Official construction is beginning, but an issue right out of the gate?

[Clayvt]

I picked up a mostly unfinished complete airframe kit and the previous owner only did the first few steps.
I’m now getting into it and finding that 609pp does not touch the radius of 603pp. There’s about an 1/8” gap from the edge of 609 to the flange of 603. All of the build vids I’ve seen so far have had to do what the plans say which is to radius so it fits in the flange.
The machining on 609 looks factory so I don’t think the previous builder took that much material off.
Is this an issue? Or build on?

 

[Ralph Inkster]

Radius the piece as necessary to fit flush inside the channel. Be sure to smooth out any scratches made in the radius to prevent crack propagation.

 

[CoolDadTed]

Are you sure you've got them oriented the way that the original builder drilled them? They can be flipped front/back, left/right, and swapped top/bottom. Get them cleko'ed into place and see if they look any different. The holes in the pictures don't look aligned.

 

[Clayvt]

Clecoed in place there is still about an 1/8” gap. The builder numbered the pieces and I lined them up as they appear to go. As you can sort of see in the first pic of the post.

 

[CoolDadTed]

Clecoed in place there is still about an 1/8” gap. The builder numbered the pieces and I lined them up as they appear to go. As you can sort of see in the first pic of the post.

That looks ok to me. The important thing is that the bars sit flat on the spar web. As I recall, mine needed only a little bit of rounding of the edges to make clearance for the curve of the spar flanges.

Here are pictures of my rear spar. I don't think yours and mine look substantially different.

Assembling the Horizontal Stabilizer – Rear Spar

Now that some of the skeleton parts for the horizontal stabilizer have been primed and the primer has fully dried, it’s finally time to start riveting the assembly together. This starts with …

tedbuildsrv7.com

-Ted

 

[Hashtag#]

I picked up a mostly unfinished complete airframe kit and the previous owner only did the first few steps.
I’m now getting into it and finding that 609pp does not touch the radius of 603pp. There’s about an 1/8” gap from the edge of 609 to the flange of 603. All of the build vids I’ve seen so far have had to do what the plans say which is to radius so it fits in the flange.
The machining on 609 looks factory so I don’t think the previous builder took that much material off.
Is this an issue? Or build on?

Having the 609pp nest against the 603pp helps confirm the parts are aligned.

Looking at the top of the 603pps, there is a slight gap between the flange ends (3 and 4 in your photo). You may want to measure diagonally, from tip to tip, and use a laser to confirm the assembly is square.

Also, replacing those parts is super easy at that point in the build. Ask me how I know.

 

[JonJay]

When you get this sorted, spend some time removing the mill marks on the bar stock. I spent days polishing these by hand in the day. I probably went overboard but these are the most critical part of your spar.

 

[David Paule]

Along with the finish remediation mentioned before, clean up the chatter marks which were put in during "deburring" the holes. While you don't want countersunk holes, you don't want chatter marks either.

Dave

 

[Clayvt]

So with the parts clecoed the 609’s sit perfectly flat, the whole spar is square, 98.5” from diagonal tip to diagonal tip. But there’s still that gap from the outside edge of 609 to the inside radius of 607.
I’m guessing since it sits flat, which is the main concern it should be good to go?
I can’t imagine it nesting up against the radius provides much support to the flanges which will be supported by the skins eventually.

 

[jaradtke]

So with the parts clecoed the 609’s sit perfectly flat, the whole spar is square, 98.5” from diagonal tip to diagonal tip. But there’s still that gap from the outside edge of 609 to the inside radius of 607.
I’m guessing since it sits flat, which is the main concern it should be good to go?
I can’t imagine it nesting up against the radius provides much support to the flanges which will be supported by the skins eventually.

yours looks correct. the bars don’t nest tight to the flanges

 

[Clayvt]

Thank You!

 

[bobrv7taildragger]

Normal by the looks of it to me.