structural adhesives instead of rivets

[wirejock]

Originally Posted by 1bigdog

Hi Larry

Very kind of you to offer. I've sent an image of the front and the back side.
The dent doctor was here earlier today to assess what he could do to flatten it out. He has to come back to do a bit more.
The holes are for the avery static port. The gun and bar bounced and the 2 horizontal indents just bellow the lowest rivet hole are where it bounced off the bottom of the avery static port disk.
Once flattened and re-enforced I'm considering cover below the static port with the ID plate. That or a decal because you can't really fill in when it's polished.

Cheers.

Here we go.
Photos

[Scott Hersha]

Michael,
To me it looks like your entire problem has to do with the fact that you want a polished airplane (a worthy endeavor). If you were painting, it would be an easy fix with some body work. I honestly don’t know how you solve this problem because the metal has been stretched. Doing some sort of patch that you can cover with an appropriate decal depending on your overall scheme may be your best bet. To me, it doesn’t look structural from your photo - just cosmetic, and that is the problem. You could put a riveted patch there with a bullet hole decal right in the middle of it, like a B-17 coming back to base after a mission.... Or how about filling it to make it smooth, and then just install a covering decal that simply states “STATIC”.
I wish you the best of luck coming up with a fix and I’m anxious to see what you decide.

[1bigdog]

So first, thanks for the public and direct feedback. I had sent a message VANS with images last week, so waiting on that response, but all your feed back is encouraging. I might err on the side of using the data plate so I can keep everything polished. Just waiting for that to come back from laser etching.

I'll be happy to post the final result. Just want VANS blessing on the approach. And hopefully the dent doctor can flatten this out sufficiently. That or I can to learn how to play the oil can.

Cheers

[David Paule]

One thing that often works surprisingly well is to get a good auto-body bump-out specialist to try to fix it.

I've had to do that twice on airplanes, and both times, when he was done, I couldn't tell where the damage had been. In your case, there might be a small mark remaining that''ll be easy to cover with your data plate.

I'd expect that something like this will cost less than $100, even getting the expert to come to your shop, and it's worth a substantial tip, too.

Dave

[flion]

Originally Posted by 1bigdog

So to answer another question, no, ordering a new skin is not an option as the entire aft bottom skin would have to come off.

I second the auto-body guy option but if that does not work, then replace the skin. Removing an entire skin is not an option? Of course it is. I had to replace both horizontal stabilizer skins on my -10 thanks to a gust of wind. And I am now replacing both the right and left fuselage skins and bottom skin aft of the main wing spar due to an aircraft lift failure that caused a wrinkle aft of the spar - even if the wrinkle had been fixable, I had to pull the skins to check for structural damage. Oh, yes, and I also removed the upper deck skin on my -6A to facilitate the panel change. You may not like the option (I certainly didn't) but it is still an option. Do what you have to do to make your aircraft right.

[Ralph Inkster]

Talk to Vans about the possibility of putting one of their access panels back there. You could label it "ELT access" or other purposeful label to deflect attention from it.
Or refer to AC43 for process to rivet in a structural patch.

[1bigdog]

Originally Posted by Ralph Inkster

Talk to Vans about the possibility of putting one of their access panels back there. You could label it "ELT access" or other purposeful label to deflect attention from it.
Or refer to AC43 for process to rivet in a structural patch.

That is a really creative backup plan. VANS did respond today. They are fine with the approach to use a small doubler after flattened and then the ID plate on top. The dent guy was here yesterday and will be back next week to shrink the problem. If for some reason he cannot do an adequate job I'll talk to vans about what flat panel options they have that could be used in that location.

Thanks

[wirejock]

Originally Posted by 1bigdog

That is a really creative backup plan. VANS did respond today. They are fine with the approach to use a small doubler after flattened and then the ID plate on top. The dent guy was here yesterday and will be back next week to shrink the problem. If for some reason he cannot do an adequate job I'll talk to vans about what flat panel options they have that could be used in that location.

Thanks

Simple. Cut a doubler the same size as the data plate. Doubler inside. Use four of the rivets all the way through to hold the data plate. All the other rivets holding the doubler will be hidden behind the data plate.

[1bigdog]

So, the inherent problem is shrinking the skin to lay flat enough such that the backing doubler remains flat and the ID plate goes on top of a flat surface as well.

Using the QC dimpler I can pull the skin back in. Just need to strategically place dimples in and around the footprint of the dent and that will pull everything flat, most likely more easily than the dent guy can do (although I do need to thank him for the time spent).

I will send a followup about this to all. I'm supposed to get the ID plate back today so I can then see how everything fits and then get back on track.

All I can say is ... Oy.