09-25 rolling leading edges (how close is enough?)

[lipper03]

I rolled my elevator leading edges today using 1" then 3/4" steel pipes, and wanted a few eyes on, as I think I have them good to rivet, but want some other opinions.

They were pretty easy to cleco, and I have one picture of some internal waves on the btm skin, but I was able to massage a bit while cleco'd and got that wave worked out back smooth. Top skins are all looking really good, flush, no gaps, so I think it's looking good.

My main question is, should I rivet now, or continue massaging to get the holes closer without help with the clecos. I know there shouldn't be a lot of force, but how much is too much? I'm a little afraid to continue messing with it, and risk the current great look while cleco'd. But there is a gap if I take the cleco's out.

Thanks!

[Carr]

Hi Brian

Looks good from the pictures you have with them closed up.

Did you brake the outer skin a bit before bending it?

Looking at your spar rivets, I think you could have hit them a little harder.
Might try to hit them once more before closing the leading edge.

If you encounter a bulge when pop riveting the leading edge, put an extra one in to even it out. When mounted, only you will see it.

Carr

[lipper03]

Originally Posted by Carr

Hi Brian

Looks good from the pictures you have with them closed up.

Did you brake the outer skin a bit before bending it?

Looking at your spar rivets, I think you could have hit them a little harder.
Might try to hit them once more before closing the leading edge.

If you encounter a bulge when pop riveting the leading edge, put an extra one in to even it out. When mounted, only you will see it.

Carr

Thanks, so you would leave the bend as is in the picture before cleco? ie the pictures wout/cleco are how it is, Cleco picture just is pushed together while clecos are put in. So there is a slight tension there, which is what I don’t know about.

Yes I broke the top skin. Cleveland tool, works pretty well.

Spar rivets were squeezed with my pneumatic and were double checked with rivet tool, and were right on. So I should be good there, might just be optics and shadow in the picture.

Thanks for the advice!

[georgemohr]

Yeah looks good. Notice the pillowing inside the skin. Ours had the same, and we wanted to ensure that the pillowing was only between the rivets, not at the rivets. So we made a long pole with a small bolt protruding from one end. one of us used this bolt as a makeshift "bucking bar" to compress the skins from the back side while the pulled rivet was being set. It came out really nice. Maybe that helps someone.

[lipper03]

Originally Posted by georgemohr

Yeah looks good. Notice the pillowing inside the skin. Ours had the same, and we wanted to ensure that the pillowing was only between the rivets, not at the rivets. So we made a long pole with a small bolt protruding from one end. one of us used this bolt as a makeshift "bucking bar" to compress the skins from the back side while the pulled rivet was being set. It came out really nice. Maybe that helps someone.

I found the pillowing was a bit of a "twist in the bend really", what I mean is that the radius of each side wasn't the same, so I did play with that and got it much better, had to push one side in a bit.

Attached my "after" picture of the pillowing area, after getting the bends a little closer to the same on each side, the pillowing reduced greatly.