1.0 Hours –
The goal for the day was to finish attaching the horizontal stabilizer to the fuselage. Since only four holes needed to be drilled, this should have been an easy task…and it was.
First, I had to take a few measurements to insure that the horizontal stabilizer’s incidence was at 0°. With the 3/16″ spacers under the aft spar, the incidence should be set, but the distance from the aft deck to the tooling holes in the inboard ribs of the horizontal stabilizer ribs can be used to confirm the incidence. There are several tooling holes, and the distance was equal on all of them. Therefore, 0° incidence.
With the incidence set, it was just a matter of drilling four holes through the F-711C vertical bars and aft spar of the horizontal stabilizer. Nothing complicated here. Access was easy, and there is a ton of material in this area, making edge distance concerns negligible. I drilled the holes to #30, then to #19, before finally reaming them to the appropriate diameter for the AN3 bolts.
The holes for the four bolts that attach the horizontal stabilizer to the F-711C vertical bars were easy to drill.
Another view of the four bolts holding the horizontal stabilizer to the F-711C vertical bars.
The horizontal stabilizer is now fully attached to the fuselage.
Of course, as soon as the horizontal stabilizer was installed on the fuselage, it had to come back off. There were two reasons for this. The first is that I need to fit the elevators and drill the elevator horns for attaching the push rod. Second, the elevators, and all of the other empennage parts have been stored in our attic, and, with the horizontal stabilizer attached to the fuselage, there just isn’t enough room in the garage to gain access to the attic.
As soon as it is attached, the horizontal stabilizer has to come back off for fitting the elevators (and to give me enough room to access the attic).
The horizontal stabilizer back on the workbench and ready for elevator fitting.
Ethan's RV-7 