Thu 04 March 2004 |
| First task was to complete the bench frame work. This included all the wire-brushing and cleaning so that tomorrow I can practice spraying using the air-gun before being let loose on aircraft parts. | 
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| The rest of the day I spent preparing the rudder pedals for Anodising. It may seem a little extreme to spend 6 hours on the finishing of this parts but once they have been processed the surface will be like rock and no further modifications are going to be easy. The primary method was a large steel bed with wet & dry sandpaper, finishing with scotchbrite pads. | 
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| These were then de-greased, and acid etched to give a really consistent non-scratched finish. Took a longish time, but really pleased with the results. | 
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| Close up of the satin finish on the front of the rudder pedals. | 
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| The rudder pedals were then carefully wrapped and boxed ready for shipping to Auckland for processing. Need to contact the company tomorrow before posting. | 
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| I then tried to complete the aileron wing push rods. This was all a bit of a disaster. The 470- AD4-12 kept 'bending' over and I ended up drilling out most of the attempts. I tried the back riveting plate with the rivet gun, the squeezer, hand held bucking plus rivet gun - all with very limited / no success. I think probably the back riveting plate is the best option, but the internals of the plug has no support for the rivet so I struggle to see how it can be driven straight. I also wonder why pop rivets aren't used here like the rest of the push rods....... | 
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