Stabilator Ribs & More Brackets

Stabilator ribs are cleco'ed and then riveted into place.

Close up of the narrow confines of the forward spar and the nose and tail ribs.  Note how easily the tight fit tool and riveter work in that space - great combination of tools.

Progress happens quickly.

Mass balance bracket flanked by the hinge brackets.

Stabilator Spar Nutplates and Brackets

Solid rivets on the stabilator spar faces holding nutplates, mass balance brackets and outboard hinge brackets...

...and the interior faces of the spar.

Next view shows the spars cleco'ed to the caps.

Cleco'ing the rib clips onto the aft face of the spar...

...and then blind riveting with LP4-3's.

Stabilator Initial Assembly

Parts laid out on the workbench prior to assemby.

The stabilator spar caps are connected to the intraspar ribs, initially with clecos then with a combination of solid and blind rivets.

Next the rear spar web is fitted...

...then the front spar web is fitted and both webs cleco'ed to the spar assembly.

 
The resulting jigged spar assembly is now ready for the control horns to be fitted.

Rudder & Anti-Servo Tab Assembly

Rudder skeleton slides into its skin for the first and final time...pre-punched technology is pretty amazing to experience.

The Cleco and blind rivet process proceeds.

The Harbor Freight 1/4" pneumatic rivet pulls the LP4-3 blind rivets in one quick and easy squeeze of the trigger.

The completed rudder.

Onto the AST (anti-servo tab) as Van's refers to it.  Deburring small parts with the 3M Cut & Polish Wheel.

Lots of hole deburring.  I use a small Black & Decker pistol driver that has an amazing amount of torque for such a small form factor.  It has really saved my wrist.

More PreKoting on the horizon as the AST and a few stabilator parts are gathered for the process.  These parts went to the paint booth later that day

Speaking of paint, in a follow up to my post of June26, I mentioned the use of Bloxygen as a potential preservative for the Deft 2-part epoxy primer.  As of yesterday July 7th, the paint and catalyst appear to be as fresh as the day they were opened...and I believe this was the 3rd of 4th batch of mixed primer.  So it would seem that the Bloxygen is doing its job!  It is quite a relief to think that the $165 per gallon primer might just last for the duration of the priming.

And after the second bath of parts receive paint...

...they are laid out on the workbench and assembly begins on the anti-servo tab.  Slide the skeleton into the skin, align holes, cleco, rivet.

More clecos are removed and blind rivets added and pulled.

Before too long, there are two completed anti-servo tabs.

The tabs will be joined end to end where the two horns meet.

Close up of the tabs/horns.

Fin Skinned & Rudder Skeleton

Loading the fin skeleton into the skin.

Cleco'ing the skin begins with a lot of rib holes to line up with the skin.

 The porcupine...

Time to set the blind rivets.

Final of fin completely skinned ...

...and on to the rudder spar and ribs.  A plethora of solid rivets at the upper and lower hinge brackets.  The lower hinge bracket/control horn steel weldment is a powder coated thing of beauty!

Drawing a bead on the solid rivets of the lower hinge bracket.

Rudder skeleton going together really quick.

Upper rib/hinge bracket (on other side).

Lower rib/hinge bracket/control horn.

Final of rudder skeleton - the skin comes next.

Fin Initial Assembly

Tools of the trade (from left): Cleaveland Tools Main Squeeze rivet squeezer, Harbor Freight 1/4" pneumatic riveter and Tight Fit (blind) riveter.  Shown below and in between the tools are blind rivets (LP3-4, about 12,000 required), Van's wedges and Avery Tools Close Quarter Rivet Puller tool.

I haven't even used the wedges from Vans...the close quarter thingy tool is awesome and makes tight space blind riveting a breeze.

The actual first squeezed rivets - solids (universal or domed head)  into the upper and lower fin hinge brackets.

More solid rivets(countersunk) for the nutplates holding the spar caps to the back side of the fin spar.

The front side of the previous picture showing some blind rivets and the countersunk nutplate rivets.

More nutplate riveting that joins the fin's front spar with the base or root rib.

Blind riveting the lower spar caps to the fin spar.

Close up showing the close quarters rivet tool, successfully angling the gun away from the crowded corner to facilitate a flat driven blind rivet.

Finished product...

Blind riveting the ribs to the rear fin spar.
 

Blurry picture showing the exterior of the fin skin with countersunk nutplates...

...and the inside view of same.

Final view of fin skins with nutplates.