Brief Description: Dimple Left Skin; Bend Tabs for Trim Tab
I deburred and dimpled the left elevator skin and then started working on bending the tabs on the skin to allow room for the trim tab. I made a couple of tapered blocks according to the manual in order to provide support for a clean bend. The bottom tab was bent first since the top tab will fit over the bottom tab in order to prevent water from getting in the elevator. The bottom bend went very well, I used a block of wood as a push stick to begin the bend around the supporting blocks and then used the rivet gun with a flush set to pound the bend smooth. This worked very well. When I flipped everything over and tried to repeat the process for the top tab I messed up. When I used the rivet gun to complete the bend, it ended up buckling the trailing corner. A small crack developed on the actual bend on the trailing edge and a small buckle dent in the skin. It took a fair amount of time to work the dent out and round the creased bend but I wasn't sure what to do about the crack. I guess I will use the blue silicon to seal the crack from the inside like on the stiffeners and use an extra rivet (3 instead of 2) to hold the bent tabs together. This is about the best I can do...I'm bummed about this one since I can't really undo this. It is a minor mistake but it bothers me. I will check the RV List on the Internet to see what others may have done.
Dimpling the left elevator skin
Bending the bottom tab to allow room for the trim tab
Bending the top tab to allow room for the trim tab
