Started Ailerons

I started building the Ailerons this past weekend. I stayed dry in the shop as it rained almost the entire weekend. I small break in the weather on Saturday night allowed me to sit outside and cut all the small stiffening angles while smoking a large slab of beef on the grill. A nice evening out on the back back patio, propping my feet up, cutting the 32 small angles out, and throwing extra wood on the fire to keep the smoke rolling....as if building an airplane wasn't enjoyable already.

The ailerons are a welcome change from the drudgery of the fuel tanks. Cleco, drill, deburr, rivet...no mess. It's nice. The ailerons require an extra check here and there to be sure the correct parts are in there correct places. The skins aren't exactly the same and you need to be sure you're using the correct side up, etc. I clearly marked the skins and all the parts to reduce the confusion. When I first clecoed all the parts together, as the instructions state, on a flat table, the aileron was out of alignment, kinda wavy. I set that one aside and worked on the second. This time I clecoed the trailing edge first and then the nose skin and everything lined up perfectly. Sometimes the methodology in the instructions are not the best. I disassembled the first aileron and re-clecoed in the same manner and it completely straightened out. Drilled both parts and called it a night.

Saturday 4.5hrs
Sunday 4.5hrs
Monday 1.25hrs
All hours to ailerons.

Placing the stainless steel tube counterweight into the leading edge of the ailerons.

Wrapping the leading edge skin around the assembly was somewhat difficult work. A little grunting and a shove got the holes lined up.

My deburr helper, until....

 

 

....deburr helper number two got fussy!

Backriveting the stiffening angles onto the aileron skins.

Visiting Daddy in the shop to check on the progress of her airplane.

Ailerons clecoed and drilled. Ready for deburr and dimpling.