Throughout last week I got the Hstab back in the skins and clecod together.  This time I had more than enough clecos to secure every other hole.  I also got a decent start on riveting the skins on before Friday when my dad came over to help.  We worked for 3 hours on Friday night while Erica was at work.  We were able to complete one side of the stabilizer, and got most of the other side done.  The main benefit was that we were able to complete the second side up to the stringers.

The way the stabilizer is put together, there is a stringer between the front and back spars.  This stringer spans 3 or 4 of the ribs, and makes it difficult when reaching in to buck the rivets forward of the stringers.  For starters, the clearance is tight enough that it is tough to get your hand past the stringers with a bucking bar in your hand.  Once you get it in there, you want to leave it until you are done bucking those rivets.  The second part is that it is difficult to buck the rivets on the forward section of the stringer, since you can't see them.  I purchased a small inspection mirror so that I could get a better look at these rivets and make sure they were driven properly.  Turns out that there were 2 rivets that were way under driven, so I got them cleaned up.

I spent part of the days Saturday and Sunday cleaning up and getting the rear spar riveted in place.  There were some rivets that were difficult to access on the end ribs, so I turned the whole assembly on it's side (actually rite side up as it flies), and got those rivets taken care of.

I was driving the last rivet on the horizontal stab and paying to much attention to the shop head when I got the rivet gun out of alignment.  It sheared the rivet head clean off of the rest of the rivet.  A pin punch was difficult to get into the tight spot, and wouldn't budge the rivet.  I took my angle drill and a 3/32" low clearance bit and drilled the center of the 1/8" rivet.  I was really pleased to drill through this thick section, and not elongate the whole.  It went right through the middle of the rivet.  The pin punch didn't do any more good, so I put the 1/8" short bit on, and started to drill the rest of the way.  I was very pleased that the twisting motion helped the rivet come out cleanly without having to be drilled all the way.  There was a nice little 3/32" hole right through the middle.  I couldn't do it that perfectly again if I tried.  Small Victories.

I drove the final rivet, and declared the Horizontal Stab... Complete.