Brief Description: Messed up control horns, began stabilator
Had a frustrating day. Started by riveting the AST Control Horns to the inboard AST Ribs. Both came out poorly. This riveting is very awkward, because you have to hold the rivet squeezer with both hands, position the part, and hold pressure against the part to keep the parts tight together and the flush rivet head tight against the part. Please note, that means you come up about three hands short! Even though I had the parts clecoed together, the result was the rivets got squeezed without enough pressure to keep the two parts tightly together, and there is an unacceptable gap between the parts. See Image 1. You can actually see where the rivet got fat between the two parts. Decided rhe parts needed to be re-done. Found it nearly impossible to drill right in the middle of the bad rivets. Result was elongated holes. Note Image 2, left hole. I will email Van's support for advice, and possibly replacement parts.
Moved on and prepared AST spar and hinges for installation later. Put away all AST parts for now.
Moved on to Stabilator section. Identified parts and unwrapped. Studied instruction Page 09-02 at length. Don't want to make another mistake. Marked parts for countersinking and drilling steps 1 through 6 with tape. Will triple check before doing countersinking at next work session.
