March 4, 2019

Dimpling left and right elevator skins

The only thing left to do on the skins before riveting is getting the remaining holes dimpled, so that was today's task. With the skins bent they don't really fit on the DRDT anymore, so I used the squeezer to reach all the holes. The aftmost holes on the side edges of each elevator weren't tricky per se, but it was a little uncomfortable having to bend the skin far enough to accommodate the squeezer and attached dimple die in the tight space. I almost used the pop rivet dimpler or the tight fit dimpling fixture on these holes, but decided that using either of those may do more harm than good.

I did end up having to use the pop rivet dimpler on a couple of holes in the left elevator. These are for the rear spar next to the cutout for the trim tab, and the squeezer couldn't reach them. Perhaps not coincidentally, these holes will also be riveted using pulled rivets since access to them is limited.