August 20, 2005 - Fuselage F-711 Bulkhead |
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I got up this morning at 5:30 AM with the idea I was going to fly the
Citabria to Elmira, NY for the International Vintage Sailplane Regatta.
However, the weather briefer at the flight service station just laughed at
me when I said VFR. The fog and low overcast was supposed to clear
at noon. So I went back to sleep. I arrived at the airport
around 11AM. The weather still looked very crummy. I gave up
around 2PM and headed home totally disgusted. But, then I put in
five hours on the RV, and felt much better! The F-711 is a little more involved than the previous bulkheads since it supports the horizontal stab. The first step was to fashion the angle cross piece. It's time for the Mr. Hacksaw. |
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Next step was to cut two long rectangular aluminum bars to size.
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| The F-711 is actually two bulkhead pieces fastened back to back. Each piece is thicker than the normal bulkhead. You'll notice here that the flange teeth are not rounded. I had to file them round which was time-consuming. | ||||||
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I have rounded some of the flange corners, but not all.
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| The two bulkhead pieces clecoed together with one of the long aluminum bars clamped on. I am match-drilling the aluminum bar using the bulkhead as a template. | ||||||
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| I have finished drilling the bars and angle. | ||||||
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| The next step is to cut out a space in the top of the bulkhead where the elevator control pushrod will go through. It was an easy job with the snips. I have both left and right-handed snips as you can see. | ||||||
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