With the elevators themselves in limbo, I decided to move on to the elevator pushrod. In theory this is a straightforward step. You trim a piece of aluminum tube to length and then rivet in threaded inserts on each end. The aluminum tube is deceptively light and you wonder how it handles the stresses of control inputs. Of course, like an aluminum can, as long as it isn’t deformed in any way it has tremendous longitudinal strength. That means don’t dent it!
Second, you want to make sure to get the finished length correct. This is particular important with a piece like this one since, at 6+ feet in length, if you cut it short you’ll be paying as much for shipping as for a replacement piece. To complicate matters I had just broken my bandsaw blade and so needed to go “old school” with a hacksaw.
As is good practice whenever working with aluminum I measured the correct distance but then cut the tube slightly longer. I then set up some blocks on an adjacent workbench level with my sander. This would allow me to sand off the excess aluminum (being careful not to overheat it) until I had the specified length.
This ended up working very nicely. I measured several times as I was getting close to my mark and sanded a bit more until I had a perfect length (or at least as perfect as a my tape measure). You can see this in action here:
After sanding the pushrod to length the next step is to drill six equidistant holes for blind rivets. The plans provide an easy way to do this–cut a strip of paper that matches the circumference of the tube, mark the hole locations, then wrap it around the pushrod. It worked a treat! Now just measure the edge offset and drill #30 holes through the pushrod and insert.
As you may have noticed, the previous builder dispensed with primer on the interior surfaces. Again, I won’t get into the endless debate here. Van’s is typically indifferent but does recommend priming the inside of the pushrod tube since, once it’s rivetted, you have no way to inspect it. I took their advice and sprayed some self-etching primer in both ends. It was a bit difficult to confirm coverage but spray was coming out the opposite end and there was enough accumulation to swirl around the inside.
Additionally I thought the outside would just look nicer with a smooth coat of primer so I scuffed it with Scotchbrite (probably not needed with self-etching primer but did anyway) and cleaned with acetone. To get a consistent coat I fashioned some simple hangers from 1×2 redwood and nails clamped to a shelf protected with plastic. I got some drips at first but quickly realized they were being caused by ill-fitting nitrile gloves hanging over the nozzle. A quick adjustment and the priming was done.
After a few days of curing there was nothing left to do but make use of my new Ace Hardware rivet pulled and attach the threaded inserts, followed by some rod end bearings.
Building N726AG 