Elevator

Drilling and Attaching Clecoes

8/13/11 - Indentified parts for the elevator and laid them out on the assembly table. Drilled and clecoed the Elevator Inboard Rear Ribs (75T3-3I), Elevator Nose Ribs (75T3-2) and the Elevator Middle Ribs (75T3-3M) to the Elevator Spar (75T3-5). Drilled out Left Nose Rib Forward Tooling Hole with a step drill in order to fit a rubber grommet in the hole. Clecoed the Elevator Tip Rib (75T3-1) and the Elevator Rear Skins (75T4-3) to the Elevator Skeleton. Drilled and clecoed the Bent Strips (75T3-4) to each Tip Rib. Also drilled and clecoed the Elevator Hinge Pin (75T3-9) to each Tip Rib. Cut and drilled "L" angles and attached to the Rear Channel (75T3-10) and clecoed to the Inboard Rear Ribs. Total Time = 8 hrs.

Taping the Nose Skin in Place

8/14/11 - Trimmed the Middle Rib to the appropriate length. Trimmed the Elevator Trim Tab Channel (75T4-5) and inserted it into the Elevator Skeleton. Drilled and clecoed it into place. Removed clecoes along the leading edge on the spar. Inserted the Elevator Nose Skin (75T4-2) between the rear skin and spar. Tightened the Nose Skin and taped in place. Drilled and clecoed the Elevator Nose Skin to the Elevator Skeleton. Total Time = 6 hrs.


Drilling & Adding Clecoes

8/20/11 - Elevator Horn Assembly. Attached Upper Elevator Horn (75T3-8) and Lower Elevator Horn (75T3-7) to the Elevator Assembly with clecos. Drilled and clecoed Horn Angle (75T3-6) and "L" angle to the Elevator Assembly. Marked and trimmed "L" angle to match with the Upper and Lower Elevator Horns. Total Time = 4 hrs.

Nose Skin Clecoed in Place

9/10/11 - Drilled out and clecoed the nose skin to the proper size of A4 and A5 rivets holes for the area closest to the elevator horn. Total time = 4 hrs. 
 


Elevator Horn

 9/17/11 - Drilled and clecoed remaining holes in the nose skin to the proper rivet size. Cutout and trimmed the trim tab channel opening. Removed the nose skins for deburring the rivet holes and trimming to the proper size prior to riveting. Drilled and clecoed the trim tab hinge (75T4-6) to the elevator trim tab (75T4-4). Drilled and clecoed the trim tab hinge to the rear skin. Total Time = 8 hrs.

Elevator Trim Servo & Rod Clecoed in Place

9/24/11 - Placed the Trim Servo (T2-7A-TS) at the proper location on the Elevator Rear Skin, drilled and clecoed the Trim Servo in place. Found the midway point on the trim servo arm and cut the trim servo rod to 130 mm in order to install the rod from the trim tab hinge to the servo arm with the trim tab in the neutral position. Drilled out remaining holes in the elevator skeleton and the elevator horn assembly. Removed all clecoes, trimmed elevator parts and deburred all drilled holes . Total time = 11 hrs.


Deburring, Cleaning and Applying Anti-Corosion Protection

9/25/11 - Cleaned all surfaces and coated with anti-corrosion protection. Re-assembled elevator skeleton and riveted together. Re-attached top and rear skins to skeleton with clecoes. Soldered wires from the servo motor to the 5 foot length of the 5 wire electric cable. Drilled and clecoed the cable clamps to the elevator main spar and routed the 5 wire cable through the cable clamps. Total time = 5 hrs.
   


Servo Trim 5-Wire Clamped in Place

 10/1/11 - Trimmed the hinge pin 3/4 of an inch shorter than the trim tab hinge and re-inserted pin back in the barrel of the hinge. Re-attached the horn assembly to the skeleton. Total Time = 3 hrs.



Riveting Skins onto Skeleton

10/1/11 - Reattached the nose skins to the skeleton and riveted them in place. Riveted the top and rear skins to the skeleton. Riveted the trim tab hinge to the trim tab. Riveted the trim tab horn to the trim tab. Attached the trim tab horn to the servo arm with the provided linkage. Total Time = 8 hrs. 

A Thing of Beauty!

Elevator Complete

10/9/11 - Filed down the horizontal stabilizer horn so the elevator could rotate freely without hitting the nose skin. Total Time = 2 hrs.

Attaching the "L" Angle to the Horizontal Stabilizer Bottom Skin

10/23/11 - Aligned elevator hinge brackets (75T2-7) on the hinge pin and drilled and clecoed brackets to the horizontal stabilizer. Aligned the elevator so the ends were equal distant on the horizontal stabiler. Filed down more of the horizontal stabilizer horn so the elevator completely pivots on the hinges with free travel throughout. Attached the "L" angle to the horizontal bottom skin. Total Time = 5 hrs.

Elevator Joined to the Horizontal Stabilizer

   Total Elevator Assembly Time = 64 Hours



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.



Attaching Horizontal Stabilizer Horn



Total Horizontal Stabilizer Assembly Time = 36 hours.



Finished Horizontal Stabilizer.



Onward & Upward to the Elevator!