HS-708 Flange

This past Week I was just about ready to call success on completing my RV-7 component when I came across the following issue. The very last step of the HS building instruction says to, "Blind rivet the HS-708 to the rear assembly." This I did without much effort. Then I decided to admire my work and when I looked through the lightening holes in the HS-405 to see how the blind rivet looked. When I looked at the rivets, I noticed that one edge of the flange on the HS-708 was not flush to the HS-603 (see picture).



On the left side the photo, you may be able to see that the HS-708 flange has lifted slightly off the HS-603 Rear Spar. A set of automotive feeler guages indicate the separation to be less than 0.02''.

Should I be concerned with this? I believe the BSPQ-5-4 rivet is a non-structural rivet - indicating this is not a heavy load bearing area. However, I still do not have a flush mating surface, and everything I have learned prior to now says I should not be happy with this.

I would appreciate any thoughts on this issue

Thanks
Rob

I think you're correct about this being a non-structural bind. However, if it was me, I'd still drill 'em out and get 'em tight. One less worry down the road, right? I do understand the increased difficulty of drilling blind rivets, so it's your call.

Me personally... I wouldn't worry about it. As long as a habbit is not made, I dont see an issue here. It isn't a structual part... most of the strength is coming from the rib to skin rivets...

Did you have one of the holes cleco'ed when you pulled the blind rivet? Sometimes it helps to stick your hand in and push the flange to make sure its flush before you pull the rivet.

You will probably do more damage drilling out the blind rivet (different animal than solid rivets) so I'd say just leave it alone and build on!

Yeah, I had the hole cleco'd. I'm thinking that somehow the rivet caught the edge of the flange when it went in. I believe the flange is flush on the back side and just bent up on the inboard side.

In the future I will do what I an to push with the fingers and make it flush. However, this is the last rivet on the HS and since the skin is riveted down, you can't really reach your hand in there.

I'm leaning toward acquiring a new building skill and learning to remove a blind rivet so I can get get that flange totally flush. I'm waiting on a response from Van's right now.

The journey continues.

Rob

I received the following response from Vans with respect to the flange gap on the HS-708:

"This is a common condition because of the order of assembly of this part. The 2 BSPQ blind rivets are simply nailing the HS-603 to the HS-609 to give it an anchor point. Only some of the load path is being conducted through these 2 rivets though. Even though there is a bit of a gap there, I don't foresee a problem with this."

Based off this response and the added difficulty of drilling out a blind rivet, I plan to leave the flange as-is and build on.