Tag Archives: Rudder

Assembling the Rudder Pedals

Hours: 3
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So with me moving on working in the Fuselage I did some rearranging of my garage workshop.

I moved the wings back into the corner. I also turned the Fuselage around to have easier access to the flight deck. (The latest FAA’s handbooks says that even a small Cessna 150 is now a flight deck and not a cockpit 😀).
To get around easier, I also moved one of the work tables up and formed a T-shape.

Garage workshop rearranged a bit.

I am going with the standard Sling configuration of T-bar rudder pedals and the central brake instead of differential braking.
This makes the installation and setup simpler without the hydraulics in the pedals. When I did my test flight of the TSi it was easy to steer it without differential braking.

I inventoried all the parts for the rudder pedals the other day. It took a bit to find the pedal hardware bag. But luckily Juliana found it buried in my mountain of hardware bags on the table in the background.

I noticed that the right side pedal bar had cleaned up attach points, but the left side was missing it. So I had a bit of shaving it off to do. It was pretty easy using a utility knive and then a bit of sand paper to finish it off.

Before removing the paint for the control points
After removing the paint for the control points

With that bit cleared up, all I had to do was slowly build it all up. I had to do a lot of moving left and right of the Fuselage to be able to reach down to put everything in.

The empty bracket for the rudder pedals to install into
clecoing the brackets that hold the pedals in place
Bottom brackets riveted in

With the bottom brackets installed I started putting it all together.

Pedal bars in place and moving freely with the removed paint on both sides.
Top of the brackets clecoed in place that lock the pedal bars in place and final testing for easy free moving of both bars.

With the brackets in place, I then temporarily put together the stops with the AN bolts. That way I don’t have to go looking for the hardware later when I attach the rudder cables to the pedals.

Temporary installation of the stops with the AN bolts (but not tightened, since the rudder cables will connect to them).

The next step was to rivet the brackets in place. This was trickier than I thought due to the tight space. In retrospect I should have temporarily put the brackets together before putting them in, which would have made reaming the holes a lot easier since I couldn’t fit my drill in properly, so I had to turn the reamer bit with my hand for a bit.

Brackets riveted in place

And finally, attaching the pedals to the bars. There are 3 possible depths and I’m not sure yet which will be the best fit. For now I put them on loosely until I have fit the seats and can do a test sit.

Rudder Pedals attached

Vertical Stabilizer skin riveting

Hours: 3.5
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With the wiring finished and the Antenna fitting done, I am now finally able to close up the Vertical Stabilizer and rivet the skin.

To begin, I closed up the left side of the skin and held it in place with clecos, since this is the side where the Antenna slides through the enlarged rivet hole, while on the right side I had to create the custom notch so that I can pull the skin around the Antenna.
Left side of the Vertical Stabilizer closed up with clecos

Once that was done, I riveted on the support plate for the Antenna onto the top rib of the Vertical Stabilizer.
Riveting the Antenna support plate in place Antenna support plate riveted in place 

Now that the structure is complete, time to mount the Antenna permanently in place. Using two 20mm long M4 screws, washers and Nyloc nuts and some medium strength threadlocker I mounted the Antenna in place. Here’s the Antenna mounted in place and the wire connected to the Antenna using the BNC connector I crimped onto the wire. Antenna ready to be mounted Antenna mounted and wire connected

Riveting the skin

With all the prep work finished, I closed up the right side of the skin, made sure everything fits correctly and clecoed it in place. There are two holes on the bottom on each side that are not riveted, but instead I have to install Rivnuts in them, so I marked out those holes, so I don’t accidentally rivet them.
Vertical Stabilizer skin closed up and ready for riveting Holes where I have to install Rivnuts marked

There were two rivets that I had to shorten in order for them to fit flush near the Antenna. So I made a small template for the dept through a piece of wood and then shortened them accordingly.
Wood piece to hold the rivet in place to shorten Rivets shortened (and normal length on the left for reference)

After that, it was just a matter of pulling the many rivets on both sides of the skin to close the Vertical Stabilizer up for good.
Riveting the right side in progress Riveting the left side in progress Riveting the left side in progress Done riveting the skins of the Vertical Stabilizer

The last part was to install the two rivnuts on the bottom on each side, so after enlarging the holes using my step drill and reaming them out using my hand reamer, I got out my rivnut puller and high strength loctite and put those in place.
Holes enlarged for the rivnuts Rivnuts installed

With the Vertical Stabilizer completed, I then did a quick test fit and mounted it on top of the Fuselage and also attached the Rudder for a moment – almost looks like an airplane.Completed Vertical Stabilizer  Quick test fit of the Vertical Stabilizer and Rudder

Timelapse of building the Vertical Stabilizer

Elevator priming & counterweight riveting

Hours: 4
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While I was waiting for some parts to complete the ribs for the Vertical Stabilizer, I got started working on the Elevator. Since there are a lot of parts to the Elevator I broke it down into smaller tasks, first preparing the parts of the center counterweight and then I’ll continue next with the other parts of the structures.

