| May 14, 2007 |
| Rudder |
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| This ugly pic is the rudder control horn being drilled in position. I just finished trimming the edges down, and the plastic lining on the rudder skin got all bunched up (hence the ugly pic). The point to note... is where the cleco's are. This is the trouble area where everyone ends up hitting the bottom control horn rivets when riveting the skin on, and then has to drill them out ( the 5 rivets on the horn rib). I just off-set the skin holes superior (above) of center line, but leaving adequate edge distance on the rib. Hope that makes sense! In retrospect, I should have just staggard the holes in the skins, missing these 5 rivets. (revsions: May 15, 2007- one of my holes on the rib I made superior of center line, was too close to the edge of the rib. I made a plate to stick behind it for support.) |
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| After finishing with the control horn assembly, I was ready to tackle the hinge. Since the hinge needs to be .057" inferior (below) of the skin, I made a .057" off-set gauge out of scrap aluminum. You just line the hinge up with the off-set in place and drill. This is easier said then done. I used super glue on my gauge and the son-of-a-gun kept coming apart... and YES, I did clean it real good before gluing. |
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| Here is another shot of the hinge and my gauge. I drilled one hole then went down about 3-4 holes then drilled another. The hinge was kind of nerve racking. I really wanted to make sure the hinge was even across the entire rudder. I could have spent hours and hours just measuring and re-measuring. Finally I told myself, "it is, what it is." In the end, everything seemed to line up as close as I could see possible. We will know how it turned out later, when I hinge it to the vertical stabilizer. |
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| Good or bad, there it is! |