"Most of the mistakes made on the empennage are made on the left elevator and trim tab. Fair warning."
:)
Jeff said he had to redo the trim tab 3 times before he got it right.
What a cheerful note to start on.
Actually the first thing I did is finish riveting the right elevator, then of course I had to mount it to the horizontal stab just to see how it looked.
Basically you just barely set (about 1/2 way) about every 10th rivet, then keep working through the remaining little by little, the entire time constantly checking to make sure you don't have a curve in the edge. You then flip it over, set them most of the way (skipping as before), the flip it back over and finish everything off. You check for straightness every 3 or 4 rivets. Takes about an hour. Thankfully this came out dead straight. As you are setting them you rotate the gun to parallel the skin so the shop head sits flush with the skin. It's easier than it sounds.
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| From Dale's RV Project - Elevator |
Mostly done. Just doing the final setting.
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| From Dale's RV Project - Elevator |
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| From Dale's RV Project - Elevator |
And here is the result. I installed the rod end bearings and temporarily hung the elevator on the horizontal stabilizer.
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| From Dale's RV Project - Elevator |
The left elevator is similar to the right, but has a cutout for a trim tab, so most of the stiffeners are quite a bit shorter, plus there is a trim tab spar and a small spar in the elevator that the trim tab mounts to. There is also an access panel where the trim cable goes. Different enough to make it interesting and you have to pay attention.
All the match drilling, deburring, dimpling and priming is pretty much the same.
Working on the counterbalance ribs and skin. Using the pneumatic squeezer to rivet the skin to the ribs.
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| From Dale's RV Project - Elevator |
Elevator horn after riveting.
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| From Dale's RV Project - Elevator |
E-921 gusset. This has some great instructions (after you find the piece of aluminum you're supposed to fabricate it from.... [i went around using a mic on every scrap piece Van's gave me trying to find one that's .063 thick...]). The instructions are "Rivet the E-921 gusset". That's it. I'll figure it out, just got a kick out of it. Pretty terse even for Van's.
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| From Dale's RV Project - Elevator |
Left elevator assembly. Spar is clecoed into place while I rivet the counterbalance assembly (bit sticking out on the far end) to the spar. The opening on the near end is the access for the trim table.
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| From Dale's RV Project - Elevator |
