The last month has been a bit busy with school breaks and getting the house ready for spring. Lots of yard cleanup, Easter, and the kids being off have slowed down my time. I finally got around to back riveting for the first time on the plane. I utilized my two backing mats and put the back rivet plate between them. This kept the parts at a good height without any major bend going over the side. I see why some people like having a bigger plate or sink it into their table, but I think the ability to move the plate is more beneficial. I noticed as you got to the ends of rudder skins, it was beneficial to just slide the plate down the table instead of the part. Otherwise, you have a huge section hanging off the end. Back riveting was pretty straight forward.
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After I finished the back riveting I was rather impressed with how everything looked. Time to start prepping for sealing and rivet the bottom rudder horn into place. I took the recommendation of many people and ended using a pull rivet for the very last hole on the training edge of the horn. It was way too tight and I tried more than once to buck and indirect rivet it with terrible results. That was just way too tight a spot and I didn't want to slaughter the horn itself beating on it with the rivet gun.
After some time away from the project for the housework and the lack of a second set of hands, I finally got my father to come over. He was going to be my second set of hands to hold the rudder skin while I joined them together. The directions were pretty clear in describing the process, and we read through it a few times. I ordered the cartridge style proseal figuring that one would be the perfect amount to utilize, but mixing that thing was a royal pain! It took forever it felt like to mix thoroughly through using the little dowel and mixer in the cartridge. After what felt like an eternity, we were ready to rock and roll.
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| Setting Pop Rivets in the stiffeners |
I started with joining the base as instructed and pop riveted the first stiffeners. Its pretty tight without severely bending the skin back, so it was easier to use a manual pull riveter. I was really careful and layered the proseal as thinly as I could per the directions. I tried to use a little roller at first, but that just gummed up and didn't do anything. I ended up using a few popsicle sticks which I stole from my daughters craft bin. That worked well and I had one which was snapped in half, so the pointed end was great to get into the tight corner against the skin. After a long session of cleco's and pop riveting, the skins were joined and the trailing edge sealed.
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| Trailing edge secured and curing |
I utilized a technique that my Technical Advisor has suggested and others I have seen do online. This was to go purchase a piece of aluminum angle iron. This is a great and thicker straight edge which I used to support the trailing edge. I utilized one rudder skin and marked all the holes and drilled the angle iron. Afterwards, I deburred it and checked it to make sure everything matched. This gave me a straight and stable edge to cleco the entire trailing edge to while I prosealed it. Upon completion, I had it completely clecod to the angle iron and left it to cure for a few days.
The kids have been off this past week so no work has been done. It was a good time to let the edge cure and solidify before I start cleaning out the holes. Next week I will clear out everything and get to finishing up the rudder. I'm hoping I can finish the rudder up before my trip next month, and then I will jump right into the Horizontal Stabilizer upon getting back.
