Brief Description: Press stab top skin into place, check for twist
1. With help, I turned over the stabilizer assembly and set on the table with the rear attachment bracket just off the edge of the table.
2. I put a 2x4x8 under the leading edge. I decided to screw the 2x4 to the table top so that the assembly would be sliding around. I positioned the 2x4 so that the rear edge was touching the front attachments, and the ends were evenly distant from the edge of the table.
3. I used duct tape to hold the 1x2x8's in place, with the forward 1x2 just in front of the front spar rivet line and the rear 1x2 between the 3rd and 4th rib rivet holes.
4. I had trouble tightening the ratchet straps evenly. The skin wanted to tighten unevenly. I finally decided to force the top-rear edge of the skin to be about even with the rear spar. So I clamped the skin to the top of the rear spar. And, I also clamped the bottom rear edge of the skin even with the edge of the table. Then I tightened the ratchet straps very gradually. Following this procedure, the pilot holes seemed to line up pretty close to the rivet lines on the spar and ribs.
5. To check for twist:
a. I made sure that the leading edge of the skin was as nearly parallel to the front edge of the 2x4. (Photo 1) b. I measured the angles of the spars by:
- clamping a straight edge to the rear of each end of each spar - measuring the angle of the straight edge w.r.t vertical using a handy angle measuring device that had a magnetic base.
6. There were lots of restarts to get the assembly into a no-twist configuration.
7. While checking for twist, I noticed that the table was not quite level (which I knew from building). I was able to measure the slope by jplacing a 4 ft level longitudinally in the middle of the table a inserting feeler gages under the low end of the level until the bubble showed level. I was able to determine that the slope in that region was about 3/16" over 4'.
