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Date:  2-13-2017
Number of Hours:  1.50
Manual Reference:  9225501-LOG-03.041
Brief Description:  Started the Rudder stiffeners

Tonight I made a start on the rudder stiffeners. These need to be cut from pre-punched lengths of aluminium angle, but Vans give a helping hand by providing a series of guide marks for easy set-out.

For the bottom (longest) pair of stiffeners it's simply a matter of connecting the dots, as per my photo below. For all the other pieces however, which get shorter and shorter as you work up to the top of the rudder, some interpretation needs to be done when laying out the cut lines. It's not hard, but I still spent a lot of time studying the drawings.

I figured I'd start at the bottom with the longest pieces, that way if I made a mistake then at least I had half a chance of being able to reuse the piece as a shorter stiffener.

Working on just one pair of stiffeners at a time I was able to complete four pairs tonight. I made all the short cuts with my straight tin snips, and my little hobby bandsaw made very easy work of the longer diagonal cuts. I then ran the pieces over my bench grinder and belt sander to trim the edges down to the layout lines, before then smoothing everything off on the scotchbrite wheel.

I'll finish the remaining four pairs off tomorrow.
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Marking out cut lines in accordance with the drawings

Marking out cut lines in accordance with the drawings

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My little bandsaw made easy work of the long diagonal cuts

My little bandsaw made easy work of the long diagonal cuts

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Half the stiffeners done, shown here in pairs on atop the right skin

Half the stiffeners done, shown here in pairs on atop the right skin

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