04 APR 08 - Drilled Left Elevator - 2.5 Hours
I had some guest help today. My friend
Luke Westerfield stopped by to get some hands on airplane building experience. Luke
took his first small airplane ride with me a few months back and turned out to be
a natural.
We also had a smaller friend, Reid, from across the street, offer assistance in
the form of a drill press operator. He would like to be a pilot some day and frequently
shows me his large collection of die-cast military airplanes.
Here is Toad's guest-worked program in full effect: drilling the left elevator counterweight.
Notice Reid's judicious use of safety equipment!
Following the same general progression as the right elevator, Luke drilled the left
elevator.
Luke drilling the left elevator skin.
After the left elevator skin is drilled, the trim tab spar gets countersunk on one
side. Be careful to note proper direction here. Also, if you countersink with no
guide, you will likely get chatter due to the bit wandering. I used a wood backer
and drilled #40 holes and clecoed in place, then used the #40 holes as a guide.
This worked well. Be careful to not countersink too much as this material is on
the thin side to begin with.
In the foreground you can see two rivets used to test the depth of the countersink.
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