Mounting the empennage to the tail cone #3

I did not follow the directions and mount the elevators to the HS on the bench like they tell you to.  The only reason I can see they have you do that is to help stabilize the whole mess.  My HS is already mounted to the tailcone and I used straps to help keep it stable.  So now I am going to mount the elevators.

First I need to install the rod end bearings into the elevator spars. 

 I made this tool back when I built the RV-7.  It works like a dream at installing rod end bearings into nutplates.

 Detail of how it is made on the business end.

 The bearing goes in like this.  The way it is made, it puts the pressure on the outside of the bearing and not the ball which can damage these things.

 Get the bearing started in the hole and twist to the desired depth.  Easy peasy!

I installed these exactly per the plans which is 7/8" from the center of the ball hole to the face of the elevator front spar.  To make it easier, add 3/8" to that dimension and measure 1-1/4" from the top of the outside edge of the bearing assembly to the front spar face.  I used the depth gauge feature of my digital calipers to do this. 

Amazingly this worked like a treat!   The elevator counterweight ended up perfectly aligned with the HS!  No goofing around with the bearings required!

Mounting the empennage to the tail cone #2

Got started tonight by drilling the rear HS spar to the vertical spar mounting brackets.  Starting with #30 drill to get a pilot hole.

Then moving up to a long #12 drill for final hole size.

Then I deburred the holes.

And installed the hardware called out in the plans.

Then per the plans I made this wood block to go between the front spar mounting tabs.  I then clamped it to the aft deck per the plans.

Checked about a dozen times for square.  It was really close out of the box.  I only had to move it 1/32 of an inch.

Once happy I used the front spar mounting tabs to drill the aft deck and the doubler underneath it.

Then I installed the hardware called out in the plans.  No problem with edge distance here!

Other side....no edge distance issues here either.

Then I bolted on the VS front spar mounting plate.  Amazing that this is all there is holding the VS front spar on the plane.

I then match reamed the top rear spar holes to the tailcone and installed the called out hardware.

Next I match reamed the lower holes and installed the called out hardware in the upper two.

Next I had to machine countersink the bottom holes to receive a flush head structural screw.

Here are the lower hardware in place.

Next I used the rudder hinge bracket as a guide to drill a #30 pilot hole in the whole assembly.

Then I punched it up to #12 for the hardware.

Deburred both sides of the hole.  And installed the called out hardware.

Next I installed the VS front spar bolt.  It is subject to rotation so they have you use a castle nut and a bolt with a cotter pin hole.  I won't do that now since it all has to come apart anyway.

Inside shot of the rudder stop/hinge bracket hardware.  Not enough threads for me showing so I will either go with a thin washer or a longer bolt at final assembly.

A ton of work in this pic!

Mounting the empennage to the tail cone #1

 Got started today with deburring the VS to HS front spar mount.  I still can't believe that this is all there is that holds the VS's front spar to the plane.....  I also fabricated the HS stab front spar mount spacers per the plans.  I used the band saw to cut em out.

 Next I match reamed the VS front spar mount plate to the HS front spar with a #12 reamer.

Next I reamed the top bolt hole to 1/4" full size.

 Then I deburred all the holes.

 HS front spar hole deburring.

 The back side...

 Then I went ahead and started prepping for drilling the HS mount holes onto the tailcone.  I placed the HS on the tailcone with the spacers I fabricated.  I used some straps to ensure the whole thing remains level and can't fall over.

Tail Cone bottom stiffener and bulkhead drilling

 Started tonight by adding the vertical extension to my new saw horses.  This gets them up high enough to clear all the bulkheads.  Easy peasy.

 Then I cleco'ed the aft three bulkheads to the bottom skin.  This is a bit challenging to align.

 Then I slid the two fwd stiffeners into place.

 Then I aligned the centerline with the holes and aligned the starting point to the fwd most hole and drilled the stiffeners to the skin with my new 4000rpm drill.  Man I love this thing!  Makes fast work of these holes!

 Here are the fwd end of the fwd stiffeners all drilled.

 And then I drilled the aft end of the fwd stiffeners to the skin.  Go carefully and make sure the line stays in the middle of the holes!

 Then I slid in the aft center stiffener and drilled it the same way.

 Then I cleco'ed these two bellcrank ribs to the assembly.

 And match reamed their holes that are common with the skin.  I could not find anywhere in the directions on when to do this so I did it now.

 Then I match drilled these bellcrank rib flange to bulkhead web rivet holes to #30.  Used a 12" drill bit to make it easier to align.

Here are the stiffeners and bellcrank ribs all drilled to the bottom skin.  I love the new drill!

Tail Cone, saw horses and stiffener marking

 Tonight I had to go invest in some adjustable saw horses for assembly of the tail cone.  I will have to add a plank to the top of them to get them high enough while the assembly is upside down.  This is so the largest bulkhead will clear the ground.  I am just going to screw a 2x8 edgewise to the top of them to solve the issue.

 Next I marked the centerline on the J stiffeners along the long edge.  I bought this compass thing at Lowes for $5, added two zip ties and a sharpie pen and walla, instant adjustable edge marking tool supreme!   Doing the marking this way prevents the bow in the stiffener from screwing up the centerline.

Works slick as a ribbon!

Elevator Trim Tab Assembly

 Started tonight by riveting the elevator trim tab control horns to the trim tabs.  I riveted the aft five holes before riveting the spar to make it easier to get to them.  I used the longeron yoke for all of these.  Just have to be careful on alignment.

 Here they are before I riveted the spar.

 And the other side....

 Next I riveted the spar.  Due to the geometry of the yoke and sets, I had to slide the yoke on from the end.  One trim tab was easier than the other due to the right and left hand nature of it all and because I am right handed.

 Here is one all riveted.  Rinse and repeat for the other side.

 This thing is worth its weight in gold for jobs like this.  I taped up the yoke to help minimize the carnage to the primer.

 Next it was time to mix some black death to glue in the ribs.  Yes!  That is too much proseal!  I ended up wasting a ton of it!

 Buttered up the foam ribs and inserted them in their new homes.  Not too big of a mess as long as you keep using two pairs of gloves and change the top layer often.

 All done and cleco'ed together to cure for a bit.

Final step tonight was to install the pop rivets on each end of the trim tabs.  Easy peasy!

So for these trim tabs I got lazy and cheated and used rattle can primer.  The same Duplicolor Self Etching stuff that I used a bunch of on the RV-7.  Well it appears that they have changed the formula a bit because this stuff today dries to a powdery green finish instead of an OD green.  No big deal but different.  Also I had forgotten how easy it is to scratch this stuff.  The AKZO is far superior as far as toughness goes.  I likely won't be doing that again unless it is just a small simple part that won't get much abuse.  The trim tabs get a beating while in final assembly so I made a bad choice.