Horizontal Stabilizer January 22nd

January 22nd

Horizontal Stabilizer

Worked on riveting the horizontal stabilizer front and rear spars today. I thought it would be very straight forward and it would If I could get the squeezer to work properly. But I ended up having to set the rivets with a rivet gun and bucking bar. I didn’t realize it at first but the proximity of the rivets to the flanges on the spars meant I was scratching the primer and even gouging the metal with the bucking bar. I primed over all the spots and it wasn’t till later that it occurred to me I need to work the metal to smooth out he gouges to prevent any stress cracks in those locations.

Got a little more practice drilling out rivets, which I’m getting much better at, so thats nice that when I need to I’m not enlarging the rivet hole to much.

I’m thinking about mailing the squeezer back to the company and have them test it, I still think its my setting up of the squeezer, but I’m wondering if the tool itself to not developing power? They company says in 15 years they have only every had 2 that didn’t work as intended and everything else it operator error so my assumption is its me, but I can’t be sure without them testing it.

Horizontal Stabilizer 6.5 Hours