Sunday, a day that should have seen at least 4 hours in the shop, just wan’t my day. The belt broke on the zero-turn mower we have, so it was off to Lowes to get a replacement. Getting the mowing deck off was easy, but getting the new belt on was a severe pain in the rear. As soon as I got it going, I had to make several other adjustments, and get some mowing done, so by the time I got to the plane I was tired.

I completed all the dimpling that required the c-frame on both skins. I did however discover that I had not done all of the stiffeners correctly. The three stiffeners labeled J, K, and L were slightly shorter than the D, E, and F they are made from. Using my digital calipers I made the corrections. In the process I realized that the guide notch used for the taper was supposed to be rounded off. Easy fix for the elevators, but what about the rudder?!?! I left them all that way on the rudder! I emailed the picture below to Van’s support and their response was short and sweet… leave it be.. it won’t be a problem. Thank heavens! I assumed the radius wasn’t sharp enough to be a problem, but when the directions tell you to do something, and you do not, its best to check with the experts.

I need to make a list of discrepancies and issues that may require attention before other steps are completed such as painting. 🙂

Despite having very little time to devote to the project today, I was able to dimple one elevator skin for the stiffeners.  I used the c-frame for all the dimples except the two closest to the trailing edge.  For those I used the close quarters rivet set that uses the pop rivet puller.

This time, unlike when I did the rudder skin, I didn’t make any mistakes nor did I allow either of the dies to make any small dents or impressions.  I’ve got my technique down fairly well now, but my setup still leaves a lot to be desired.  Since it doesn’t look like I will have the funds for the wings until later this summer, there is a high likelihood that I will have a break between the completion of the empennage and the wings.  I will use that time (if it occurs) to build a better table top for dimpling as well as a wing jig.  The wing jig really isn’t a jig, more of a stand that will allow access to both sides of both wings.

Tomorrow I have nothing planned, so hopefully I’ll get a good bit done in the shop.

Here is the skin before dimpling.

And after dimpling is complete.