I got a rather large dose of frustration tonight with the Elevator. The plans state to rivet the E-903 Outboard Tip Rib to the E-1022 Shear Clips. Then, there is a note that says, "THE E-913 COUNTERBALANCE SKINS LIE UNDERNEATH THE SKINS"! Here is the excerpt from the plans.....
Sooooo, as I was preparing to rivet the Rib to the Shear Clip.....I noticed this. Damn it....the Counterbalance Skins are on the OUTSIDE of the Skins as shown in the picture below.
I looked back in the plans to see where I could have missed this Skins arrangement. The first opportunity would have been during the mating of the Front Spars to the Skin/Rib assembly. I could not find any written instructions regarding the orientation of the Counterbalance Skin and Elevator Skin. On second glance, however, I did notice the same thing in the following two pictures. The first picture below shows the Front Spar being mated to the Left Skins and Ribs. The second picture shows the Front Spar being mated to the Right Skins and Ribs. If you look closely in both pictures, you can see the transparent upper Skins. I guess that was my clue the Counterbalance Skins should go under the Elevator Skins. Now, this was an oversight on my part! However, this would have been an AWESOME place to put the note I mentioned above.....instead of 12 steps later. Because the Front Spar was already attached to the Ribs and opposite end Tip Rib, I couldn't just reposition the entire Spar and fix the Skins. As a result, I had to start removing rivets from the Counterbalance Rib to fix my problem.
Here is one of the Counterbalance Ribs attached to the Tip Ribs with all the rivets installed. This was PRIOR to being attached to the Front Spar.
And here is a couple of pictures after 22 rivets were removed from ONE side (22 had to be removed from the other side also).
After all 44 rivets were removed, the Counterbalance Skins were placed in the correct position as shown in the picture below. Additionally, you can see a few of the rivets that were re-installed in the Counterbalance Skin. Look on the bright side, I successfully removed 44 rivets without screwing up the holes and successfully re-installed 44 rivets with no mistakes. YEAH!
After that pop quiz and practical examination was finished, I riveted the Front Spar to the Upper and Lower Left Skins.
