Michael Burbidge
Well Known Member
Friends,
If one hole can ruin an airplane, I might have done it. I am so discouraged!
A few nights ago I mounted my horizontal stabilizer. I thought everything went pretty smoothly and was pleased with my work. Well today I got looking at the holes that were drilled through the HS-908 attach angles into the F-714 deck and I discovered a big problem that I didn't know existed.
I noticed a slight notch on one side of one of the holes. When I got looking at it closer it was the entry point of the initial #40 hole I had drilled through the attach angle and into the deck below. But when I looked closer I saw that the #40 hole went off at a pretty sharp angle. I remember that I made that initial hole with a 6 inch bit and that I saw that the tip bent and went in at an angle. But I had no idea it bent that much. When I enlarged the hole to a #12, I made sure to straighten out the angle, and thought everything was fixed at that point. But as can be seen from the photos below the angle was more dramatic than I was aware of at the time. There's a photo from the top and from below.
I have no idea how I would go about fixing this. With some trouble I can remove the deck and replace the bottom angle, but I have no idea what I would need to do about the longeron, which obviously has a somewhat enlarged hole in it.
Thanks for any suggestions you might have,
Michael-
If one hole can ruin an airplane, I might have done it. I am so discouraged!
A few nights ago I mounted my horizontal stabilizer. I thought everything went pretty smoothly and was pleased with my work. Well today I got looking at the holes that were drilled through the HS-908 attach angles into the F-714 deck and I discovered a big problem that I didn't know existed.
I noticed a slight notch on one side of one of the holes. When I got looking at it closer it was the entry point of the initial #40 hole I had drilled through the attach angle and into the deck below. But when I looked closer I saw that the #40 hole went off at a pretty sharp angle. I remember that I made that initial hole with a 6 inch bit and that I saw that the tip bent and went in at an angle. But I had no idea it bent that much. When I enlarged the hole to a #12, I made sure to straighten out the angle, and thought everything was fixed at that point. But as can be seen from the photos below the angle was more dramatic than I was aware of at the time. There's a photo from the top and from below.
I have no idea how I would go about fixing this. With some trouble I can remove the deck and replace the bottom angle, but I have no idea what I would need to do about the longeron, which obviously has a somewhat enlarged hole in it.
Thanks for any suggestions you might have,
Michael-