 |
| May 27, 2007 |
| Horizontal Stabilizer |
 |
 |
| Today I drilled all the ribs to the HS frame. Had to use an angle drill for the two center ribs. Very awkward angles. |
| I was curious where the pre-drilled holes in the skins were going to line up on my rib flanges. Put blue marker "dots" through the holes in the skin onto the ribs. Amazingly, they were pretty much right in the center of the rib flanges! Since everything looked good, I went ahead and updrilled the ribs to a #30, then deburred, alodined, and riveted. |
 |
| Here is my alumiprep and alodine station. If the pieces are too big to fit in the above containers, I prime with zinc oxide. The two trash cans are used for rinsing each piece after each treatment. Remember, this set-up is still in the "trial-mode." I may change my mind on this process at some point in time. The 6061-T6 aluminum already has pretty good corrosion protection anyway. |
 |
| See the different colors of gold? Ideally, they should be submerged in the alodine for 3-5 min. I am using the brush-on method. This does not create a uniform coverage. I went ahead and lightly sprayed some zinc oxide on the lighter pieces, paying particular attention to get coverage in the rivet holes. I let this sit and dry over-night. |