Panther Sport Aircraft Forums

Another tail question.......I've already built my elevators and their half of the hinge is riveted in. I think I did everything correctly, at least I hope so. I've clecoed the horizontal stabilizer together and I'm ready to locate and drill the other half of the hinge to the HS. I've seen the note on the drawings and the enlarged drawing on how Dan wants the hinge located. Am I safe in assuming , and I'll try to describe this as best I can, that the forward, inboard top skin of the elevator matches up with the rear, inboard top skin of the HS? I could find no reference to how these two skins match up relative to one another. With that said, what is the measured difference of the two outboard edges of the skins of the elevator relative to the HS? How large will the gap be between the fiberglass tip and the elevators? I've got one shot at getting the hinge properly located and I don't want to screw it up.

Posted by Ron Franck on 9/21/2013
Not sure where to put my build info bot this looked like a good place to post my message(s).

To start, I found this video on EAA's website detailing how to drill piano hinges. I tried it and I liked it enough to post a picture or two.

Here is the link (below)

http://www.eaavideo.org/video.aspx?v=1454906796

Additionally, I gave some thought to building a cradle to hold my elevator parts as I worked on them. I thought a cardboard box would do the trick as well as a built-up plywood cradle and it would be a whole lot less work. I covered the two notches with clear tape to keep from scratching up the aluminum skins. Creating the hinge drill guide on my drill press. Using a center punch is a MUST for accuracy. Drilled with a #40 bit and deburred. I placed a 1" x 1" wooden stick under the hinge and drill guide. I marked the location of one hole to start, drill and cleco together. I then located and drilled a few more locations, added clecos and finished by drilling the remainder of the holes. After drilling with the #40 bit I removed the clecos and deburred each hole. I was pleased with the results. Right Elevator parts assembled with the flange located on the OUTSIDE of the forward elevator skin. Hinge located per plans sheet. I drilled a few holes near each rib. This is a bit contrary to the builder's manual but I think it helped me place the hinge with a bit more accuracy. After drilling a few pilot holes I disassembled the parts and moved the flange UNDER the forward elevator skin, reassembed everything and drilled through the hinge using the #40 bit. Once that step was completed I updrilled using the #30 bit. Pulled out a #40 cleco, updrilled and set a #30 cleco. in it's place. Updrilling completed and ready for disassembly, deburring and cleaning. Ready for reassembly Ready for riveting. The inboard rib need not be installed at this time. It will be added later when the control horn weldment is installed. I'll want to be able to access the backside of the rib for deburring when I install the weldment. (Thanks to Tony Spicer for bring that to my attention. I'm at an impasse for the moment as I ordered my tail kit with the flush rivet option and I have decided to build with domed head rivets instead. Time to order replacement rivets from Aircraft Spruce so I can proceed with the build. When I assembled the elevator for the final time that the flange was re-located OUTSIDE of the forward elevator skin as per the plans. It is only temporarily positioned under the skin to prevent distortion to the front elevator skin while drilling the hinge holes as per the builder's manual