Empennage

I got busy on the left side of the horizontal stabilizer this afternoon. I followed the directions and worked on the left side, but once I finish up with it I'll repeat the steps to do the same thing on the right side. One of the difficult tasks was to notch the aft end of the HS-404 ribs to fit around the HS-710 and HS-714. Then I got a taste of fluting to straighten the pieces so they would lay flat on a level surface. I didn't have to flute the HS-404 or HS-405 becuase you have to mark the after you put the skin on. Since you always flute between the holes you have to wait to do those. Once I choose the parts for left and right I marked them to keep them straight in the order they go. the next step was to mark the hole locations in the HS-405 on the forward side of the forward flange. When I had them measured and marked I used my center punch to keep the drill bit from wandering and then drilled the pilot holes to a #40 size. My next step was to select the HS-702, HS-603PP, HS-706, HS-707, and HS-708 and cleco them together. Then I drilled the spar attach holes to #30 except for the HS-708 to the HS-603PP. Then I got to take it apart and deburr the holes and clean out chips and the re-cleco it back together. Then it was kind of fun as I cleco'd the skin (HS-601PP) to the skeleton. With the skin on the next step was to slip the HS-404 and 405 ribs in place and mark the hole locations using the holes in the skin as a guide. Once I had those hole locations marked I pulled the 404 and 405 back out and did the fluting. Then I marked a centerline on the flanges of both 404 and 405. Then I put the HS-404 and HS-405 back in the skin and used the cleco clamps to hold them in place. With the ribs secured with clamps I drilled the the aft flane fo HS-405 to HS-603 and cleco'd it secure. After taking it apart and cleaning out chips and deburring again, I put it together. Seems like there's a lot of putting togther and taking apart as we go through these steps. With it all back together and securly clamped again, I was able to drill the holes in the HS-405 by using the pre-punched holes in the HS-601PP as a guide. I thought the next step was going to be pretty difficult but it went pretty quick and easy. With everything clamped and held tight I used my side angle drill attachment to drill the four holes in the HS-405, HS-702, HS-710 and HS-714 and the aft flange of the HS-404. There was a note to t=use caution when drilling due to the spacing on the HS-404. You have to have a minimal didtance of 1.5 of a rivit shank size for it to work properly. But I paid attention and it worked out perfect. That's where I left it for today. the next step will be to match drill all the remaining holes. Then I can do the right side.

7 Hours