What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Undimpling, or whatever it is called

localizer

Active Member
Hi all,
I was working on a training project this evening and was so happy to see results that I have immediately screwed up. I dimpled stiffeners in the wrong direction.:rolleyes:
When i realized that I turned the stiffeners upside down and dimpled the holes in the right direction.
Question: is that OK to this on an airplane, or is the part destroyed and I should order a replacement?

Thanks!
Yuri
 
Cha ching!

I had a friend who did that on his -8 empennage. He reversed the dimple the proper way and had a hole the size of the dimple in his skin.

Fortunately it was on the training project. Not an engineer, but I think it's safe to say the metal will fail and result in a hole.

At that point, your buying a new piece, unless you get into doublers and such.

Cheers,

Don
 
Hi all,
I was working on a training project this evening and was so happy to see results that I have immediately screwed up. I dimpled stiffeners in the wrong direction.:rolleyes:
When i realized that I turned the stiffeners upside down and dimpled the holes in the right direction.
Question: is that OK to this on an airplane, or is the part destroyed and I should order a replacement?

Thanks!
Yuri

I've undimpled a few. I suppose it depends on which part it is.

Jerre
 
General consensus of opinion is that you can do that ONCE. If you then realize the first dimple was correct, now you get to buy a new part.
 
Call Van's builder support. They have much better information than the opinions you'll find here.
 
+1 to Greg's comment...

I have also been told, at a Sportair Workshop Class, that you may flatten and dimple the other direction only once. I have had to do this to only 2 holes so far on my 10 build. IMHO, if I had a whole line of dimpled holes dimpled the wrong way, I'd consider replacing the part. Whether I did or didn't would be based on what the part was doing in the structure, a call to Vans, my own gut, etc.... My $0.02.
 
Been there done that

I can't remember the part, but it was one where just replacing it wasn't going to be easy. I called Van's because I was going to try and engineer a solution using the dimple headed the different direction. They laughed and said "just dimple it the other way". Problem solved. Build on.
 
Thank you all for responses.
I have also talked to Vans. Their response:
"This is not a problem in most areas and is a common practice if dimples are put in the wrong way. If you do this it is not a bad idea to inspect after you correct the problem for cracks."
So I will do just that.
 
Back
Top