Daily Archives: June 9, 2013


Elevators 14 (5.0 hrs)

I started out today by dimpling the counterweight skins.20130609-140923.jpg

And countersinking the counterweights themselves. Both went smoothly. 20130609-140931.jpg

Next was countersinking the trim tab spar on the top, and the end ribs. This was difficult as the sheet is very thin. I’ve wound up with a couple holes that will need oops rivets.20130609-140941.jpg

Next it was time to start work on the electric trim assembly. I hadn’t even opened the box prior to today, so I spent some time familiarizing myself with the parts and then replicating the drawings to understand how everything fit together.20130609-140949.jpg

Here are the measurements provided by Van’s from the drawings. The resulting placement seems off-center, but when you factor in the cotter pin, I think its perfect. 20130609-140959.jpg

20130609-141007.jpg

20130609-141016.jpg

Here is how I match drilled the two supports for the servo. Got to love the long cleco clamps. 20130609-141023.jpg

20130609-141032.jpg

Here’s a picture of the final setup. It looks off-center to the right, but the directions specifically state to leave room for the pin… which I think shouldn’t be a problem with this alignment. (I wonder if the measurements do this intentionally, because everything looks centered in the drawings…) 20130609-141039.jpg

The final and most time consuming project of the day was deburring and priming prep.  I deburred every hole and every edge (except the skins).  I also hit every part with the scotchbrite.  The next step will be deburring the skins and dimpling all the parts.  Then it will be time to take a look at the infamous trim tab…20130609-182620.jpg