So onto another session of preparing the parts, deburring holes and edges and cleaning with Simple Green & degrease with MEK. After that was all done it was back into my small paint booth to prime everything.
Cleaning Station in action Cleaning the Elevator parts with Simple Green Priming the counterweight parts Priming some of the Elevator channels Priming some of the Elevator parts

Riveting the Elevator Counterweight

After all that had time to cure for a day I went to work to put together the center counter balance weight support (that’s a mouthful).
I found a small error in the instructions that say that there are 14 rivets in the center, but it’s actually 16 rivets. Sometimes with these small errors I wonder if they are intentional to keep us builders on our feet to make sure we “measure twice and drill once” – I sent the Factory a note to correct the error in the instructions for the next iteration.

So after I laid out all the parts I put everything together using clecos and the two AN3 bolts and then went to work riveting it together. A friend was visiting from Ireland as well, so after a tour of the garage and everything he also pulled his first rivet and I had him sign his name under it.Parts of the Elevator Center Counter Balance Weight Support laid out Everything clecoed together Done riveting the Center Counter Balance Weight Done Riveting the Center Counter Balance Weight

Rudder Timelapse video

I also recently finished editing together the work on the Rudder, so here’s the completed Timelapse video:

Rudder Anti-collision light wiring

Hours: 2
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Now that the Rudder is almost complete, I needed to make the wiring for the Anti-collision light permanent. The existing wire of the Aveo Posistrobe Minimax I’m using has 4 wires (ground, power, strobe, sync), so I needed to splice those onto the wire so I could run it through the structure.

Since this is a permanent connection, I’m using Heat Shrink Solder Sleeves, which have solder in the center and when you heat it up, the solder melts and the sleeve shrinks down to create a good seal.

After that was done, I added some expandable braided Sleeving over the wire for extra protection.
Expandable Braided Sleeving for the wire

I up sized the hole for the wire to pass through the fiberglass tip using my step drill bits and then ran the wires through the structure and out the front hole, which I also had to drill up as per the instructions. After some more research, I replaced the rubber grommets with snap bushings. They last longer and for the front hole in particular, they hold on better since they snap in place.
Finalized hole size for the wiring to pass through the fiberglass tip Snap bushing for the wire to come out of instead of using rubber grommets

Here’s the light mounted and completed wiring done.Light mounted and wiring finished

Now the last thing to do is close up the top. Inspired by a discussion from a while ago on the Sling Builders group, I was contemplating the idea of making the fiberglass tip removable using nut plates and screws, but I think I’ll end up just riveting it closed.

 

Finishing the Rudder skin & mounting the light

Hours: 4.5
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I spent some time over the past week figuring out Electrical wiring and Antennas, talking with Adam from Midwest Panel Builders who I am working with for my panel and wiring.

Aside from that I was working on finishing the Rudder and preparing for the next parts. Jean is sending me replacements for the dented ribs of the Vertical Stabilizer, so I can put that together next and the Navigation Antenna will arrive this week as well to get that going. I will be using the Rami AV-525 VOR/LOC/GS Antenna.

Riveting the skin went all pretty smoothly. I had to take off the front top skin one last time as I had a bit of overspray on the outside from priming. A little bit of scrubbing using MEK and it was all clean.

Mounting the light to the fiberglass tip

After I finished the skin, I worked on mounting the support plate I made earlier for the anti collision light on top of the fiberglass tip.
To pull the rivnuts I’m using the Astro Pneumatic ADN14 tool and Loctite 277 Threadlocker. It just mounts to the front of my drill and then you just need to hold the shell and the drill pulls in the rivnut.

After all that was done, I temporarily mounted the light onto the Rudder and ran the wire through the structure. Then I brought over my DC Power Supply unit and made it shine brightly.

Testing the light in place using my bench power supply

Rudder Tip fitting & riveting the skin

Hours: 2.5
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After having primed the inner surface of the Rudder skin the other day, I had all the pieces together to start working on finishing the rudder.

