0.8 Hours -
While waiting for my electric trim kit to arrive, I’ve been itching to work on the plane. I need the trim servo before I can move forward on the left elevator, so I decided to start working on the trim tab and get as much of that done as I could prior to the trim kit’s arrival.
First off, I had to complete the trailing edge bend of the trim tab. To do this, I simply placed it into the same bending brake I used for the elevators and bent it until the skin could be easily attached to the trim spar.
I quickly assembled the trim tab skin and spar to check my trailing edge bend.
The trim tab ready for bending
Next, I made a set of bending blocks for bending the ends of the trim tab. These are bent in essentially the same way that the tabs on the left elevator were bent.
Finally, I ordered and received the infamous $9 drill bushing from McMaster-Carr. This bushing will be used to properly align a hole that needs to be drilled through the elevator horns when it comes time to attach the elevators to the horizontal stabilizer. The bushing will help me center the drill bit while protecting the center bearing of the horizontal stabilizer. As with many other builders, I found the outer diameter of this bushing to be slightly too large. To fix it, I chucked it in my drill press and used some emery cloth to slowly decrease the diameter until it would fit through the horizontal stabilizer’s center bearing.
The infamous $9 bushing from McMaster-Carr.
The diameter of the bushing is slightly too large. To reduce it, I chucked it in the drill press and took some emery cloth to it.
