Other Stuff-NEW!
July 2005 Empennage Horizontal Stabilizer
7/5/2005
After a few days of busy-ness, and finishing the second training kit, here's the beginning of the project...
7/6/2005
I officially started today. Didn't have a whole lot of time, but I did get started on the HS spar. I deburred/sanded the edges of HS-609PP and radius'd the ends using the scotchbrite wheel. Did the first preliminary fitting of HS-609PP to HS-603PP. Fit perfect first try with a few clecos holding it in place.
1.0 hour
7/8/2005
Tonight I sanded, sanded, and sanded some more with the scotchbrite pad on HS-609PP to a nice satin smooth finish. Then on to final drilling the holes to match HS-609PP to HS-603PP, cleco'd together.
2.0 hours
7/9/2005
Well, Brit was gone to a wedding this evening, soooo...I spent the evening working on my airplane. I drilled the #19 holes in HS-609PP and HS-603PP for the HS-708 ribs. Then went on to drilling the #30 holes in HS-412 and -413. Cleco'd it all in to place. Moved on to HS-411PP and VA-146, set the first rivets of the kit, and finished that peice. I primed VA-146 with NAPA 7220 self etching primer, which is what I'll use for all non-alclad parts and mating surfaces.
1.75 hours
7/10/2005
Today I had to go to the shop at work to borrow a #12 drill bit because mine has yet to arrive from Aircraft Tool Supply. I final drilled the four holes in the bearing pictured above to #12, and cleco'd it in to place. Then took it all apart (again) to deburr all 300-something holes. The stiffener bars are ready to prime, but will have to wait until tomorrow or so 'cuz I'm just too tired to start spraying now.
1.5 hours
7/11/2005
Didn't do to much tonite as I was really tired from an early morning trip in our company-managed Pilatus PC-12 (I flew as SIC today). The only thing I got accomplished today was priming the stiffener bars HS-609PP. Suprisingly, this took an hour to do these two pieces because of the prep cleaning and clean up when done. Also took the next parts to be used out of the aircraft storage room. They are setting on the work table for tomorrow.
1.0 hour
7/12/2005
I started the front horizontal spar today, HS-702. Started off by match drilling the stiffener bars HS-710 & 714 to HS-702. Then spent a good amount of time marking off and tapering the ends of 710 & 714. After the tapers were done, I made the bend in the bars (a little nerve wracking as I'm sure these thick pieces of aluminum are rather expensive to replace) without a problem! I can't believe that happened! I then went back to HS-702 to make some necessary trims, as these front spars are really made for the RV-8. Made those cuts, then put the relief notch's to make the bend to match 710 & 714. Whew!! That's the most I've been able to work at any one time so far! This is great!
2.75 hours
7/14/2005
Well, with Brit gone again this evening, I took the opportunity to get some good quality time in on the HS front spar. I started by final drilling HS-702/710/714 and then deburring and dimpling HS-702/710/714. Then I took a break to watch Big Brother 6...I know, I know...I can't help it. It's the one show that...nevermind. Got back to work by countersinking the four inner holes 710 & 714 that will use flush rivets. Now it's time to do some trimming on the HS-404 nose ribs. Well, the first one I did (left side), I thought I ruined by trimming too much (seems to be a fairly common mistake), but not where you would think. I thought I trimmed too much off of the clearance between the stiffeners, but turns out it's fine. I did some checking around, and see that all of them that I look at look just like mine...so, build on! Finished the evening off by edge finishing the ribs, 404/405/706/707/708, then made the flutes on 706/707/708. Time for bed now, but here's a couple of pics of the front HS spar as she sits.
2.25 hours
7/15/2005
Today was a great work day. I spent some good time on the tail, and then came to a screeching halt when I realized I am short on #40 cleco's. I meant to order those a while back and forgot. Anyway, here's what I did-Drilled the holes in HS-405 using D-D to #30. Left side ribs were cleco'd, final drilled, uncleco'd, deburred, and cleco'd again. I then started clecoing the skin HS-601PP to the skeleton. I fit 404 and 405 and marked 'em. Then did some fluting of the 404 and 405 rib flanges. Really pretty easy, and they turned out fine. Drew the center line on 405 and drilled to 601PP. A little later in the evening, I drilled 405 to 710/714/702/404, and drilled 404 to 702 and cleco'd into place. Here's where I had to stop because of a low supply of cleco's. They're on order from Aircraft Tool Supply.
Here's some pics from the day:
Ok Mr. DAR, their I am working away! Thanks to my wife for being my photographer!
3.25 hours
7/20/2005
FINALLY! After five days of inactivity, I'm back at it. I got the clecos in the mail today, so I drilled the remaining holes in the left side skin to the skeleton. Then removed the skin and drilled the outer most holes in 710 and 714. That's all the time I had tonite, but it sure felt good to work on it again.
1.0 hour
7/22/2005
Tonight I started on the right side of the HS. Basically, it's just going through everything I just did on the left side, but backwards...sort of. Anyway, I cleco'd the right side skin on, 601PP, and proceeded to the point of getting 404 and 405 in place, ready to drill.
The left pic is the left side, and the right...well you can figure it out...
1.25 hours
7/24/2005
Tonight I finished the right HS...well, not finished, but finished drilling all of the holes out. I started by making the last remaining holes in 404, and the 405 to 702-710-714-404 holes. Then removed the skin and drilled the last outer holes on 710/714. It's all in pieces again...
Tomorrow will be deburring night. I am sooooo looking forward to that.
The pic on the left shows the spacing of the holes on 404. Looks like I actually did it right!! The pic on the right shows the skeleton in pieces again waiting for tomorrow's fun.
1.5 hours
7/25/2005
Nothing special about tonight. In fact, I almost hate to record the time as build time, but deburring must be done, and it does count. So, I spent two hours tonight doing just that. I got the HS skeleton done, and will have to wait to do the skins tomorrow night as they'll have to be done in the garage. I say that because, as the pic below shows, the temperature in the garage was WAY to HOT to work out there, so I brought the skeleton inside and sat on the living room floor while watching the game. So tomorrow the skins will get done, as the temps will be a little more manageable.
HOT!!!!!! This pic was taken at 8:15pm!
2.0 hours
7/26/2005
No pictures tonight. Pretty boring work...more deburring. The skins, HS-601PP, take 824 twists of the deburring tool!! 103 holes per side, per skin! WOW! Glad to have that done. The garage was much more comfortable tonight, as a cold front pushed a few storms through and cooled things off substantially! Only 76 degrees in there tonight. After the skins were done, I started dimpling the skeleton structure. I only did the left side as there were a couple other things that needed my attention tonight. Right side skeleton tomorrow, then off to Oshkosh for four days!!! Woohoo!
1.75 hours
7/27/2005
Just a quick work night tonight. I leave for OSH in the morning, and put the project on hold to spend time with Brit. She went on a walk with Wiley, so I used the hour to do a couple of quick, small steps. I dimpled the right side skeleton and removed the blue plastic lines on the skins. That's it! But here's a couple of pics.
1.0 hour
7/31/2005
Back from Oshkosh!! What a great trip. I looked at so many Rv's, my head's spinning! Anyway, I did return a little early from my trip, and Brit was not yet back from her weekend at her parents. Guess what I did? Well, I dimpled my HS skins (601PP). She pulled in the driveway while I was finishing up, and hung out with me until I finished! She even helped a little! Before ya know it, she'll be asking "Can we go work on the airplane!!??" Maybe not, but it's fun to think about. So, edge finishing is next, then priming.
July is in the books.
1.5 hours
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