Feb 11, 2024     Rudder - (4 hours)       Category: Empennage

Started on the rudder today. Lined up the hinge pins. Used double sided tape to line up and hold hinge pin on rudder. Marked and drilled holes for the three ribs. Drilled out the drive horn. Rudder is ready for rivets once I confirm everthing is lined up and good to go.

  Feb 10, 2024     Vertical Stab - (3 hours) Category: Empennage

Realized I assembled ONX-T08-01 incorrectly and the holes would not line up. I drilled out the rivets and completed it correctly. Match drilled all holes and deburred. Vertical Stab is ready for Rivets.

  Feb 13, 2023     Started Vert Stab - (1 hour)       Category: Empennage

Started the Vert Stab. Got the parts together and started drilling the #40 holes to line everything up.

  Jan 28, 2023     Horizontal Stab Finished - (4 hours)       Category: Empennage

I completed riveting the skins to the Horizontal stab frame. I also installed the stab tips. This was not too bad. I had to do some sanding, but not a lot. Turned out nice.

  Jan 21, 2023     Match Drill Horizontal Stab - (2.5 hours) Category: Empennage

Match drilled the skin to the ribs for the Horizontal Stab. Cleaned up the fiberglass tips to prep them for install.

  Jan 02, 2023     Test fit skins and riveting - (4 hours)       Category: Empennage

Finally back at the build after an illness and very cold weather. First step was to add the piano hinge for the elevator. Cut two 32.5" pieces and lined them up match drilled with the existing holes. The instructions give you guidance for making the holes prior to the test fit, but I decided to mark the length of hinge down the centerline of the holes, and drill that way. Both sides look to be consistent, and the two hinge pieces are interchangeable, indicating they are symmetrical. Happy with how they turned out.

Once that was complete, I test fit the stabilizer skins to the frame. I have not done any rivets yet. Wanted to confirm everything was lining up. Once I was confident I had a good fit, I sank the first rivets today. I started with riveting the ONX-T04-09 to ONX-T04-10. I marked holes as I went to ensure I used the correct rivets in each hole. The painter's tape was not pretty but was an effective way of ensuring I would not use the wrong rivets.

I was happy with the way the Milwaukee rivet gun worked. Nice to not have an air hose in the way, and the rivets were consistent.

  Dec 18, 2022     Final layout of Hotizontal Stab Frame - (4 hours)       Category: Empennage

Completed the bend of ONX-T04-05. The bends worked out better than I expected. Following the guidance from Sonex, I cut a 2x4 and used a 1" steel rod to complete the bend. Was able to get the bends to the correct angle without too much of an issue.

After the bend, I finished fitting and match-drilling all of the components of the Horizontal stab frame. After completing the drilling, I cleaned and deburred all holes. The frame is ready for rivets, but I am going to cleco the skin to the frame to ensure there are no other issues before riveting the frame.

  Dec 14, 2022     Horiz Stab Frame - (2 hours)       Category: Empennage

Continued working on the Horizontal Stab. Drilled #30 holes on ONX-T04-06 Attach bracket. Drilled AN3-10A holes in ONX-T04-12. Prepped ONX-T04-05 for bend.

Spent time reviewing plans in preparation for lining up the remaining ribs and bending the bracket.

  Dec 10, 2022     Build Begins - (2 hours)       Category: Empennage

Started the build today. Went over ONX-T03 and decided to start with the horizontal tail spar. Lined up and drilled ONX-t04-09 Rear Spar strap to ONX-T04-12. The plans are not as detailed as plans I have worked with in the past, so a lot of time was put in to make sure the location of everything was correct. I am glad I decided to go with the laser-formed parts. The hole guides really did help, and minimized the work I had to to to the part.