| Today our goal was to get all
the pro seal work on the rudder & vertical stabilizer done.
We have other things to do tonight and tomorrow, and we're going to the
symphony Monday night, so this is the perfect time to get this stuff
done so it can cure over the next couple of days. The plans warn
you that the next 6 steps need to be completed within the working time
of the pro seal (its basically a 2 part sealant, and once you mix it
there is only a limited amount of working time before it starts to
set). The plans go on to say the working time for pro seal is 2
hours, but I have since found out the small 1oz container we have is
only good for 30-min... hmmm... might want to make sure we know what
we're doing before we get started because we've not only got the rudder
trailing edge to do, but also the conduit in the vertical stabilizer! |
(7-9 step 2):
One of the first things we did was assemble the two rudder skins
with the trailing edge in place. We placed a cleco in the bottom
trailing edge hole, and then as I moved to the top of the rudder and
slid the skin in place to insert another cleco, the one in the bottom
hole popped out! I put it in again, same thing. I tried a
different hole, same thing. Basically, the the gripping end of
the clecos were trying to grab hold in a tapered hole (the dimple in
the opposite skin). There just simply wasn't enough of an edge to
hold it in place so it kept popping out. I'm glad we tried this
ahead of time because once we got the pro seal on, we wouldn't have had
a whole bunch of time to figure out what to do! We got an idea
from some other builder's sites to match drill the holes of the
trailing edge into a peice of angle iron clamped to the edge of the
table. 59 holes without touching the aluminum skin was a
chore! That took a little time... and patience! Once it was
done though, it worked like a charm. The clecos weren't going
anywhere!!
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(8-2 step 1): While
I drilled the angle iron for the trailing edge, Angela moved on with
the horizontal stabilizer. She got the long rear spar out of the
box and started on the deburring. She tried a couple of methods,
but finally found a good use for the vixen file! This spar is
made of some pretty thick aluminum, and the vixen handled knocking off
the edges of it quite well!
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(7-9 step 4):
Once I got the angle iron all drilled we went back to figuring
out our plan for the pro seal. We got our roles down, and mixed
the stuff up... we were off!! That stuff is thick! It
doesn't spread well, and as everyone else has said, it sticks to
everything. We basically smeared the trailing edge, layed it in
place on the right rudder skin, and then while Angela held the left
rudder skin up out of the way, I began placing a cleco in every other
hole in the trailing edge beginning from the bottom. When we got
a couple of holes away from a stiffener, I would pop rivet the rear of
the two stiffeners together. I would then put a few more clecos
in until we got to the next stiffeners, and pop rivet those. This
continued all the way to the top. At this point Angela took over
and put in the remaining clecos in the trailing edge while I turned my
attention to the vertical stabilizer...
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With
just a little remaining working time on the pro seal after the rudder
trailing edge, I began dabbing the stuff in between some of the
lightening holes on the vertical stabilizer front spar where I wanted
the conduit to attach. I also put some on the on the top &
middle ribs where the conduit goes through them. One thing I
learned about pro seal (actually tank sealant is what they call it) is
that they weren't joking about 30-minutes... I finished in time, but at
about 30-minutes the stuff definitely couldn't be spread any longer!
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(7-9 step 5): Once
done with the pro seal, it was back to the rudder to pop rivet the
stiffeners to the shear clips. Angela started these but wasn't
pleased with her results and asked me to continue it... not really sure
if I did any better!
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Once we were done for the day, I
went back out to take a couple of shots. Here's a shot of the
vertical stabilzer with the conduit set in it's final position.
In a day or so when the tape is removed this stuff won't be going
anywhere!
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(7-9 step 8): Here's
a shot of the rudder with the trailing edge clecod to the angle iron
and the weights Van's recommends to hold the trailing edge
straight. Once this stuff cures in a couple of days we'll rivet
the trailing edge, insert the rudder spar, and see about installing the
counter weight... so there's still a little bit to go... but it's
starting to look like an airplane part!
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