Horizontal Stabilizer

I completed a full inspection of the horizontal stabilizer and replaced a few more rivets. Larry DePute, technical counselor for EAA Chapter 517, stopped by again this morning to take a look before I closed it up (thanks again Larry,… Read More »Horizontal Stabilizer Complete!

I finished riveting the horizontal stabilizer skins this evening with the exception of the rivets that can be set with a squeezer. I have three rivets that are overdriven that I need to replace but I’ll do that in the… Read More »Horizontal Stabilizer Riveting Continued

My Boeing Design Anti-Slip Flush Rivet Set order arrived today. Wow, game-changer, so much easier to control. The polyurethane ring around the edge of the set is firm but soft enough to keep it from sliding on the skin. The… Read More »More Riveting

I spent a couple of hours this evening and set about 150 rivets on the horizontal stabilizer. I started by riveting the remaining inner-most inspar ribs with blind rivets. I then riveted the outer inspar ribs with solid rivets. I… Read More »More Horizontal Stabilizer Riveting

I started riveting the horizontal stabilizer skins this evening. This starts with riveting the nose ribs to the skins. These require use of the rivet gun and bucking bar and were somewhat challenging to rivet in the tight space. I… Read More »Starting on the Horizontal Stabilizer Skins

I continued riveting the horizontal stabilizer this evening. I riveted the inboard inspar ribs to the stringer web, riveted the stringers to the web, and then riveted the outboard ends of the stringers together. The flange-nose squeezer yoke came in… Read More »Horizontal Stabilizer Riveting

I riveted the parts for the horizontal stabilizer front spar this evening. There are a wide variety of rivets in this assembly – check twice, rivet once. I was able to set all of these with the pneumatic squeezer.

I riveted the parts for the horizontal stabilizer rear spar this evening. The flange-nose squeezer was very useful here as the manufactured heads are expected to be on the flange side of the spar. The squeezer makes riveting easy and… Read More »Horizontal Stabilizer Rear Spar Riveted

I finished countersinking the spars and stringers today and I washed, etched, rinsed, and dried all of the remaining parts. I then primed everything on one side, waited for about an hour and primed the other side. Ready to start… Read More »Horizontal Stabilizer Ready for Riveting

I worked partial days on Thursday and Friday to get things ready for priming. All of the remaining holes were deburred, ribs were dimpled, skins were dimpled, the front spar was countersunk, and most of the parts were washed, etched,… Read More »Finishing the Horizontal Stabilizer Parts