Platenuts, more platenuts and even more platenuts

Well, if the title didn't give it away we spent most of today installing platenuts on the left wing main spar.  Every platenut has 2 rivets which isn't really all that much but when you consider that we must do the following steps for every platenut:

- match drill the rivet holes (to get them to the correct diameter

- machine countersink the 2 rivet holes

- deburr all rivet holes

- spot prime where we countersank for the rivets

- rivet the platenut into place (2 rivets)

- countersink for the screw 

- spot prime the screw countersink 

It is actually a lot of work (we installed 76 platenuts today).

It was a little tedious but we completed the installation of all the platenuts and started working on the tie down bracket (used to tie the wings down to the ground when parked).  Before we quit for the day we layed out the part and tapped a 3/8x16x1" hole. 

Scott squeezing some platenuts. 

Darren squeezing some platenuts.

A sign we were not treating our hand squeezer as nice as we should have been. 

Scott match drilling. 

Scott squeezing some more platenuts.

A close-up of some platenuts from the back. 

A close-up of some platenuts from the front.

Scott measuring the piece of aluminium to be used for our tie down bracket.

 Scott tapping the tie down bracket.

Left Wing Main Spar

Tonight we started on the left wing.  You'll notice from the picture that the main spar is actually gold.  We decided that we wanted to fly in style so we chose the "gold upgrade". :-)  Seriously though, the spar is actually anodized (a chemical protection) so we don't have to prime it.  We only need to prime where we countersink. 

We match drilled the many many many platenuts that are used to install the fuel tank and then we countersunk all the rivet holes.  Finally we spot primed where we countersunk.  It doesn't seem like a lot of progress but it was a lot of work. 

Empennage completed

Today we finished up the remaining tasks on the empennage (at least those we can do prior to inspection).  We installed the trailing edge wedges by match drilling to the top elevator skin, through the wedge and into the bottom skin.  After that we deburred and dimpled the skins and machine countersunk the wedges.  We then prepped and primed the parts.  Finally we rolled the rudder leading edge.  We spent the remaining time cleaning and reorganizing the shop. 

We'll start on the wings on Tuesday. 

The left elevator layed out with the piece of "L" aluminum used to assist in drilling out the trailing edge.  

 Scott drilling out the trailing edge.

Darren deburring.

Left Elevator Final Assembly

Sorry for the late update.  This update will contain 2 Tuesday evening's worth of work.  We finished the assembly of the left elevator.  We attached the ribs, trim spar and attach gusset.  We also assembled the counterbalance arm and attached the bottom skin to the main spar.  Finally we riveted the trim spar and ribs to the bottom skin and assembled the trim tab motor housing.  There are a few minor tasks to wrap up on the empennage (rolling the rudder leading edge and drilling out the trailing edges) before we move onto the wings. 

Scott unpacking the trim tab motor. 

A look at the contents of the trim tab motor's box. 

 Marking the trim tab motor's cover, and mounting brackets.

The assembled trim tab motor housing. 

 Trim tab motor attached to the housing.

 The trim tab cover shown in place on the elevator.

A close up shot. 

The wide angle shot.

Left Elevator Assembly

Today we made quite a lot of progress on the left elevator assembly.  Our first task was to dimple the rest of the skin and then we prepped and primed it.  Next we back riveted the stiffners to the top skin.  We then assembled the the counterbalance ribs and skin.  After that we riveted the main spar, reinforcement plates and plate nuts and attached the rib.  The next step was to attach the main spar to the top skin and the stiffners to the bottom skin.  The final step was to attach the plate nuts to the trim tab motor reinforcement plate and attach that plate to the skin.