Brief Description: Dimple, prime, rivet rudder stiffener and skin
Well this entry is long overdue. I returned from my last trip and only had two days to work on the plane before a scheduled surgery on my elbow. So I am making this entry on the 26th even though the work took place on the 15th. I am also typing with one hand!
Today was a marathon day; I received the replacement stiffener in the mail so I started out by fabricating the stiffener then match drilling everything. I deviated from the instructions a bit by drilling out the remaining holes in the rest of the rudder. The instructions have you rivet on the stiffeners, then bend the trailing edge. After that is done you cleco the skin to the understructure and drill and dimple the remaining holes. I wanted to dimple the entire skin at this stage so I clecoed the understructure one side at a time and drill the holes to size. I figured it is a matched hole system so in theory you could drill parts separately, which some have done replacing skins or other parts (more later).
After everything was dry I started to back rivet the stiffeners onto the skin. I immediately ran into trouble. Back riveting was one of the easiest things I have learned but for the life of me I kept clenching over about every 5th rivet it seemed. My rivet set was too wide for the stiffener so I ground down the plastic collar, I was making sure to hold the set square. After riveting one side and a couple stiffeners on the other I quit. I will get online and get some advice. You can see from my pictures what I am doing. Bad builder day!
