Elevator Pushrod Prep

Spent today finishing up the horizontal stabilizer mounting process. Then moved ahead to getting the elevators on so I can hook up the final pushrod. All of this is temporary as it'll all have to come off to get the fiberglass tips on. To ease this process I'm using standard hardware store nuts on the AN bolts to temporarily secure things and not AN locknuts. As so often happens, little roadblocks kept getting thrown up throughout the day that prevented quicker progress. The first issue was match drilling the 1/4" lower stab bolt holes. Getting at the holes square was going to require a 12" drill bit to move the drill aft of the fuselage. So off to HD for that. Fortunately they had them. I bought a smaller 12" long 3/16" bit too. I've struggled with drilling clean round holes in thick aluminum at larger sizes like #12 or 1/4". The bit often jams in the hole due to the flutes cutting too much aluminum at once. I've found I get the best results when match drilling using a couple progressively larger bits, plenty of lube, hi drill speed and just enough pressure to let the drill cut. To aid keeping the bit square to the surface I lightly superglue a small stack of Lego blocks next to the hole with a corner oriented at the hole. This gives my a reference to align my drill bit with. After getting the stab bolted in I got the elevators mounted and the horns secured together using my drill guide with a bolt through it. I was annoyed that in spite of my best efforts my 2 elevator counterweights don't precisely line up and match each other along the longitudinal axis of the stab in the neutral position. They are just slightly off. My best guess is I was not fully square to the surface when I drilled the second steel horn using the jig. Drilling through the steel was tough, took time and I think the hole migrated slightly. Like all the minor imperfections this plane has I doubt anyone will notice and I don't think it'll effect the flying qualities. But it bugs me. Next was adjusting the control stops to allow 30 deg up and 25 deg down on the elevators. Per plans this entailed grinding away the control stops to allow full range of motion. The nose up adjustment wasn't too tough using my rotary tool. The nose down control stop is much harder to reach with the elevators in place. I'll have to remove the left one for better access with my tool.