I continued the process of final riveting the parts and pieces of the Elevator together. Today's work began by clecoing E-1008B Ribs, E-00907-1L Rear Spar, and the forward half of the E-01403 Trim Tab Hinge to the E-00901A Left Top Skin. The plans instruct you to align the edge of the Rear Spar flange with the edge of your workbench. Clamps are then used to hold the assembly in place and keep it from moving during riveting. In the picture below, you can see all the parts clecoed in place and the clamps holding the Rear Spar to the workbench.
The plans also instruct you to shim the Ribs up from the workbench by 5/32 (4 mm) to avoid deformation. The cardboard I used was exactly 4 mm and worked great. There are six Ribs, so I used one piece of cardboard for two Ribs.
The next step is to rivet the Top Skin, Rear Spar, and Trim Tab Hinge together. The holes in the Rear Spar are broken down into groups of three. The first group (you can see below with the blue topped clecos) are holes that don't currently get rivets. The second group are the 25 holes common to the Skin, Rear Spar, and Trim Tab Hinge and receive AN426AD3-4 flush rivets. The third group are the remaining 14 Skin to Rear Spar holes and receive AN426AD3-3.5 flush rivets. Below, the second group installation is complete.
Here is a picture of the shop head on the underside of the Trim Tab Hinge.
This is the completed installation of the third group of 14 rivets.
Once the rivets on the Rear Spar are installed, the Skin is turned over and the Ribs get back-riveted using AN426AD3-3 flush rivets. In this picture, the six Ribs are completely installed on the Skin.
Now, the plans shift attention to the right side of the Elevator and the E-00900B Right Bottom Skin. This time, instead of using clamps to secure the Rear Spar to the workbench, I used tape. I put half the tape on the workbench and half on the Rear Spar. The assembly was very secure and was never an issue during rivet installation. I liked this way much better than using the clamps. Here are two pictures showing how I used the tape.
The right side of the Elevator also has three groups of holes. The six holes on the left (first group) and the three holes on the right (second group) do not get rivets at this point in the build. The third group are the remaining 32 holes common between the Skin and the Rear Spar. Those holes get AN426AD3-3.5 flush rivets and are installed in the picture below.
That's it for tonight. I will start by back-riveting the Ribs to the Right Bottom Skin tomorrow.