Aileron Hinge Fairing

This blog covers the manufacture and installation of the aileron hinge fairings.

Overview
It was decided to cover the large hinge openings located on the underside of the ailerons at the two [2] hinge points.

Installation
The rivets marked X are removed and replaced my M3 flanged rivet nuts, but before doing this, a template had to be manufactured.




To do this, the mandrels are punched out of the rivets and a piece of heavy paper fitted onto the location. Next, the rivets are located by rubbing and the pin pinch used to determine the rivet centerline.

Red stuff, blood mine

The template was removed and the centres transferred to a piece of 0.020 x 2024_T3 aluminium sheet the holes transferred and drilled to 3.2 mm [1/8''] to installation.

Next, the rivets were removed one by one and replaced with an M3 rivet nut. Because the flange of the front ribs can be pushed away from the skin the holes, so they were drilled to ensure smooth insertion of the rivet nut. 

To prevent movement, high strength, Loctite was applied to each before installation and expansion.

The rivets used in the spar flanged required special treatment. Thought the correct length the small thread size and thickness at spar proved to be a problem. These rivets were inserted, expanded carefully with the rivet nut tool and job completed using a modified set of  vice grip.

Note: This was modified by grinding off the ribs lines on the front jaws

Next, the holes in the cover were enlarged to 5/32'' [4 mm] and fit checked. The flange line of the rear skin was transferred to the blank as a datum and the cutting edges marked and trimmed with the hand shears. All edges were dressed, then the cutout profiled to suit. Finally, the front side was folded to approximately 45 degrees to provide a good seal.

Comment
Now looks tidy and I wanted to do this.