Tami and I finished riveting the horizontal stabilizer.  We got done riveting the skins much quicker tonight.  All skin rivets  were measured with the rivet gauge and he shop heads were all adequately formed.  No known mistakes.

After riveting the rear spar to the horizontal stabilizer, the structure is very rigid and appears to be perfectly straight.  I don't know how the casual builder (first time builder) could to this without having all the pre-punching's that comes with the Van's kit and obtain such a high quality of construction with the finished product.  It would take a real craftsman if you had to lay out all the rivets manually...  Love that modern technology.

All that is left for this is to potentially notch the rear spar to make room for the elevator horn travel and mount the HS-411PP hinge bracket.  Ooh yeah, the fiberglass tips...  I am not going to worry about those until later.

For the first part of the day, I started assembling the rear spar for the horizontal stabilizer.  Everything was going well today and then I noticed a note at the bottom of DWG #3.  It stated that the horizontal stabilizer rear spar should be trimmed below the HS-411PP in order to allow the elevator control horns to pivot forward and contact the elevator "down" control strop.  DAMN!!!  DID I MAKE A MISTAKE????  There was no mention of it in Van's instructions and you had to be looking very carefully at the print.  I haven't worked on the horizontal stabilizer for a while which contributed to this oversight(?).  Getting interrupted while waiting for parts I screwed up definitely did not help me.

In actuality, this turned out not to be that big of a deal.  If you look further into the instructions, Van's addresses removal of the rear spar flange material.  Additionally, I found builders that didn't remove this until fitting all of the pieces together at the end of the kit.  I did notice one builder who removed this material prior to rear spar assembly and he removed an excessive amount of the rear spar flange assembly.  Would that create a problem?  I don't want to remove any more material than is necessary.  So I got a little nervous, but it appears I am fine and not removing this spar flange is no big deal.

Since the rear spar was already primed and riveted together, the best thing I could think of is to wait and see how much needs to be trimmed and get out the Dremel Tool.  Drill the corners to get them rounded and use the Dremel cutting wheel to cut the straight lines.  Of course, it will still need deburring and touch-up primer work.  CRAP!!  Pay attention to the drawings!!!!

This evolution didn't go to badly.  When Van's instructions state that you may need to bend the HS-404 nose rib and the HS-405 main rib in order to set the rivets, they were kidding.  There was no way to set those rivets without gently bending those parts.  I used a vise grip clamp to ensure that the flanges stayed flat against the spar channel.  After I set the rivets, I gently bent back into place.  (I did see one builder who used an offset mushroom set with his rivet hammer and a bucking bar to set these rivets.  I bet that would have worked well, but for some reason, I didn't think of it at the time).

To continue with the assembly, Van's has you rivet the HS-707 nose rib to the skin, then install and cleco the front spar to the skin.  Blind rivets were used to connect the HS-708 main rib, HS-702 front spar, and the HS-707 nose rib.  I am hoping that no mistakes are made on the right side as Van's did not give me a single spare blind rivet.

Decided to stop for the night after getting the left skin done as we would not have enough time to complete the right side before my wife turns into a pumpkin (around 10-11pm).  That gives me a chance to get my construction log caught up...

Today, we did a ton of prepping the aluminum for priming.  Tami helped me by alumiprepping the aluminum and scrubbing the parts.  I rinsed and alodined the parts when she was done.  This has to be the largest number of parts we have done at one time.

One thing that I chose to do different with the horizontal stabilizer is to prime the inside of the skins.  I had some pretty good scratches from all the dry fitting of parts together so many times.  I also rationalized that it would be easier for contaminant to get into and remain in the horizontal stabilizer resulting in corrosion.  I am really happy with the way the skins turned out.  I tape over the holes thinking that they might result in paint on the outsides of the skins.  It was not necessary to tape the outsides or edges of the skins.  There was primer on the outside, but it was nothing more than dry dust.  I just wiped it off with a rag and acetone.

I ended up using in the neighborhood of 24 oz of primer to do all of the horizontal stabilizer parts (I had to mix up 3 different batches.  Didn't want to make up more than I needed).

This was my best looking priming job yet.  I still have a few runs and where the primer came into contact with my wire hooks and or the chicken wire is wet with primer, it will tend to pull the primer off of the freshly painted parts.  Let the pats dry before trying to turn them over.  Putting the parts on the wood blocks helped a little.  At least it gave me more room in the paint booth for parts being worked on.

My paint gun settings were really good for coverage, but I had more over spray than I have had on previous priming efforts.  I would have to spend about 2 hrs cleaning up the garage the next morning.

I picked up where I left off on the horizontal stabilizer.  I re-fabricated the HS-714 front spar reinforcement I bought and got that drilled successfully.  I also got the main rib (HS-405) on the right side drilled successfully.  I did not fabricate a new front spar.  Upon further examination, it looked really good.

When I got all this fit together, I believe that I have SUCCESS.. ON TO PRIMING>>>>

I got my replacement parts from Van's and began re-work of the whole assembly.  Everything was going well today.  All of my previous mistakes were corrected until I went to drill the main rib to the front spar.   I thought that I was being very careful drilling the hole, however, when I was complete, the drill wandered like it did the first time (didn't drill straight).  Don't ask me how I got two separate holes on this flange.  Just me being dumb.  Lesson learned AGAIN the hard way.  This is for the right side main rib.  I continued on to drill the left side and I was happy how that turned out.

