Step 4, Elevator

The right and left elevators are constructed more or less in parallel.  The first step, like the rudder before it, is to trim some angle material to length for stiffeners.  Fortunately for me, Chuck has stopped by again to help. First up, remove the blue plastic from the inside of the left and right skins.

  Chuck trims the angle at the band saw while I mark them for location and size.

Next the stiffeners are smoothed on the Scotch-Brite wheel and then clecoed to the skins for match drilling.

After match drilling, the holes are dimpled to accept the dimples in the skin and the skins are dimpled to accept the flush rivets.  

And the then roughed up with a Scotch-Brite pad to prepare for priming.

stiffeners from right elevator

The blue plastic is removed in strips along the rivet lines on the outside.

So now the skins need to be dimpled but there is not enough room between the last hole in the stiffener rivet line and the fold in the skin to use the DRDT-2 dimpler.  My vise grip dimpler, and my pneumatic squeezer aren't getting it either.  Fortunately, I remembered the pop-rivet dimple dies that came with the Isham tool kit.  It's funny,  I remember thinking that I probably wouldn't be using those when I first saw them during the tool kit inventory.  Lucky for me, I hadn't deleted them from the tool kit when I made the order.  At that time I didn't even know what they were for...

The last hole next to the bend needs to be dimpled.  Here is the pop-rivet die set for an AN426AD3 rivet. 

Outside of skin

Inside of skin

With the stiffeners primed I was ready to back rivet them to the right elevator skin.

And Carolina goes to work placing rivets in the left skin.

Oops.  Left skin stiffeners are not dimpled.  Carol springs into action on the DRDT-2.  

And then continues on by riveting the trim servo inspection cover baking plate.  Her main concern at this point is obviously frostbite.  Understandable, as the inside temperature had dipped somewhere south of 65 deg F.

As the stiffeners are finished I'm beginning to think about ordering the wing kit.  With an eight week lead time, I think I should have ordered it 6 weeks ago.