I set up in the basement TV as soon as I woke up and set out
riveting on the vertical stabilizer. Things went well. I had about 10 rivets
after my first round that I wasn't happy with and decided to drill out and
redo. The rivets punched out perfectly with my new tool. I ended up bucking 3
rivets located on the bottom hinge bracket due to the tight space.
I then moved
on to countersinking the E-615PP trim access reinforcement plate to accept the correct NAS1097AD3-3.5 rivets to secure the nutplates. I used the hand deburring tool and slowly worked at the countersinks. After a few turns the countersink was perfect for the reduced rivet head size. I
then riveted the nutplates, and then riveted the trim servo mounting brackets on the access plate.
Later in the evening I called a friend over to lend me a
hand. I dimpled the elevator skins and then set out to back rivet the
stiffeners onto the left elevator skin. This process proved to be a bit tricky
when trying to set the rivets at the back near the bend in the elevator skin. I
managed to have a friend gently pull back the top part of the skin allowing me
to place the rivet gun over the last rivet. I used scraps of oak wood on either
side of the stiffener to help hold down the skin flat as it wants to arc up as
the top skin is pulled back.
I used a dab of RTV on the back 1"-1.5" of the
stiffener as an adhesive to the trailing edge.
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