Tag Archives: dremel tool

Horizontal Stabilizer and Right Elevator

I hear it is important to have photos in the builder’s log of myself building the airplane, so Caroline volunteered to come down and take some pictures.  I drew an outline of the horizontal stabilizer on my workbench and here I am precisely positioning the forward spar.

While we are at it, here is the vertical stabilizer.

I am still trying to decide what to do about corrosion protection, so I have been too chicken to start riveting.  I decided to start working on the elevators–I have been worried about how to cut the control surfaces with the tight bends.  I ended up cutting within an inch or so of the line with the bandsaw since it is difficult to see how close to the line I am on the bottom side.  Then I used offset Wiss snips to cut close to the line.  The Andy snips seemed to big for this job except on some of the long cuts.  I used my Dremel tool with an abrasive disk to cut through the bends.  Then I used the  scotch brite wheel to shape right to the line.

I started drilling pilot holes in my first piano hinge.

Aluminum Angle Bundle 11

I read about other people using tracing paper and spray adhesive to trace the plans and attach them to the metal.  For some of the parts without dimensions labeled in the plans this seems to be the most convenient method, so I decided to give it a try.

Here the tracing paper has been glued to the aluminum.  I think a somewhat weaker adhesive may have been better–once the paper touches it is difficult to move.

I was able to remove the tracing paper, flip it around and reuse it to make the mirrored parts.  Yesterday I started using some of the sanding attachments on my dremel tool to finish the edges–especially the inner radii.  This has worked well but it seems I’ll probably go through a sanding attachment just about every evening.  I have a bunch that I was probably never going to use, but I might look into getting something better like small scotch brite attachments.