Finished Priming Rudder and Elevators

Long day. Prep, layed out parts, alumiprep, alodine, AZKO, packed up and cleaned up. Parts are back in the basement and cars are back in the garage. There were nearly 100 parts primed today. I don't think I'd want to do more than that in a single batch. Other than letting them dry before AZKO, it kept me pretty busy all day. Good news is this is the last time I have to prime until I get to the wings. On to riveting the rudder and elevators!

Time spent: 6 hours (109 Total)

Priming

It's my last day of freedom before I start a new job. If I don't prime the rest of my tail feathers now it will not get done before the weather turns frigid. Time for an all day primer fest!

Dimpled and countersunk left elevator

Dimpled and countersunk the understructure according to the manual. Finished small tasks such as countersinking the counterweight and counterbalance skin, and adding bevels to the counterbalance skin. This time I believe I did the bevel correctly. It was supposed to go on the edge of the skin, not in the middle of the skin where the elevator skin overlaps it. I will probably have to order a new counterbalance skin as I probably created an unnecessary stress riser in the right counterbalance skin.

After finishing the understructure, I deburred and dimpled the holes in the left elevator skin.

Time spent: 3 hours (70 total)

Deburred edges of left elevator understructure

Short day in the workshop, but good to get something done. I deburred the edges of the left elevator understructure.

Time spent: 1 hour (67 total)

Deburring

Deburred all holes in the left elevator understructure and stiffeners.

Time spent: 1 hour (66 total)

Trim servo

Worked on installing the trim servo. Read the manual that came with the servo. Clecoed the reinforcement plate to the elevator skin. Lined up the servo mounting brackets on the inspection plate according to the diagram. I placed the brackets 3/8" from the forward side of the inspection plate as instructed, but the assembly had to be moved slightly inboard of where the plans call for to get it lined up properly. I've read that other builders have had to do the same thing. I marked the holes, drilled, and clecoed the servo in place.

Here's the servo installed on the elevator:

The alignment looks pretty good:

I drilled the reinforcement plate to the elevator skin, and then disassembled the entire elevator for deburring, dimpling, and countersinking. Getting very close to "prime time".

Time spent: 2 hours (65 total)

Right elevator work, skin is NOT defective

I heard back from Joe at Van's, and he said the offset hole is intentional. I tried once again to fit the ribs to the counterbalance skin and voila, it fit. It took a little bit of work to get the holes to line up, but they did. Doh! Next time I'll have to try harder before I assume a defective part.

I drilled the counterweight. It was much easier this time since I lubricated the drill and I stopped every few seconds to clean the lead shavings out of the drill bit.

I clecoed together the understructure, trimmed a few of the stiffeners a bit more (some need to be trimmed slightly shorter on this elevator), clecoed on the stiffeners, and clecoed the understructure to the elevator skin. Like the right elevator, I did not put the bend in the trailing edge yet, so I just clecoed the skin to the understructure one side at a time for drilling.

Final drilled the skins, the control horn, and any outstanding understructure holes.

At this point I decided to look at the trim servo assembly. The instructions are pretty vague on this topic - the only instructions in the manual are to "install the system according to your configuration" and "now would be a good time while there is sufficient access". Thare are some notes on the diagram, but not much. I read ahead in the empennage manual for any more instruction and did not find any. I'm going to assume that now is the time to install the reinforcement plate, the inspection plate, and the servo.

Here's where the servo goes on the underside of the right elevator:

Here is how it attaches to the inspection plate:

And here is how the unit will look once installed:

Time spent: 3.5 hours (63 total)

Elevators, found another defect

I got a shipment from Avery Tools that included a handy little dimple die set that uses a finish nail and a pull riveter to make dimples in really tight places. I used it to dimple some of the holes in the really tight spots on the inboard and outboard ribs. It still takes a bit of doing to get this tool in place - the nail has to be able to make the angle to go through the hole. I ground down one nail to make it easier.

I finished deburring, dimpling, and countersinking the right elevator.

I started work on the right elevators. Before too long I discovered another mispunched hole, this time on a counterbalance skin:

The corresponding hole on the other side was off as well:

I sent an email to Joe at Van's to see if they'll replace this skin. The last time this happened I simply put the rudder on hold and moved on to the next assembly. Tomorrow I'll see if I can move on to the trim tab. If not I may be stuck until the replacement arrives.

Time spent: 1.5 hours (59.5 total)