Saturday, September 20, 2003

Elevators: Fitting the skeleton     Next we build the elevator tip counterbalance structure and match it to the skeleton (forward spar and end ribs). It goes together amazingly well.   _   On the inboard end of the elevator, things are a little more dicey. The horn, the part that pushes the elevator up and down as the pilot pulls on the stick, is a welded steel structure. The instructions say to clamp it in position and match drill to the spar and end rib using the holes in the horn as a guide. In the sequence given, it sounds like this should be done with the skins in place. That looks kind'a hard. There are also questions about which areas will use blind rivets (therefore bigger holes). It being late in the day, is time to nock it off and come back another time to think this whole thing through. 5:21:52 PM    comment []

Elevators: Stiffeners     Here are the stiffeners for one elevator. There are lots of short ones, so these must be for the left side where the trim tab is cut into the trailing edge of the elevator.   _   Getting the elevator skins open far enough to do the internal work is not easy. The skin material is pretty thin and feels like it might be easy to put a permanent krink in it. 5:11:23 PM    comment []