Steve's Space: Horizontal Stabilizer

7/30/11 - Time to start the next assembly, the Horizontal Stabilizer. I installed the front and rear spar upper doublers (75T2-1), rear spar lower doubler (75T2-3) and the front spar lower doubler (75T2-2) to the horizontal stabilizer rear spar (75T1-5) as well as the horizontal stabilizer front spar (75T1-4). Drilled and clecoed in place using 1/8" clecoes. After that I cut "L" angles to the ends on the front spar. Drilled holes and clecoed the horizontal stabilizer front brackets (75T2-4) to the front spar. I drilled and clecoed the horizontal stabilizer rear ribs (75T1-3) to the front spar. Then I clecoed the rear spar the the rear ribs, drilled and clecoed the horizontal stabilizer nose ribs (75T1-2) to the front spar and trimmed the "L" angles and clecoed the tip ribs (75T1-1) to the rear spar. Ta Da! The skeleton was completed! Total Time = 8 hrs.

Drilling & Putting in Clecos
(See my helper in the bottom right corner)

Horizontal Stabilizer Skeleton: Rear Spar (75T1-5), Front and Rear Spar Upper Doublers (75T2-1), Rear Spar Lower Doubler (75T2-3), Front Spar (75T1-4), Front Spar Lower Doubler (75T2-2), "L" Angles, Front Brackets (75T2-4), Rear Ribs (75T1-3), Nose Ribs (75T1-2) and Tip Ribs (75T1-1).

Putting the Skeleton Together

7/31/11 - Time for the skin. Placed Horizontal Stabilizer Skin (75T4-1) onto the skeleton. Drilled and clecoed holes into the skin for an A4 size. Turned the whole structure upside down and started to pull skin over the rest of the skeleton using tie-down straps. Whew! Pulled skin tight onto the structure with the aid of the lumber so as not to damage the aluminum skin with the tiedown buckles. Found the centerlines that I had drawn on the flanges appearing through the pre-drilled pilot holes. Drilled and clecoed holes to A4 size and removed tie-down straps and lumber. Drilled out remaining holes to A4 size. Total Time = 7 hrs.

Pulling the Nose Skin in Place

Nice and Tight!

Trimmed Rear Bracket (75T2-5) using left & right hand cutters and then filed down smooth. Attached Center Hinge Bracket (75T2-7) and the Center Hinge Gusset (75T2-8) to the rear bracket with clecos. Total Time = 3 hrs.

Horizontal Stabilizer Skinned

8/6/11 - Filed rough edges off and smoothed the cut edges of the horizontal stabilizer rear bracket with Scotch Brite. Drilled holes to proper size and clecoed rear bracket assembly into place onto the rear spar. Completely disassembled the Horizontal Stabilizer to prepare aluminum for riveting. Deburred all holes and smoothed all surfaces of metal. Used Scotch Brite to rough up surfaces to accept anti-corrosion Cortec primer. Total Time = 12 hrs.

Applying Anti-Corrosion Cortec Primer

8/7/11 - Reassembled Horizontal Stabilizer skeleton with clecos. Riveted rear bracket onto rear spar and attached top & bottom of center hinge bracket with (2) AN3-5A bolts, washers and nuts. Placed horizontal stabilizer skin onto skeleton and clecoed into place. Riveted skin to skeleton and removed all clecos. Total Time = 6 hrs.