Putting elevator parts together

Hours Worked = 2.5

Today is one of those days I really enjoy. A day when you start with just a pile of parts, and quickly they come together into the shape of an airplane part! If only temporarily…

I started by bending some tabs on the elevator skins. These bent tabs will close up the ends of the elevator where the trim tab sits against it. I followed the bending method that Van’s recommended in the plans, and it worked perfectly. First I drew the bend line onto the skin where the plans say, then I clamped the skins to my bench with a piece of wood (melamine, actually) . I started the bend by hand, then came back with a block of wood to tighten the bend up some more. Then, finally, I hit the bend with the flush set in the rivet gun turned down very low.

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Colleen came out and got to pull more plastic off of parts while I deburred the spars. She also got the spar holes deburred and the hinge reinforcement plates final drilled to the spar.

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After that, it was just a matter of combining a bunch of small parts to make a big part!

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In today’s video, I got to try out a new light-weight air hose that was sent to my by Cleaveland tool after they saw me struggling with the coiled air hose. Check it out at http://www.cleavelandtoolstore.com/prodinfo.asp?number=ACKIT

I will be posting a review / demo of the hose soon!