Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Section: 7
Hours: 8

Today I continued back riveting ribs to the rudder skins.


Next I pulled some rivets to add the skin joiners.

The plans specify that you drill and countersink the trailing edge extrusion at an angle normal to the center line of the trailing edge. I cut an angle block on my table saw as an alignment guide. I mounted the angle block on my drill press and made all the countersinks at the specified angle.


Next I joined the skins with pull rivets. I laid one skin flat on the table and curled the other back so I could reach in to pull the rivets. A little masking tape from the skin to the nearby dimpler worked well. I peeled the backing off the double sided tape on the trailing edge as I went and the skins and trailing edge mated nicely.
I wanted the trailing edge to come out straight so I manufactured a jig from some 2"x2" aluminum angle that I purchased from the hardware store. I match drilled the jig to the trailing edge holes and bored out a hole large enough for the rivet squeezer every 6th hole. Using this arrangement, I was able to cleco the entire trailing edge and then begin riveting widely spaced rivets to maintain a straight edge. It was somewhat cumbersome because I had to shift the jig for the next set of rivets and then recleco multiple times before I was done, but the trailing edge turned out straight!


Here's some shots of the assembled skins and rudder spar before closing the leading edge skins.


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