About
Build log for an RV-10

By
Jae Chang
web@jline.com

Contents (Index)
These are links to the major kits for the project.

Section 8: Start Horizontal Stabilizer (40 / 116 tail and total )

I am midway through building the horizontal stabilizer. Unfortunately, I did not have as much time to update my build log up to this point. However, a good bit of progress was made on the HS.

A quick summary of events to bring this log current goes as follows:

1. Lots and lots of deburring of those ribs and holes. Riveting will take quite a bit of time to finish all of these holes.

2. I also switched to an epoxy primer. The 988 was fine to start with. My main problem with the spray can was that it did not last very long. The primer did not last long while doing these relatively small pieces on the tail. I did not want to think what primering the fuselage or wings would be like with the spray can. It was obvious that I would need to learn to use the spray gun at some point. That point was basically now.

I switched to another Sherwin Williams product, E2A 933, a grey epoxy primer DTM (direct to metal) primer. I even bought a generic spray gun from the SW retailer, so I had everything with one stop, except for one more item.

The main complaint I read with an epoxy primer, was the time to cleanup. I was nervous about this. I did not want the primer to clog up my nice new gun and anything else the primer may come in contact with. Thus, 3M had an advertising flyer on their PPS paint system. It is basically a disposable paint cup liner, which you can use then dispose of when done. A litle less cleanup. I went ahead and bought a starter box of cups, liners, and the paint gun adapter which cost me around $100.

There was definitely a bit of a learning curve, but the final results are quite fantastic. I no longer have to worry about wasting paint with the spray can. I can adjust the amount of paint out of the spray gun to accommodate my speed, thus, i now have what feels like much more control and an endless amount of paint. My first few cups were WAY beyond what was required for the job. I will eventually learn to mix more closely to the right amounts.

The above is my first batch of parts painted with E2A 933.

Picture of the paint gun used.

HS in the cradle ready for drilling.

3. The HS is relatively straight-forward to build. The main difference being that the HS is the largest part yet to build, thus requiring probably the most number of parts (ribs) and the most amount of drilling and then riveting.

Revelation #10. Proof that drill bits do not drill a round hole. I drilled this hole using a 1/4" drill bit. I ultimately final-drilled to the 5/8" size using a unibit which does a much better job at keeping the hole round.

BOO BOO

I am currently stopped due to a big boo boo last night. I was dimpling with the pneumatic squeezer, while talking on the phone, and this is the result.

I need to research what should be done here.

Fortunately, it was done to the bottom skin of the HS. It is also on the inboard edge, which should get covered up by the empennage fairing.

UPDATE 3/7

The simplest advice I was given is to just flatten the dimple, drill the hole, clean the hole up, and leave it at that. The only other option is to fill the hole with a rivet. However, that would require somehow filing the rivet flush with the skin, because it would like underneath a rib flange. The results are shown above.

posted at: 10:32 | path: /aviation/build/airframe/tail | permanent link to this entry | add a comment