Hinges

May 29, 2010 – First of all, did I mention that I ordered the wings?! I expect them in mid-August.

Things are otherwise about down to the wire on the tail. I installed the rod ends for the hinges on the elevators and the rudder, using the handy-dandy PVC tool I made a while ago.

Since space is tight in the hinge cutouts, you need a way to hold the rod end and screw it into the nutplate that is attached to the spar. This tool has a notch cut into the business end that will hold the rod end so you can torque it.

The rod end is secured by a jam nut.

I also needed to make a way to temporarily attach the elevators and the rudder to their respective stabilizers without using the bolts that will be used for final assembly. Once again, space in the hinge cutouts makes it a little difficult to get fingers in there. You can buy tools that will do this, but I read on somebody else’s site about using 20D nails. Well, I found that while 20D is close to the 3/16′ bolt size, it was a hair too big (about .005″, actually). So I took a nail, “machined” it down to fit, then put a bend in it. The point of the nail will help align everything. That’s what makes this easier than just using the bolts.

The pin slides in nice and easy. Now I just need a helper to hold the surface while I align the ball in the rod end with the hinge bracket in the stabilizer, then stab the pin through all of it.

Time : 1:30