Parts, Rudder and Guard Dog

Temporary bolt aligns parts for drilling.

Never succumb to the temptation of removing drill shavings by hand from the spindle while it's moving! Something I learned the hard way about forty years ago.

The component parts collection is growing (below), so I decided marking each and every part with a drawing page number and ID, would help later on.

Marking parts will help later, right?

While weather still permits, my unheated, one-car garage makes an excellent place to do epoxy work. Especially since my wife prefers not to have the house at a temperature that curing epoxy likes - 80° F. 

Guard Chihuahua keeps unauthorized insects out of the garage workshop!

Clear shipping tape keeps epoxy from sticking to the work surface. In the image below you can see my solution to the problem of needing a small, light-weight clamp for the foam: a couple of pieces of sawed off hardwood shim and a random carriage bolt with two nuts.

I later discovered that paste wax applied to the melamine work table surface works well for keeping epoxy at bay.

Gluing rudder braces and ribs with 'shim' clamps.

Fiberglass tape and epoxy layup complete. Some lessons learned:

1. Rough up aluminum-to-glue surface with 100 grit sandpaper all the way around the tube before gluing the ribs and braces.
2. Let the continuous fiberglass band overlap by about an inch. This keeps gravity from attempting to detach it from the foam.
3. Wear breathing protection and gloves if you're sensitive to epoxy. I discovered that I am, probably from working with it over the years.
4. Use microballoon filler mixed into the epoxy to approximate a peanut butter consistency. Works nicely to fill gaps that are inevitable when making non-precision cuts with a handheld knife or hacksaw blade. Only regular epoxy for the fiberglass tape.

Rudder almost ready for covering.