Monday, February 29, 2016

Section: 9
Hours: 1.5

Today I formed the leading edge of the right elevator and closed it up. I used the method of duct taping a 1" metal pipe to the front edge of the skin. After the pipe is secured with tape, I curled the skin by twisting the pipe with the help of a large wrench. After the initial shape was achieved with the pipe and wrench, I manually manipulated the skins to get a final fit. It took several tries before the skins would close up without any gaps.

Bending the skin with the help of a metal pipe and large wrench.

It took several rounds of clecoing, marking bulges, unclecoing and more hand forming before I got to this point. The skins are finally matching up without gaps!

Woody inspecting the final pull riveting of the leading edge. He says it passes the smell test (must be the ProSeal still curing on the foam rib sections...)

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Section: 9
Hours: 1.5

I woke up this morning thinking that I had made a big mistake- I forgot to remove the paper backing from the double sided tape between the wedge and the top skin before gluing in the ribs. I went back and re-read the instruction manual and it doesn't specify to remove the paper until after the ribs have been glued in. I carefully pulled the paper backing from between the wedge and the top skin. There was just enough space to pull the paper out. I then riveted the trailing edge using the tapered dies in my pneumatic squeezer. I also closed out the ends with some pulled rivets.

Despite my best efforts to squeeze the rivets just enough, a couple sections of the lower skin pulled away from the wedge. I clamped the skin back and I'll let the tape cure another day or so.

Saturday, February 27, 2016

Section: 9
Hours: 1.5

I mixed up another batch of ProSeal and glued in the foam ribs for the back of the right elevator. I also put double sided tape on the trailing edge aluminum wedge and glued it to the lower skin only as per the instructions in the manual. I clamped a straight board on top of the elevator to press the skins onto the ribs and left it to cure for a day.

Since the wedge gets thicker towards the aft of the elevator, I left it hanging over the edge of the table so I could clamp the board to ensure good contact with the ribs inside.

End view of the elevator to show how the trailing edge wedge fits.

Friday, February 26, 2016

Section: 9
Hours: 1.5

I glued in the foam ribs to the left elevator yesterday and let it cure overnight with a flat board and weights on it. Today I riveted the trailing edge to close up the skins. The double sided tape is supposed to hold the skins down on the trailing edge aluminum wedge extrusion, but after riveting the edges separated a little. I clamped the trailing edge together. Hopefully the double sided tape will cure further and hold the skins down. We'll see...


Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Section: 9
Hours: 2

I decided to skip back to the unfinished work on the elevators. When I was last working on them, I got to the part where you are supposed to glue the foam ribs into the skins, but it was over 100 degrees in the shop so I put it aside. The temps are much milder this week so I thought it would be a good time to revise the elevators and work towards finishing them up.

I mixed up a batch of ProSeal and buttered the ribs and inserted them between the skins of the elevator tab. I used the popsicle stick like a butter knife and put on a layer approximately 1/32" thick.


Then I inserted the buttered rib in the skins being careful not to spread the ProSeal all over the place.

After all the ribs were inserted, I weighted down the elevator with a flat board, clecoed the top skin to the rear channel and piano hinge and then used my pneumatic squeezer to rivet it all together. Here it is after riveting. After this picture was taken, I put the flat board and weights back on and set it aside to cure for a couple days.