Vertical stabilizer spar riveting

Posted Feb 3, 2024 Updated Aug 25, 2024 1:30

By Fan Zhang

1 min read

Today is another easy day. I worked on vertical stablizer (VS-ASS-001-C-F-0-A-6 sheet 20).

TLDR

Clecoed VS assembly minus skin
Reamed a few holes
Riveted VS assmebly minus Rib 1 and Rib 5

Walk through

Yesterday I cleaned my work bench and moved the horizontal stabilizer to the shelf/stand thing. So today I had plenty of space to work on new parts.

Since I am wait on replacement parts on both VS and elevator, I know I can’t finish either. I decided to work on VS for as much as I can because this part is slight easier.

All parts are already cleaned deburred and primed, so my job today was pretty straightforward. I followed the instruction on sheet 20 and clecoed the ribs and spars together to ensure all holes are aligned. Then I used a 4.0mm rivet to test fit all holes. 3 holes needed reaming so I did that and vacuumed/deburred the aluminum dust.

Then I started to put the rivets on. I paid special attention to not rivet rib1 and rib5, because rib1 in my kit was defective and I’m waiting for a replacement part. Rib1 connects to rib5, so I skipped rib5 too.

Overall, it’s a quick task and I did not run into any weird issues.

After the work, I took some pictures and called it a day.