I decided to jump back over to the HS today and get to work forming the replacement reinforcement angle. I did a much better job this time around and am quite happy with the way it turned out. I cut the excess flange off the left front spar (which was also a replacement). Again, much…

Finished bending and tapering the reinforcement angle. This time I managed to match drill the Aft Rib to Spar to Front rib quite nicely (i.e., where I screwed up the left side). After this, I final drilled all the holes in the skin and took it all apart. Now everything is ready to de-burr, dimple,…

Replacement parts arrived today. I did just a bit today. I got to work on tapering and bending the new reinforcement angle which attaches the two front spars together. This was all I needed to finish drilling the right side.

While waiting for replacement parts for the left side of the horizontal stabilizer, I decided to get to work on the right side doing the same thing. No pictures today but, I, basically, ended today with the right side in the same spot the left side was in before I did my big screwup. Van’s…

Today was a very short day on the project and my first big “uh-oh” which will involve replacing parts. I was all ready to drill the Inboard aft rib to the spar to the nose rib…well I used a 90 degree drill bit adapter and I guess I pushed a little too hard on it…

Not much time for the project today but I did get all the holes in the aft inboard rib drilled. No pictures. Just look at the picture from yesterday and imagine more holes in the rib. I’m kinda stuck right now. One of the sections I am drilling is a very tight squeeze (where the…

More work on drilling today. The inboard nose and aft ribs are not pre-drilled like the rest of the ribs. First I had to fit them into the assembly and use the skin as a guide to mark where the holes would go. Then use those marks as a reference for fluting (i.e., flutes have…

Today was another productive day. I spent most of it finishing the ribs and finally, was able to start assembling the whole left side of the HS and final drilling the holes that attach the ribs to the spars:   Then I clecoed on the skin and got it ready to final drill all the holes…

The front spar was designed so that it could also be used on the RV-8; however, when used on the RV-7, the tab needs to be “enlarged” for one extra hole. This is done by trimming the flange back. Here, I learned my first valuable lesson. Be very careful bending metal. I notched the flange and…

  Continued work on the front spar. The aluminum angles that I match drilled last time had to have their ends tapered and bent 6 degrees. I clamped the ends between two blocks and clamped that to the work bench to serve as a bending brake.