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RV-8 rudder stiffeners

T

tclour

Member
do the stiffeners on the rv-8 rudder flange up on one side and down on the other?? it looks like the only way the holes will line up
 
YUP!

It is so that they will compress against each other (and noth the skin) when pressure is applied to the exterior of the skin.

:) CJ
 
Yeah, but make sure you do all of the trailing edge squeezing before the stiffeners are installed or there might be some funny bumps on the skin after you do. In other words, you can squeeze the stiffeners into the opposite skin hard enough enough to deform the skin. This has been done!

Cheers, Pete
 
Pete, if he completes the trailing edge bend before setting the stiffener rivets, how will he be able to get the gun down into the rearmost holes?

You *can* squeeze the stiffeners into the opposite skin hard enough enough to deform the skin, just be cautious when doing the trailing edge squeeze.

Thomas, backrivet the stiffeners first, then make the trailing edge bend.

My $0.02...

:rolleyes: CJ
 
CJ,

I've got to disagree with you on this one. I think you need to bend the trailing edge first. There is still enough flex in the skin that you can pull it up to do the riveting.
 
I don't know ... if you bend the TE as much as needed (to where it lies flat on the spar without pushing on it) I don't see how you could possibly back rivet most of the stiffener rivets after it was bent. Are you riveting differently?

Thomas
-8 ailerons
 
Manual says...

The manual says to rivet the stiffners before you do the bending...

I thought the inner-most rivets were tough to back rivet BEFORE the bending was done, couldn't imagine if I had bent the trailing edge first!

Joe
 
I'm going to try something different on my elevators. I found that bending the skin back toi rivet after one side have has been rivetted it really difficult. You tend to crease it instead of a nice gentle push out of the way. This time I'm going to try rivetting just the back 1 or 2 rivets on all the stiffeners and THEN go back and finish rivetting them all. This will "tack" them down so they don't move, and will allow me to get to the problem rivets before I make the problem worse by completely stiffening up one side of the skin.
 
I hear ya Paullie, but I KNOW that I couldn't hammer those TE rivets after bending the TE.

Dunno, you aren't the only one who says otherwise!

:confused: CJ
 
John-

That's a good idea ... wish I thought of it earlier - I just riveted one side of both ailerons this afternoon! I guess I'll have to try that on my next RV :D .

Let me know how it goes.

Thomas
-8 ailerons
 
jcoloccia said:
I'm going to try something different on my elevators. I found that bending the skin back toi rivet after one side have has been rivetted it really difficult. You tend to crease it instead of a nice gentle push out of the way. This time I'm going to try rivetting just the back 1 or 2 rivets on all the stiffeners and THEN go back and finish rivetting them all. This will "tack" them down so they don't move, and will allow me to get to the problem rivets before I make the problem worse by completely stiffening up one side of the skin.
Click to expand...

update: I did my right elevator like this last night. Just back rivetted the trailing edge rivet on all the stiffeners on one side. Then did the trailing edge rivets on the other side. Finally, I finished back rivetting the rest of the rivets. YMMV, but this seemed to be WAY easier than trying to flex the skin out of the way with one side completely finished.
 
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