Drill bushing?

What did you guys use for that "Drill bushing" placed in the elevator bearing to drill the control horns? I think I found them previously in HD, but now all the "spacers" there are sized to screw size by numbers?

It is included in the kit - in one of the hardware bags.

Carl

I'm just getting to this step now. For some reason, when I built the elevators, I never completed this step. Now that I'm mounting elevators to horiz stab, I gotta drill these holes.

I didn't see anything included in the kit. And, the plans say to "fabricate" one from suitable material. So, I ordered some 1/4 X 0.65 4130 tubing. This should work with a #31 drill bit for the pilot hole.

My tail kit was from 2019 and I didn’t see one in the kit.
I used some brass bar of the correct OD, which is the ID of the bearing, and drilled it on a lathe.
Worked really well.

N804RV said:

... So, I ordered some 1/4 X 0.65 4130 tubing. This should work with a #31 drill bit for the pilot hole.

Click to expand...

My "drill guide" worked out great.

I chucked it up in my mill (glorified drill press) and used a strip of 100 grit sandpaper to remove a couple thousandths OD, just enough so that it slipped cleanly the the inner bearing race. I reamed it out to #30 and drilled the pilot hole in the first elevator horn. Nice and neat!

I used a uni-bit to step drill up to 1/4". and deburred the hole. Reinstalled the first elevator and slipped the AN4 bolt in place. Elevator moved through full travel smooth as glass.

McMaster Carr

If I remember correctly, I ordered a bushing from McMaster Carr.

I made one on my little lathe from an extra AN bolt. Face off the head, drill down the middle, part off the threads.

Same process for engine mount drill bushings. I made two of them in intermediate sizes to step-up the hole, drilled the third time about 1/64 undersize, and reamed for the last step.

For a crappy benchtop lathe off of craigslist I've gotten a lot of use out of it...

I think I just kept wrapping electrical tape around a #40 drill bit until it fit snug in the elevator bearing. But it's been a long time.