Date: 2024-08-29 TIME: 3:30
Assembling the horizontal stabilizer continued today by starting with scuffing, cleaning and priming the parts of the rear spar with P60G2 reduced 2:1 – that’s 2 parts reducer catalyst to 1 part primer.
Using the $29 HVLP Harbor Freight spray gun set at 40 psi I finally got a great thin coat on the spar and doubler. I did not mix enough primer so rather than mixing another batch we just finished the priming using a zinc phosphate rattle can.
The centre elevator bearing comes in 3 pieces, the brackets and the bearing itself. The instructions say to cleco the parts together and then final size drill the holes. You can’t do that because the powder coating on the brackets prevents you from doing so. You have to clear the powder coating from the brackets first. We used the final sized drill, #30, to clear the powder coating, then assembled the part with the 1/8th clecos, then check the holes were all final sized and aligned with the #30 drill bit and then riveted the parts together using a tungsten bar and #4 cup rivet set.
After completing the riveting of the hinge brackets and centre bearing we cut the left and right HS-1008 pieces from the AA6-187xx2x2.5 aluminium angle. Initially we cut the parts using my cheapo bandsaw from Harbor Freight. Worked like a charm. Then rounded the corners and cleaned up the edges. We left the hole locating and drilling until tomorrow.
