2004-12-23


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One thing that I neglected to do was to match the curve of the front of the E-714 counterweight to match the curve of the E-713 counterbalance skin. It says to do this in area G-2 of drawing 5. I decided that the way to do this was to remove the elevator from the HS first. 
I want to match the curve of  E-713 but I want to have enough room for a layer of fiberglass. So I need to remove a fair amount of lead. Of course, this is going to throw off the balance, but I have a plan for that. 
Since I want to fabricate a fiberglass end piece, and since it's not going to be flat. I calculated what the curve should be based on the fact that the radius from the pivot point to the end of the counterbalance arm is 9.5 inches. I then bend a piece of aluminum to match this curve. This is where I'll place the fiberglass panel to cure. 
OK, Here goes. Never did this before...

I started by painting a layer of epoxy about 4 inches square on a piece of wax paper. I placed a piece of glass cloth over that and painted it on, making sure I've completely covered the cloth with epoxy. I did this for 3 layers of cloth painting more epoxy on the top of each layer of cloth. 
Then I folder the wax paper over and rolled it. 
Finally, I set the whole thing down on my preformed aluminum so that it takes the shape of my curve.
Nothing to do now but wait 10 hours. That's how long it takes to completely cure. In the meantime, I fabricated another aluminum strip and Gorilla Glued it to the E-612 fiberglass tip. Only have to wait 3 hours for that!