I attached the skin onto the structure and clecoed it into place.Rudder skin clecoed in place

Fitting the fiberglass tip

Once that was done, I went to work to fit the fiberglass tip onto the skin. I had to trim a little bit away from the bottom of the fiberglass. I made a first rough measurement, trimmed it away using my Dremel and then tried to fit it in.
First trim mark on the fiberglass tip

After aligning it all, I did a second small pass to trim a tiny bit more, placed it into the skin again and then it looked all good.
Tip fit in place and held in place using some clamps

Since the instructions are very explicit to make sure that the alignment of the rudder is perfect, I checked the alignment from all sides and it all looked good.
Rudder checked for alignment using laser level Rear of the rudder checked for alignment using laser level

After all that looked good and triple and quadrupple checking that the fiberglass tip sat flush in the skin I made marks for match drilling the holes and then went to work and carefully drilled the holes into the fiberglass.
First few holed drilled into the fiberglass tip Finished drilling all the holes in the fiberglass tip

Countersinking the front of the fiberglass tip

Once that was done, it was time to countersink the holes in the front. The instructions contradict themselves – only the first 7 holes get countersunk rivets, which mathematically adds up properly to the 32 rivets (2 x 7 on the top and 2 x 9 on the bottom = 32). So after counting all the holes and re-checking the instructions and doing basic math, I decided to only countersink the first 7 holes. I sent an email to the factory yesterday and they confirmed that I was right and they’ll fix the instructions in the next iteration.
Instruction error about countersinking

Before I went to work with the countersinking, I calibrated the micro stop countersinking tool using a scap piece of Aluminum to ensure the depth was set correctly and made sure that I had the correct 120 degree pilot cutter in the tool (I made a whole post about why using the 120 degree pilot was important here).
Calibrating the Microstop Countersinking tool Making a test countersink on a scrap piece of metal

After all that was ready, I went to work, mounted the fiberglass tip gently in my bench vise and started drilling the countersink holes.
First countersunk hole drilled Checking depth using a countersunk rivetAll the countersunk holes drilled in the fiberglass tip

All the countersunk holes came out well and everything sits flush now.
Flush fit of the fiberglass tip in the Rudder

Riveting the skin

So after all that I went to work and started riveting some of the skin.Time to rivet the Rudder skin The close quarter wedge came in handy for riveting in this tight spaceRiveted part of the Rudder skin

Rudder skin fitting & Anti-Collision light mount

Hours: 3
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Over the past few days I spent some time organizing the next few parts of the Empennage such as organizing the Vertical Stabilizer parts and what I needed to finish for the Rudder.

Fitting the Anti-collision light

I got the Aveo Posistrobe MiniMax anti-collision light to mount onto the rudder tip and started working on fitting it on.
Aligning the strobe light seal to find out where the holes should go Marking center linePilot holes drilled Double checking the holes aligned properly and then enlarging the hole for the wires to pass through
Light temporarily on top and shining bright like a diamond.
Quick test with light on

Mounting plate

The first iteration of the Empennage assembly instructions called out for a mounting plate to go inside the fiberglass tip to add structural reinforcement for the rivnuts, but the latest version of the instructions is missing it, so I sent a question to the factory why.

In the meantime, since I assume that it’s still a good idea since both the Sling 4 instructions as well as the first version of the instruction call for it, I decided to fabricate my own.

I started tracing out the rough dimensions of the area and then measured it down to how it would fit. Then I made a first version out of cardboard to see if the dimensions I estimated would work.
Rough outside dimensions of the strobe light traced Test fit of cardboard cutout

Looked good, so then I copied my cutout onto the sheet metal and went to work cutting it out. I used a OLFA Scoring knive to score the cut, based on a tip from HomebuiltHELP. Since my metal was pretty thick I only scored it with that and then used metal snips to cut it, but for thinner metal you can actually make the whole cut using the scoring knive to make great straight cuts.Transferred cutout onto aluminum sheet Metal piece cut and ready to drill the holes

After that, I deburred all the edges and the holes and then checked the final fit in the rudder tip.Plate fits great in the tip Clecoed in place

Fitting the skin

I also test fitted the skin onto the rudder and checked how the tip will fit in. The skin came on fairly easily, but I will have to trim a little bit of the fiberglass tip so it will fit in.
Skin fitted and fiberglass tip put in place Need to trim off a bit of the rear of the fiberglass tip

I still had to prime the inside of the skin, so now that I know it all fits together fine, I will rivet the skin on and then work on the final trimming for the rudder tip so it fits in and then I will need to match drill the holes into the fiberglass tip and countersink the front holes.