July 9th, 2011

Worked on the right elevator all week. Basically the process is to trim all the stiffeners to length (I used my $25 garage sale band saw), then clean up the cut edges until they are nice and smooth.

From Dale's RV Project - Elevator

Also went back and riveted some tight spots on the rudder and vertical stab. My squeezer yoke wouldn't fit and had to wait for the thin nose yoke to arrive.

From Dale's RV Project - Empennage

Here's the pneumatic squeezer with the thin nose yoke. Won't go everywhere, but it comes close.

From Dale's RV Project - Elevator

Cleaning up the cut edges of a stiffener with a scotch brite pad in the bench grinder.

From Dale's RV Project - Elevator

( stiffeners are used on the thin skins of the rudder and elevator to lend strength and stiffness without adding a lot of weight)

Here's what they look like all cleaned up; primed, dimpled and ready to install.

From Dale's RV Project - Elevator

Counterbalance ribs being match drilled. Lead weights will go in the 3 open holes on the squared off end to balance the elevator. They had to be trimmed down (easy to do on the band saw) and won't be final balanced the tips are installed and final painting is complete. They can be adjusted by drilling additional lightening holes in them.

From Dale's RV Project - Elevator

Once everything is match drilled, the skins, ribs and spar are dimpled.

From Dale's RV Project - Elevator