AN IDEA FOR THE NEXT TIME I TRY TO DO THIS:

• Get the two center holes drilled where the nose rib, front spar, and the main rib join together.  Then remove the skin on that side's skin and drill the remaining two holes with the skins removed.  Drill from the front spar reinforcement through the main rib.  Doing it the other way (aft to forward) has resulted in the drill bit wandering and left me with a poorly drilled hole.  Drill first with a #40 that way if the drill bit wanders, as long as it isn't to bad, it will clean itself up when you final drill to a size #30.  If you can't line up perpendicular to the spar reinforcement, consider use of the long drill bits to get as close to the 90 degree as possible.  My drill chuck would have rubbed on the nose rib (which can be removed if you take the time to remove your skin) with the shorter drill bits.  The right angle drill didn't help here either as the drill head also got in the way of the nose rib.

After disassembly of the horizontal stabilizer, I was able to better see the mis-drilling in the pictures for this log entry.

This turned out to be very disappointing.  As you can see on the main rib (HS-405, right side), one of the holes turned out to be double drilled.  The rib must have moved while I was match drilling.  I decided that this double hole would not adequately hold the rib to the spar after riveting.

The main rib (HS-405, left side) has the top hole very close to the edge of the flange.  I went back and measured the distance from the edge of the flange to the edge of the hole.  It was less than one hole diameter.  I decided that this tool was not a condition I wanted to leave in the final assembly.

Therefore, I ordered two new main ribs (HS-405), front spars (HS-702) and front spar reinforcement angle (HS-714) from Van's.  This replaces all the parts I felt needed replacement due to my drilling mistakes.

Additional Note:  You have to drill a relief notch in the front spars (HS-702).  If you don't read the print and Van's instructions carefully, you will end up with a notch(s) that look like these.  The front spars are made to fit both the RV-7 and the RV-8.  My first relief notch was at the end of the factory spar flange.  However, after reading the print closer, there is a little note called "STEP 1", which states to trim the spar flange back to the bend line...  HUH?!?!  Get out the ruler!!  Dang, is anything going to go right????  I just assumed that the bend line would be at the end of the flange.  I didn't even consider the fact that Van's is using this same part on multiple planes.  Won't make that mistake again, I hope.

I finishing fitting horizontal stabilizer components and after clecoing all the skins on the horizontal stabilizer, all holes were match drilled.  The vinyl coating was stripped using a soldering iron so that the holes could be de-burred and later dimpled.  Tami was a tremendous help de-burring all the holes on both skins.

Below, I was trying to drill the main rib, nose rib, and front spar on the left hand side of the horizontal stabilizer.  Per the instructions, I measured 1/2 inch from the last hole (shown by the silver cleco), marked and drilled the hole.  The hole came out good with the exception that it appeared closer to the edge of the spar reinforcement than I would like.  A review of the drawing indicated that the 1/2" mark for the hole in the spar reinforcement should have been 1/2" from the edge of the nose rib FLANGE being held by the silver cleco.  I have just over 1 hole diameter from the edge of the spar reinforcement.  I would prefer to have 2 hole diameters.

This morning I put HS-601PP (skins) on the cleco'd horizontal stabilizer spars.  I was debating on whether or not I needed to build some type of jig to ensure a proper alignment of the horizontal stabilizer as Van's instructions makes no reference to building a jig.  I eventually decided against building a jig for the HS and it appears with all of Van's pre-punching, that the stabilizer assembles "true" without any jigs.  The pre-punched holes are AMAZING.  If they don't line-up, there is a really good chance something is not put together correctly.

 

Tami helped me for about 1/2 hour today taking off the skins. In retrospect, building a jig for the HS is not necessary, but it would be really nice just for working with the HS.

After I "dry fit" the horizontal stabilizer skins, I took off only to realize that I could have fit, marked, and drilled the horizontal main ribs (HS-405) and nose ribs (HS-404).  So I put the left side skin back on and fit the main rib HS-405.

Additionally, I performed the step that countersunk the four holes on the reinforcement angle pieces on the forward HS spar (HS-710 & HS-714).  I also dimpled those corresponding holes on the HS-702 front spar.  This was my first time trying to setup the micro-stop countersink.  I sure seemed like I removed alot of material, but it was the minimum amount which allowed the HS-702 spar to lay flat against the spar reinforcements.

Reading ahead in the instructions, It appears that having a right angle drill will be very helpful to ensure accurate match drilling of the main rib (HS-405) and nose rib (HS-404).  I ordered a right angle drill with bits from Cleaveland Tool.

Today, I began the Horizontal Stabilizer and Front Spar Fabrication.  Van's instructions start by having you taper and round the ends of the front spar reinforcements (HS-710 and HS-714).  The instructions have you taper back 2.5" and round the ends.  I took the end cap from my sharpie marker to draw out the rounded ends and drew a line back 2.5" for my taper cut.  I used a band saw with a metal cutting blade to make the initial cut, used the vixen file to remove material to the lines I drew and then used the scotchbrite wheels to finish the cut edges.

I assembled the rear spar with the HS-609PP spar reinforcements after I broke the edges of the spar reinforcements.
I installed all hinge brackets and I assembled the HS-411PP, HS-412PP, and VA-146 riveting the assembly together.  This shop heads on this hinge have the correct diameter, however, they do not have the correct depth on the shop heads (rivets were too short, however, this is what was called out by the prints).  A review of Van's instructions state that this may happen throughout building in certain applications and this is not of concern.  A thread on the Yahoo Users Group indicated that other builders are experiencing the same thing.  One builder stated that he called Van's on the issue and they stated that it was not a problem and that they required 6 rivets to hold the assembly which is way over what is actually needed.

Not a lot of detail here, however, this is was my first day working on the aircraft and I spent some time trying to figure out the prints and the instructions.  I will come up with a system.  If I don't go any faster than this, I won't be flying before I retire