Holding Position

Hi Gang! No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth. I'm still here. I haven't worked on the project in a couple weeks. Life kinda got in the way and I just got stalled a bit by focusing on a few other things. I thought I'd at least put a note here letting you know what's going on. My apologies.

I have the elevator almost complete. I still have 2 rivets needing to be set but needed to get some thin metal bar to act as a bucking bar. I don't have any setting tools to squeeze in the tight area so I'll be using a little bar in the 3/16"-1/4" range to fit into the flange area with a mushroom tip on it, just outside the flange. I'll have a pic of the technique later to better illustrate what I'm trying to describe here, for those of you that don't understand. I learned it in the EAA sheet metal course and I think it's a pretty popular method and works pretty well in a pinch.

I started getting the elevator trim tab ready to bend the smaller tabs into position. I started by putting it in the bending brake and as soon as I pushed down on the board, I realized a couple things! Always after the fact, of course. First, I failed to pull the blue vinyl, scuff, clean and prime the inside of the tab and. Secondly, I squeezed the tab skin WAY too much. Now I'm left with having to spread it open again so I can perform the aforementioned tasks. Additionally, I squeezed it too tight to allow for the end tabs to be bent into position. I slowly spread it a bit just with my hands and am seeing what appear to be signs of creasing, or double bending, points where the spreading stops very near the actual bend and takes on what appears to be a new point of bending. So, my idea was to get a few sizes of dowel and put them inside the bend area and push enough to spread that area open wider. I still have a little work to do on this little gem but it's coming along. I am basically tinkering with the project right now, 1, 2 or 5 minutes here and there. I need to get a few things out of the way and get my head back in the game.

My first biennial flight review (BFR) is due at the end of the month so I've been brushing up on the regs. I hope to accomplish that in the next weekend or two. I think I'm making things out to be worse than they are. I've only flown a whopping total of about 5 hours in the last year. Can you see my dilemma? Just a little worried and I want to do well. I'm sure it's no big deal, but if you think about it, it IS a BIG deal. Having, holding and keeping a private pilot license (PPL) is a huge priviledge. I want to be worthy of it's benefits.

That's all for now. Take Care and Thanks For Reading!

Elevator Almost There

Tonight saw the assembly of the left elevator. I started by putting some red RTV (in case I fly really close to the sun or an active volcano) into the space between the elevator stiffeners (4 of them) to help minimize cracking, according to other builders and supposedly Van's. Although, I've not seen the RTV in the stiffener area referenced in any of the Van's documentation. It can't hurt putting the RTV in, so I did. However, I forgot to put it in on the right side!! Maybe I haven't combed through all the material enough. The reference to the red RTV and the sun is that the red RTV is for applications in the 300° category. 

After the application of the RTV, I proceeded to install the elevator skeleton into the skin then cleco'd it into place. I then riveted about 98% of this section. I still have 2 trailing edge rivets to creatively buck. I took my dimpling bar and tapered the opposite end a couple weeks ago and used it to buck the same rivets on the right elevator. I'll do the same here on the left side. No pictures tonight as this is almost identical to the right elevator assembly. It was getting too late to pull out the rivet gun and buck them so I'll finish those next, followed by putting the E-606PP trim spar in place then riveting it.

Until then, Take Care and Thanks For Reading!

Day Total: 2.3 hrs   HOBBS Meter - 130.3 hrs