After finishing up the horizontal stabilizer I got back to assembling the elevators. I had already prepped and deburred most of the elevator parts so I made good progress this afternoon on assembly and final drilling. I started with bending… Read More »Assembling the Elevators
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 proceeded to do more prep work on the elevator parts this evening. I started by separating the four shear clips. I rough cut these on the band saw and final-sized them on a disc sander. I then fetched the… Read More »Continuing with the Elevators
I started prepping parts for the elevators today. I have a new flush rivet set arriving Monday (a Boeing Anti-Slip Flush Rivet Set) that I want to try out on the horizontal stabilizer before finishing up that assembly. I riveted… Read More »Getting Started on the Elevators
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.
