Today was another milestone day... starting on my airplane! I can still hardly believe it. I was glad I spent the time and small amount of money to build the toolbox kit that Van's offers as a practice kit for this kind of work. Between that and all the reading I've done, I feel confident enough to get started.
Here you can see several things of interest: the workbench I built specifically for this project, the inventory of empennage parts stored underneath, and the work going on on top. I have clamped the long stiffener on the edge of the workbench so I can file away the sharp edge with the Vixen file you see sitting there. The edges of this stiffener need to be radiused, or curved, so it lays flat inside the rear spar of the H.S. (horizontal stabilizer). The flange on the spar has a slight radius to it, and the sharp 90-degree corner of this stiffener has to be removed and smoothed out so it will rest against it. I hope that makes sense. You'll see as we go along.
Here's a shot from another angle.
A closeup shot of the Vixen file and the stiffener.
The sharp corners on the ends will need to be rounded and smoothed.
This file is unbelieveable. It's VERY effective, as you can see by the piles of shavings it produces. And unlike an ordinary flat file, it doesn't jam up with aluminum. I'm glad I have a shop vac handy to clean up this mess when I'm done.
Next, I ran the stiffener on the scotchbrite wheel to smooth the filing cuts out and polish it. I love this tool! It really works well. You can see how the sharp corners on the stiffener have been rounded and smoothed.
I finished smoothing all the edges of the stiffeners. I feel good about how much I accomplished in my first work session.
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