Elevators 9-14-7, 9-16-1 to 9-16-3, 9-17-3
While waiting for suitable weather to finish priming elevator parts I decided to prepare the trailing edge and trim tab foam ribs from the provided foam blocks and templates. I checked the printed dimensions of the templates and they all checked out, so I went ahead and photocopied the templates so that I could retain the originals.
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| Rib templates cut and ready to apply |
The templates were cut out and glued to the foam using a regular spray adhesive.
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| Foam ribs ready to be cut |
I cut the foam ribs to rough size using the band saw, and finished them on the belt/disc sander. Everything went smoothly, and I just had to make sure I didn't take off too much material especially where cutting space was tight between the template tracings.
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| All ten foam ribs turned out nicely |
I also peeled off the paper after forming the ribs, as I was worried it would degrade over time and cause issues if I just left it on there and proceeded with rib attachment. I found it easiest to loosen the paper at the very tip of each rib using a thin blade, and then I was able to peel the paper right off.
Next I went ahead with marking the location of the foam ribs in the trim tabs and scuffing those areas in the way I did for the elevator trailing edges. The only difference was that because one side of the trim tab spar sits further in to the trim tab, less trim tab surface needs to be scuffed on that side because part of the foam rib will sit on the spar.
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| Trim tab foam rib locations marked and taped off |
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| Trim tab after scuffing |
I also scuffed the areas of the trim tab spars where the foam ribs would sit.
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| Trim tab spar foam rib locations taped and scuffed |
While waiting for elevator primed parts to finish curing, I moved on to preparing the trim tab control horns. These have to be trimmed, and I found it easiest to trim one of the horns in each pair (there are two horn pieces per trim tab) and then use that as a guide to trim the second horn.
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| Trim tab horns clecoed together to allow for accurate alignment and trimming |
The band saw made quick work of trimming of the excess, and I used the bench grinder to clean up the cut and also form the curve around the hole.
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| Both sets of trim tab horn cut and all edges deburred |
I also went ahead and deburred all the edges of the trim tab skins and spars.
Next, I built a bending brake out of a 4' x 2' board of 3/4" MDF. I cut 2 8" wide pieces (4 feet long) and attached them using a 4 foot long piano hinge I purchased at the local hardware store. It looks solid and the MDF is perfectly straight so should have no problem when it comes time to finish the trim tab bends.
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| MDF boards clamped in the vise and attaching the piano hinge |
I then decided to make the 6 trim tab clamping blocks. After cutting the blocks to the 6.5" x 2.5" size, I created a jig cut at the correct angle that would allow me to cut the angled portions of the clamping blocks just by sliding them through the band saw.
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| My first attempt to cut the angles using an angled wedge |
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| 2nd attempt... clamping blocks and additional wedges marked up... |
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| ...and this time they came out pretty well using the miter saw with a little clean up on the band saw |
Build Hints
- Be careful to orient and associate skins/spars/ribs correctly when determining what needs to be drilled, scuffed etc. It can be confusing especially when working on parts eg. elevators that are mirror images of each other. Label parts well and accurately as soon as practical.
- Cutting wood angles on the band saw using a wedge didn't work too well. Trying to cut freehand along the line worked okay but it is hard to get a perfectly straight cut that way. For these kinds of cuts I would just use a table or miter saw.
Time Taken: 5.9 hours
Dates: November 21 - November 26, November 30 2022
Elevators Total Time: 44.2 hours
RV-10 Build Total Time: 207.9 hours
Priming Total Time: 24.8 hours (not included in build time totals)