DAMAGE!!
Here is the homebuilder’s dilemma. A damaged piece.
Note the dent in the elevator nose skin. I did this with my thumb! All I did is push down. This is really thin stuff.
Now what do I do? Continue on or order a new piece from Zenith? This is not a very big dent and it is not in a critical area. I have bigger dents than this in my Cessna, but I hate the thought of an imperfection in my brand new 801. I talked to my wife about it, then finally decided to order a new piece from Zenith. I consider that I bought myself some peace
of mind.
– September 5, 2006.
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Fixed! I got a new nose skin from
Zenith and installed it without damaging it this time. I found a straight piece of aluminum square
stock, which helped a lot. I was able to keep even pressure across the edge of the skin using the red
straps. You need to be careful with the center one. There is no nose rib there so you really can’t torque it down too much.
- October 6, 2006 |
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Here is a picture of the elevator skins clecoed to the spar and
ribs. The edge of the nose skin is tucked under the rear skin for the purpose of drilling. The gusset plates are also under the rear skin. Visible here
also are the control horns.
A4 (1/8") rivets are used to secure the rear
skin to the ribs, A5 (5/32") rivets are being
used on the spar and on the two center ribs.
- October 23, 2006
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Zinc chromating the nose and rear skins and gusset plates
- October 24, 2006 |
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