February 7, 2007


Continuing on with the front spar of the horizontal stabilizer.

I left off last night with one front spar channel clecoed to the front spar and one ready to be drilled.  See Feb 6th for the details on aligning the channel to the spar.

Now to figure out how to put the two clips onto the spar in the right place.  Back to the full size details:



I put the channel on the drawing and clamped the inner clip in the correct location.  A little adjustment and it was straight and in the right spot.  I marked the holes, center punched and drilled them.  



Next up was the smaller front clip.  I first marked the rivet line using detail E and using the other full size detail I put a line that would align with the top rail of the spar.  I clamped it in place and marked where the holes should go.  Here's the finished part:



Another view - The holes look crooked in the picture, but that is an optical illusion - they're straight.



Here's the two clips and the channel clecoed into position.  By this point I had already drilled and deburred the other side of the spar for the channel.  There are two holes in the spar that don't get riveted at this point - I've circled them with a sharpie so I don't put rivets in the holes.  



Let me preface this with - I'm perfect, I don't make mistakes.  (yeah right)  Look closely at the image below and see if you can spot the issue.  It is not that the rear clip is missing.



If you look closely above the front clip is above the top of the spar.  Hmmm - thats not right.  Umm, I fully intended to make two RH front clips - just because.  So much for getting any rivets set tonight - I can't do if the part isn't complete (it's a mental thing).



So I'll just make another clip real quick.  I used the bad clip to draw the outline of the new part on the angle.



A few snips and a couple minutes on the scotchbrite and I have the correct clip.



The whole assembly ready for riveting - I'll do it first thing tomorrow.  What your looking at is the top front of what will become the horizontal stabilizer.  The two inner clips facing forward hold nose ribs and the skins fold over them.  The rear clips hold ribs that extend to the rear spar and skins attach to them.  I'm not 100% sure how I'm going to pull the rivets that go through both clips - the nose of the riveter is bigger than the space available.  I might just bend the clip out of the way, or I may try and make a spacer.  Suggestions?




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