THE RH WING FLAP AND CONTROLS PAGE 2

 

New hinge from Aircraft Spruce Hinge clamped in place

After only a few days the new hinge from Aircraft Spruce arrived.  I took the picture with the invoice laying on the box to remind myself that a good way to save money is to double check before drilling holes.  At right the hinge is clamped to the flap ready to be drilled.  A good bet would be that I double checked the before I drilled this time.  

All attach holes drilled in flap hinge Countersinking the hinge on the drill press

The new flap hinge is drilled in the photo above left.  Next is to countersink all of the holes.  I performed the countersink operation on the small drill press. 

Wing half of hinge is drilled and cleco'd Flap installed with clecos.

I used the same procedure to locate the hinge halves on this wing as I did the second time on the left wing.  I had no problems on this side.  I riveted the hinge to the flap and then installed the flap to the wing with the wing half of the hinge cleco'd in place for a final check before I riveted the hinge to the wing.

Drilled aileron fitting for hinge pin installation Riveting with the pneumatic squeeze

I drilled the aileron fitting in order to install the hinge pin.  The hole is not quite lined up so the hinge pin can't vibrate back out.  This is per a suggestion in the plans.  At right I am installing the hinge with a pneumatic rivet squeeze.

RH flap is installed Another view of the installed flap

Here are two views of the flap after installation.  There is a statement in the plans that the flap is the easiest flight control to assemble.  I disagree.  Due to its awkward design and the full length hinge, I think that the flap has a degree of difficulty that is higher than any of the other controls.  Anyway, the flaps are both on so we will move on to fuselage narrative (even though most of the fuselage had been completed by the time the second flap went on).