-balance arms, clecoed them to the elevator and match drilled all holes. 

We set the elevators aside and cleaned up the workshop.  Our wing kit should be arriving in the next few days so we wanted to take the opportunity to clean up the workshop before the next kit arrived.  We're probably a few weekends away from having the empennage finished. 

 Darren clecoing the left elevator skin to the spar.

 Scott preparing to put one of the left elevator counterbalance pieces into place.

All the pieces cleco'd into place.

Dimpled right elevator skin

We put a little extra time in on Sunday to move things ahead.  We realized that we will need a 1/8" pop dimple die set to finish up the right elevator skin.

We have no pictures for today, so I thought I would throw in a photo display of what it is "to cleco".

Cleco pliers on the left, and a cleco on the right.  

When in the pliers closed, the top of the cleco is pressed down.

 This narrows the pin at the bottom of the cleco so it small enough to fit the the holes of the two (or more) sheets of metal you wish to cleco together.

Once the pliers are released, the top of the cleco pops back out, the pin at the bottom of the cleco expands to hold the sheets of metal in place.

Elevators Continued

Today was another busy day.  We finished dimpling the stiffer holes on the skins.  Next we built the counterbalance arms, match-drilled the holes and deburred and dimpled them all.   We assembled the skeleton for the right elevator, match drilled all the stiffner plates, and match drilled the end rib.  We then deburred, dimpled and primed the parts to attach the end rib as it needed to be riveted to the spar before we could continue onto the next step.  We clecoed the skin to the skeleton and match drilled all holes.  Finally we deburred all the holes.  

Some of the pieces we were working with. 

Scott match drilling on of the elevator counterbalance arms. 

The couterbalance arms cleco'd together.

Some more pieces laid out prior to construction. 

Scott match drilling the right side stiffener plates and spar. 

 The spar and stiffener plates after being match drilled.

 A picture of the right elevator after everything has been cleco'd into place.

 Darren posing with the right elevator.

Started work on the elevators

Today was a busy day.  We first removed all of the protective coating on the inside of the elevator skins and used the soldering iron to cut away the coating around the holes.  Next we manufactured the stiffeners and prepped the edges.  We then clecoed them to the skins and match drilled them to the skins.  We deburred all the holes and dimpled the stiffners.  Finally we started dimpling the skins.

The elevator skins laid out prior to starting the day's work. 

One of the skins, and some of the stiffeners.

A close up of some of the "mantufactured" stiffeners. 

Darren cutting out one of the stiffeners. 

Scott cleaning up the edges on one of the skins. 

 Darren match drilling one of the skins.

Scott taking a turn match drilling out one of the skins. 

A little team work on the dimpling of the stiffeners. 

A closeup of some of our dimpling work on one of the skins.

 

Scott recording the day's evens in out log book, and one of the skins in the state we left it in.

Start of Rudder Assembly

We started the assembly of the rudder tonight.  We riveted the spar and bottom rib including all the rudder horn, spacers, etc.  We then realized that we had made a small mistake with one of the parts and would have to reorder it.  We were bound to make a mistake sometime.  When we took a course last year the instructor said "if something doesn't seem right, it probably isn't".  We followed the written instructions literally, kept saying on Saturday that something didn't feel right, and continued onwards.  We should've looked at the blueprints really closely.  Either way, it was a good lesson learned and a low cost lesson in any case.

Some of our riveting work. 

Some of the pieces laid out during a break in the action. 

Scott pop riveting the rudder horn into place. 

The skin cleaco'd into place, and rudder awating the arrival a few parts before we can continue.

 

The elevators are the next.

Rudder Progress

today we finished all the preparation for the rudder.  We match drilled the skins to the rudder skeleton.  We next trimmed the rudder horn and manufactured the botton attach strips and match drilled all parts.  Next we disassembled, deburred and dimpled all the parts.  In addition we countersunk the trailing edge wedge.  Finally we prepped and primed all parts.  

Darren match drilling the skins. 

 Measuring the botton attach strips.

Scott clecoing the botton attach strips into place.

A shot of the  botton attach strips.

The bottom of the rudder including the rudder horn, and bottom attach strips.

 A close up of the rudder horn.

Time for some priming..... 

A second priming shot.