Michael – Page 105

Rudder Stiffeners

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Michael — No Comments ↓

Time: 4 Hours

I added a track on my wall to add some different hooks so that as items got finished I could hang them for storage.

Once I got all my errands done I was able to get a little over 4 hours in the hangar. First up was to trim the stiffeners for the rudder. There are 16 stiffeners, 8 on each side of the rudder. Van’s sends 5 pieces of thin angle aluminum. Each piece has several stiffeners laid out by pre-punched holes. The plans have you draw lines between two holes which outlines the the individual stiffeners.

Once a rough cut is made I then drew the lines to be cut on the bandsaw.

Next up was to take each stiffener to the scotch-brite wheel and shape them to the right shape.

Then I set half for the left side and half for the right side. Then they got cleco’d to the skin. Tomorrow I will get to match drilling and prepping(deburring, dimpling and priming) so that they can be riveted.

VS Done

Posted on May 11, 2013 by Michael — No Comments ↓

Time: 4 Hours

I got to work with the last couple of rivets for the VS forward spar. The next step has you cleco the skin on and begin to rivet starting at the center on the forward spar/center rib and work your way out. Then you work around the edge riveting the upper and lower ribs. Once that is done I inserted the rear spar and finished riveting it in place. I was able to use the squeezer for most of these rivets and finished up the rest with the bucking bar/rivet gun.
Next up the rudder!

VS Spar Work

Posted on May 11, 2013 by Michael — No Comments ↓

Time: 4 Hours

I finished up dimpling the VS skin using the DRDT-2 which makes quick work of that process. Then I touched up the skin with some scotch-brite pads to remove any marks I made while dimpling. Next up was to prime the inside of the skins. You really don’t have to do this as the ribs are primed and have enough protection, but I figured a little extra protection can’t hurt and I like the color.

Then the work started on the rear spar. Riveting began on the spar, spar doubler and the hinge brackets. The lower portion of the spar required AN426 flush rivets since this is a mating surface for future attachment to the fuselage section.

Next up was to get the forward spar riveted to the ribs in prep to be inserted into the skin.

When I was done with the work in the hangar I decided to do a little rearranging in the house to make room for a little more permanent hanging space for my completed parts. I was worried that if I tried to store them in the hangar they would get damaged as space is limited. I have a nice wide hallway that has a large blank wall just calling for some cool aluminum!

VS Skin Work

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Michael — No Comments ↓

Time: 2 Hours

Got a little work done last night on the VS skin. Did all the edges and hole deburring. I will get the skin dimpled next so it will be already for riveting once the ribs and spars are done.

VS Prepped

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Michael — No Comments ↓

Time: 8 Hours

This weekend saw more work on the VS along with some BBQ’ing and Chicago Blackhawks hockey! The work on the VS was of the boring and tedious type – edge finishing, deburring, dimpling, surface prep and priming. I will let the primer cute for the rest of the week and get to riveting this coming weekend.

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