| 211 | Clamps Set - Fin and Rudder | 3/22/2009 |
| | Today I installed my custom clamps on the rudder and fin. During the process, I checked measurements and found that the vertical piece (where fin is bolted to stabilizer) was off by about 1/16". Moved the piece forward and now need to make a new gusset set for that piece. Also, found that the gusset at the fin top requires a lot of clamp pressure to sit flush on the tapered top block. Will spend a little more time sanding to make the gusset seat on a flat surface rather than attempt to bend it over a curved surface. Almost ready for glue and removal from the house. Mrs. Flyingwood is ready to see it leave the house where the setup has been since the elevators were started last fall. Mrs. Flyingwood is a most patient wife.
Man hours: 4 |
| 210 | Fin and Rudder Rabbet Shoulders Removed for Gusset | 3/13/2009 |
| | Inspired by a thoroughly frustration filled day at work, I cleared my head with a little Piet therapy. No shortage of work to do on the plane so I marked off the gusset edges and used a bandsaw to rip off the shoulders (the raised edge after the rabbet is cut). The Permagrit tool made short work of leveling the gusset application area. All locations ready to go except for the front 2 gussets on the rudder. That will go quickly.
Man hours: 2 |
| 209 | Vertical Stabilizer Top Piece | 3/11/2009 |
| | The little block that connects the leading edge to the hinge spar was quite an effort. It started with pulling out my worst piece of spruce and looking for the part that had the turbulent grain. I cut off 20 inches because the piece needs to be long enough to go through the planer. Planed it down to the thickness of the rabbetted rear spar of the fin. Traced part onto the best side of this piece of spruce and cut out with a bandsaw a little larger than necessary. Smoothed the outside curves with the belt sander, and the inside curve with the oscillating drum sander. Then marked the taper and obtained the taper with the belt sander. The result was a good snug fit, even in the right angle at the leading edge. I've never had good luck making this kind of piece (inside cut right angles compounded with an angled backside) but with many iterations of filing, hand sanding and testing the end result was satisfactory. What looks like a gap in the picture is actually a pencil mark.
Man hours: 3 |
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| 208 | Fin and Rudder Rabbets Cut | 3/8/2009 |
| | I made the rabbets a little less deep than in the other empennage pieces. Instead of 3/4" depth I made them 5/8". This leaves just a tad more material for working the rounded edges. Just set the fence on the table saw, set the height of the blade, and ran the pieces through. I didn't make the recess a full 1/8" (gusset thickness). I can feel a bump of about 1/64" when test fitting a gusset. I'll be sanding the rabbets and things will true up fine after I do that. I guarrantee it. Next, after some light sanding, I'll be trimming the shoulder off the rabbets where the gussets will be placed.
Man hours: 1 |
| 207 | Addressing the Fin Top | 3/7/2009 |
| | This is a small but important piece. It's probably the most visible point on the plane. I didn't want any bumps or irregular curve transitions to the rudder so I drew out all the geometry. I cut some manilla to match the angle of the rudder and taped it to the jig to visualize the top of the rudder. Then I taped another piece of manilla in the area of the fin top. I projected the lines, drew a parallel to the fin LE where it intersects the back of the fin, and used a compass to draw a circle with a radius equal to the distance between the parallel lines. I made sure there was a little bit of flatness (only 1 inch) where the projected line of the rudder is tangent to the circle. Probably easiest to just look at the picture.
Man hours: 1 |
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| 206 | Fin and Rudder Gussets Done | 3/7/2009 |
| | Traced the templates directly onto 1/8" ply. Cut just outside the lines. Used the belt sander to trim gussets to exact dimensions on flat sides and outside curves. Used the oscillating drum sander to trim the inside curves. Then used 150 grit to hand sand all the edges nice and smooth. After a few touch-ups you can run your finger over the curves and not feel any bumps.
Man hours: 2 |
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| 205 | Fin and Rudder Gusset Templates | 3/1/2009 |
| | Measured out and drew the gussets for the fin and rudder minus the top piece for the fin. After each gusset was drawn to size on manilla folders, I cut them out in preparation for tracing them onto 1/8" Finnish Birch plywood.
Man hours: 1 |
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| 204 | Fin and Rudder Members Cut to Fit | 2/23/2009 |
| | As I did with the rest of the stabilizer and elevators, I made manilla templates for setting the blade angle of the saw for each of the different angles. With each piece I made several incremental cuts until the piece was the exact length. I then mapped the lines of the taper onto the pieces that will be reshaped. The pieces are all in the jig awaiting the tapering process.
Man hours: 1 |
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