Horizontal Stabilizer - Spars Take Shape

 I apologize for not having any update recently.  I have been hard at work with the school year starting for my kids, the yard work, and work obligations.  I finally got some time to get outside and prepped the Horizontal Stabilizers.  But enough excuses, back to the build.

I finished getting the spar caps cut and deburred.  This wasn't too bad but required alot of drilling once done.  I matched up the parts to the spar and started match drilling.  A lot of the holes were not predone so it took a little bit of time.  I got the flange done, removed them, cleared the piece, and then was able to get the web side finished.  This was a bit tedious but was enjoyable to finish up.  

Spar Cap Match Drilling

After the spar caps were finished up and drilled, I finished out the doubler drilling.  This was rather straightforward, similar to the one on the Vertical Stabilizer.  The one doubler was a bit stubborn to straighten out but I had it near perfectly straight when I finally finished up.   The next part was to cut the horizontal spar attach brackets from same angle aluminum pieces.  This was a bit of a complicated portion as you had to make angled cuts on a piece of metal that is hand measured and cut.  The numbers were pretty precise and took awhile for me to get right.  After getting these done, I had to deburr and round off the edges which took some time.

Measuring the Stabilizer Attach Brackets

 

Bracket cut and marked for drilling.

After the brackets were all done, I was able to finish up the second doubler and drill the brackets.  The brackets get one hole drilled by measurement, and then they got match drilled to the doubler and spar.  This wasn't too hard, but with three pieces of some thickness, I noticed the bit wanted to wander a little.  I was able to minimize it and was happy with the final results.  I utilized a trick from Austin Manke to lift the spar off the table, I had prebuilt the stabilizer stands from a later step while I waited to paint.  This allowed me to lift the stabilizer and rotate it around, making it easier to work with.

Drilling Spar Caps with the Stands holding it up.  Makes it alot easier.

Stabilizer Attach Brackets Mounted to Angle Iron for Drilling

After completing the match drilling, it was to to do everyones favorite part and disassemble and deburr.  It took a little time to deburr all the pieces and holes, but its a rather straightforward task.  Using the electric screwdriver,  I was able to deburr a lot of the holes in short order.  I used other tools for the lightning holes and edges.  It was tough to deburr the spar lengths on the deburring wheel simply due to the length, but it was finished nonetheless.  Then it was on to painting next, but a small project to finish first.

Once I finished the deburring, I was bothered by the way my Air connection was mounted.  The connection drops from the ceiling and is screwed to the wall with some drywall screws.  However, the screws weren't holding well and they were coming out of the sheetrock.  This was bothering me and I didn't want to damage the air connection or wall further.  I ended up heading to Lowe's to get a small board to reinforce the screws.  I picked up some drywall anchors to screw the board to the sheetrock, and then screwed the air outlet to the board again.  The wood was a perfect anchor point and it looks so much better, and isn't pulling off the wall anymore.  Now we are ready to paint.

Reinforced Air Outlet

It took a few days for me due to the crappy weather we have had in New York Lately.  But we finally got some warm weather on Wednesday which was just enough to prime and the winds were calm.  So I broke out my painting racks and went to work.  After I used up my remaining EkoEtch, it was time to get painting.  I really like the Stewarts Systems products as they aren't extremely hazardous like others and simple to use.  I got the painting done in short order and was ready to start riveting after lunch.

Priming  and Riveting the Horizontal Stab Spars

After the Stabs were all dry, we were off to riveting once again.  Luckily, the spar is perfect for squeezing, so I was able to utilize the squeezer for everything.  This provided clean rivets and I was able to get alot done in short order.  I am about 90% done now with the riveting and can move onto the ribs and skins next.  Until next time....

Section 8 Begins: The Horizontal Stabilizer

 Now that we have finally completed the rudder, we are onto the next section.  This section, the Horizontal Stabilizer is much bigger than past sections we have worked on.  I had to run down to my storage unit to pickup the pieces, and I ended up having to get creative.  If you plan to put your parts into storage like me, I recommend trying to keep the longer parts at home, it's just easier than getting back and forth.  Smaller things like tail cone parts, skins, and other pieces are easier to transport.

The HS Spars are a bit long....

Despite the creative method to get parts home, I was ready to go and didn't wait long.  We reorganized my workbenches into a lengthwise arrangement and got to work cleaning up a bit.  It's amazing how much dust, debris, and other crap gets stuck under the tables when they aren't moved for a while.  It was nice cleaning up the garage before moving on.  The first page had me getting the doubler setup and the spar match drilled.  It was extremely straightforward and didn't require any heavy lifting. 

Match drilling the Horizontal Spar

After doing this, it wanted me to disassemble, prime and rivet.  It is a tiny batch of parts and I didn't want to bust out my priming setup for nothing.  The next page had me cutting down the spar caps, stringers, and the doubler for the other spar.  I decided to move onto this section and prep all of these parts.  This would give me a larger batch of parts to prime at once.  The parts weren't hard to cut down, it was similar to the same thing I did on the Vertical Stabilizer spar.  

I also got to do my first bearing of the project.  This was pretty straightforward and explained well.  It had me cleco the sections together and then rivet everything together.  It required me to clamp the parts down to avoid any warping.  The flange parts are all done and ready to get mounted after priming.

Completed Flange Bearing

Next week I will complete deburring the stringers and spar caps.  Then we will be ready to prime everything together and get to riveting.  This part should move quickly and once I have the priming done, we will get to assembling everything.  Also on my list of things to do is a trip to Lowe's.  I need to pick up some wood to make the stands for assembling the Horizontal Stabilizer.

The "Before" Picture.... The End to come in a few updates.