H. Stabilizer, Page 04

January 13, 2007 ... I joined EAA, Chapter 90 today in Oakdale, California. It was great to talk to others who have a passion for flying, and building or restoring aircraft. Later, I began the process of fitting the skins to the Horizontal Stabilizer . airframe for predrilling. I followed the same basic technique that I used for the Vertical Stabilizer.
I first lay the airframe flat on the work table, with part of the skin hanging while I set the other half for pre-drilling. After getting everything lined up and clamped, I pre-drilled about 10 holes around the perimeter and installed Clecos as I went along. I then removed the Clecos, turned the airframe over, and repeated the process. I left the Clecos on the second side; carefully flipped the skin and airframe over and supported it on three 2X4's. Then came that difficult task of folding the skin over, and holding it down while setting the Clecos.
I came up with a simple yet efficient plan; I set a 20 pound bag of rice on it.
It works very well, and will not harm the airframe or skin.

January 15, 2007 ... I finished pre-drilling the horizontal stabilizer (400+ holes!), deburred everything, and began dimpling the skins where I will be using countersink rivets.

January 16, 2007 ... I finished dimpling the skins and airframe. That took every available bit of my shop time today.