Today I assembled the rudder frame, cleco'd the skins to it and match drilled all holes in the rudder assembly. Next i disassembled and deburred all the parts and skins. All that is left is to dimple the parts, prime those that got sanded down in the deburring process and start final assembly.
There are three parts to fabricate (measured, cut, drilled, smoothed) in building the rudder. One is a simple shim R917, second is the bottom attach strip R-918 and third is the R710 Rudder horn brace. I used my snips to cut all the parts and there was minimum warping, plus these provide a smoother edge to debur than the band saw does. After these were fabricated i took them to the scotch brite wheel and smoothed all edges - next these were fit to the rudder and match drilled.
The top and bottom ribs of the rudder become very narrow at the trailing edge and about impossible to fit any deburring tool in their. I used emery cloth and scothch brite pads and hand sanded the burs off the inside holes.
Next is dimpling of all these parts. I need to research the wedge piece in the trailing edge and determine if this is to be machine countersunk.
Need to make a decision on lighting rather quick. If I am to install any light or strobes in the vertical stab or rudder I need to prep it with the appropriate conduit routing. I would prefer to leave all lighting in the wings - need to pull out the ol' FAR/AIM and do some studying. Whatever I do i want it legal for night flight.
Rudder Skins Clecod to Frame
Trimmed Rudder Horn Bracket
Bottom attach strips fastened in place for Drilling
