February 18, 2007


Today I started out to get the h-stab frame final riveted.  Digging through the junk box I came up with a triangle shaped bracket with a hole in it.  So I bent it over and drilled a hole for the rivet stem.  It was pie wedge shaped - the "crust" side is on top.



The bigger hole in the top is so the rivet puller head can match the angle of the rivet stem.



As soon as I started to pull the rivet it became evident that the metal wasn't strong enough unless it was touching.  So I squeezed it all the way flat.



A the view from the bottom.  This is the side of the widget that goes on the rivet head.



A perfectly pulled rivet.  The widget works perfectly - I would like to make a true wedge though.



How the wedge fits in between the rivet and the puller.



The top side of the skins before drilling all of the matched holes to #40.



And all the open holes drilled to #40.



And the open holes on the LH side drilled to #30.



Now all the open holes on the RH side.



All of the #40 clecos removed to drill the remaining holes to #30.



All the holes lined up on the centerlines of the ribs.  My initial consern about edge distance turned out to be nothing - the skin wasn't perfectly aligned on the surface when I looked at the hole alignment the first time.



The other side - neat lines of holes.  Though kinda hard to see in this photo.



The frame ready for deburring.  Lots of holes to remove chips from - Using 120grit followed by 320 is a quick way to knock them all down.



All the holes neatly deburred and ready for riveting.



Placing the skins back on the frame for riveting.



Both skins in place and ready for riveting.  The blue painters tape is to keep me from riveting to close to the trailing edge where the elevator hinge rivets.  This will allow me to match drill the hinge to the skin and lift it up for deburring.



I started on the LH edge.  



The first few rivets pulled.  The air riveter really makes this easy.  I haven't 100% decided on how I'm going to attach the tail tips - a strip of AL or angle riveted to the ends.  Either way the tips are going to be attached with screws - I'm not sure why I don't like the idea of slipping the tips under the skin, but I just don't.



Um, here's a closer shot of the end of the h-stab.  Not sure why I took this one.



LH side of the stabilizer riveted (as much as it can be without hinges or tips)



And the RH side riveted.



I'm using the Sonex method of putting the skins on the h-stab.  I've rived the top skins and put something heavy on the top to hold the skin down.  Its always handy to have a bunch of SLA batteries on hand.



I got the skin aligned and put a cleco in the corner to give me a reference point.  Twisting the tail frame up by the end of the tip rib brings the skin into alignment.



I marked the rivet center lines on the ribs to ensure the skin goes on the frame square.  With perfect skins the tail should be correct when the center lines are in the appropriate places (per measurements on the drawings).



Slowly working my way across the skin to ensure it goes on the frame flat and true.



Here I've pulled down the LH skin to the frame and weighted it down.



And thats where I've left it for the night.  I figure the next work session I'll have the skins fully riveted.


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