Elevator tip forming and shortening rivets

TLDR

• Formed elevator tip skin to match composite tip
• Shortened a bunch of 3.2mm rivets

Tip skin

Besides the trim tab, the last piece of work remaining on the elevator is the tip skin and composite fitting.

The procedure is very similar to the skin forming on the rudder top.

I used a metal pipe to broaden the bend radius of the skin slowly. I pushed the skin as close to the pipe as possible, and applied even force towards to bend. After pushing a few times, I clecoed the skin and tried to match the composite.

WIP: Still large gap

It still has 1/8” or so gap between the skin tip and composite at the end. I think I can fill it using either body filler or fill it when painting.

I have not drilled the holes on the tip yet. I will do that some time next week maybe.

Shortening rivets

On the elevator there are about 40 holes that do not accept the regular sized rivets because they are too close to the edge. The instruction says to cut down the rivet to 5.5mm in size.

I tried a few different ways to cut them.

• Using rotary tool
• file it down
• Flash cutter

After trying a few rivets, flash cutter is my preferred approach. It’s precise, and consistent. I made a video to talk about my process. The high level is:

• Remove mandrel
• Reverse the mandrel and insert to rivet again
• Flash cutter squeeze on the rivet
• Turn about 60 degrees, cut again
• Turn another 60 degress and cut
  • It usually only takes 3 cuts to fully cut the rivet
• Remove mandrel
• Reverse mandrel direction and put it back