Vertical Stabilizer

Date	Hours
2/24/2005	2.1	I clecoed together the rear spar and brackets. I drilled the upper holes in the lower rudder bracket using the spar channel and re-enforcement as a guide. I then broke the edges of the ribs using a file and my Scotch Brite wheel and then fluted them.
2/25/2005	2.6	With the hinge brackets drilled, the next step was to cleco together the spars and ribs. They were then match drilled. The skin was then Clecoed on and match drilled to the spars and ribs. Lesson learned today: 50 #40 Clecos are not enough for the empennage kit.17 #30 Clecos are also not enough. Up until this point I would say 100 #40s and 30 #30s would be about right.
2/26/2005	2.8	Wow. What timing (not). A boatload of Clecos arrived today along with a really cool hole deburring tool, edge deburrer and a swiveling head rubber padded flat set for doing flush rivets. I deburred all of the holes in the skin on both sides and then dimpled them. The c-frame is a menace. It is really easy to scratch the beautiful and shiny Alclad with it if you are not really careful. I used old sheets and a towel to protect the skin. I mounted the skin on blocks to keep it slightly higher than the die so that when I moved the skin around, the die would not make contact with it. The thingy that you hammer on (I have no idea what it is called) was starting to mushroom out so I decided to try a mallet. The dimples ended up too rounded and not deep enough so I switched back to a ball peen hammer. I used the pneumatic squeezer (very carefully) for the outside holes. I tried my new hole dimpler for the blind rivet gun on the holes next to the leading edge. I worked just fine.
2/27/2005	3.9	Today I dimpled the ribs and spars. The front side of the rear spar at the bottom needs to be flush so I dimpled the rib and countersunk the re-enforcing bar. I then cleaned and etched everything with Alumiprep and then Alodine. I then built the horrible contraption below to catch the overspray when I prime. Hopefully the rear spar half for the horizontal stabilizer will arrive soon. That way I can work on it tomorrow and possibly prime everything the next day. I called Van's on Friday and they said it shipped via Fedex ground on Thursday.
2/28/2005	1.4	I primed the vertical stabilizer parts. The paint backsplash combined with both garage doors being open, a powerful little fan and my new respirator worked out much better than before. I didn't catch my first whiff of the primer until I was out in front of the garage taking off my respirator. The second picture above is where I messed up on the rudder hinge bracket. Yesterday when I was deburring I noticed this. The Cleco wasn't in right and the hinge moved up while drilling. I didn't think I did any damage except to the paint. I ordered a new one from Van's this morning. It was only $5 and some change plus shipping. Lesson Learned Yesterday: Use lots of Clecos. If you screw up, inspect for damage immediately.
3/1/2005	2.2	Tonight was rear spar night. I squeezed a lot of 470AD4 rivets with y pneumatic squeezer. It was barely up to the task. With pressure dialed up to 100 PSI it still took some jiggling and sometimes a second try to get the rivets to squeeze. I used the rivet gun with my new 2 lbs bucking bar to set the longest rivets and the 426 flush rivets at the bottom of the spar. Christine, again, was kind enough to buck rivets. The primer is pretty tough. I managed to chip it in only one spot. I'll tough it up when I primer the horizontal stabilizer rear spar half (if it ever gets here).
3/2/2005	.4	The replacement hinge bracket came in today. I drilled it, deburred it and rivited it to the rear spar.
3/5/2005	4.3	I finished the horizontal stabilizer today. I then riveted the ribs to the front spar on the vertical stabilizer. Then I riveted the skin to the ribs and front spar. Then I riveted on the rear spar and then the outside rivets. Everything went very smoothly. Too smoothly. I checked all of the rivets before "closing up". I checked for left behind Cleco's. Too smoothly. Today's Lesson: The pivoting head rubber booted flat set for the rivet gun does a much better job in the hands of an unskilled airplane builder than does the regular flat set.

Total Time: 19.7

email: Luis Luciani