Month: June 2013

Time: 5 Hours

Today was more work on the elevator stiffeners and the trim plates. First up was to edge finish and scuff all the stiffeners. Once that fun task is done I dimpled them to accept the dimples from the skins. There are 28 stiffeners that need to be done and my pneumatic squeezer makes quick work of this task.

Them they are off to be primed.

In between the priming coats I stated to work on the trim plate. The rivets that hold the nut plates are NAS1097 which are small and have a very shallow head. So rather than dimpling I countersunk them very carefully by hand.

Next was to dimple the skins.

The DRDT machine makes quick work of both skins. I was pretty tired from today’s work but wanted to tackle one more project, the trim servo attach brackets. A few measurements from the plans and I had everything lined up and ready for drilling.

I will let the priming cure before riveting. All in all a good days work.

Time: 5 Hours

I’m waiting on rolling the leading edge of the rudder until I get help from my friend Glen when his schedule is open. So I started to work ahead on the elevator’s. The first items, like the rudder, it’s to form all the stiffeners. Not too hard when you use a bandsaw and scotch-brite wheel. I got both the left and right sides done.

Next was to match drill to the corresponding skins.

I needed to order a couple dimple dies to use on the trim doubler plate that is in the L elevator. This plate allows for a recess for which the trim servo plate will sit allowing it to be flush with the skin. This plate will use screws to attach to the plate doubler. Those screws are a #6 and require a #6 dimple which I ordered tonight. I have plenty of work to do while waiting for those to arrive.