2.7 Hours -
Today, I feel like I accomplished quite a bit. The best part is that there were no mistakes and everything looked great. Plus, I have a lot of pictures to prove it.
I started by back-riveting all of the stiffeners to the left elevator skin. In addition to the stiffeners, I also back-riveted the E-615PP trim access reinforcement plate to the bottom of the left skin.
Rows of stiffener rivets ready for smashing.
The inside of E-615PP after back-riveting it to the left elevator skin.
The outside of E-615PP after back-riveting it to the left elevator skin.
All the stiffeners have been riveted on to both elevator skins.
Next, I started to work on the right elevator skeleton. The skeleton design of the elevator closely resembles the rudder. The parts include a main spar (E-702), two reinforcement plates for attaching nutplates (E-601PP and E-610PP), a root rib (E-709), an end rib (E-703), a counterbalance rib (E-704), a counterbalance skin (E-713) and a lead weight (E-714).
First off, the reinforcement plates and nutplates were drilled to the spar.
The elevator spar has two reinforcement plates located where the rod-end bearings attach.
The elevator spar has two reinforcement plates located where the rod-end bearings attach.
Then, I had to flute the end and counterbalance ribs. It is very important that these ribs end up perfectly flat because they will be assembled back to back. Once fluted, the two ribs were final drilled and then assembled with the lead weight and counterbalance skin. Once all of these are assembled, I had to drill two holes in the counterweight. These holes are for the screws that will attach the weight to the elevator and they are drilled using two holes in the counterbalance skin as a guide.
Top: E-703 end rib. Bottom: E-704 counterbalance rib.
Proper fluting makes the end rib and counterbalance rib fit together flush.
The end rib, counterbalance rib, and main spar fit together perfectly.
The counterbalance skin was a pain to fit!
The counterweight must be drilled to #12 using two holes in the skin as a guide.
Once drilled, the weight was removed and the rest of the rib assembly was attached to the main spar. This was followed by attaching the root rib to the spar.
The E-709 root rib clecoed to the spar (E-702).
Next, the skin needed to be clecoed to the skeleton, but I hadn’t put the final bend in the skin yet. This bend was another one of those steps that I was nervous to think about, but turned out much easier than expected. I placed the skin in my wood bending brake and placed a 1/8” dowel in the bend to make sure the radius wasn’t too tight. Once everything was in place, I just pressed the boards together as far as they would allow.
The final bend in the elevator skin was made with my wood bending brake. A 1/8" dowel was used to radius the bend.
The only way to check the bend was to place the skeleton inside. Everything looked good, so I went ahead and clecoed the skin on. With the skin on, everything looked perfect. The bend was the perfect angle. Plus, it was even and straight along the entire aft edge of the elevator.
While the bend looks good, I won't know for sure until the skin is clecoed on.
The final bend in the elevator skin looks perfect!
The skin is on the skeleton and all looks well.
Nice and straight with no bumps!
Once the skin was clecoed on, I clecoed on the elevator horn (WD-605-1-R) and final drilled it to the spar and root rib.
The WD-605-1-R elevator horn is clecoed on and final drilled.
To finish out the day, I final drilled the main skin and counterbalance skin to the elevator skeleton.
