Wing Rear Spar Ski Jump

[rv8or]

I have the dreaded rear wing spar ski jump on the top surface.
Apparently there is a tool that can be used to tweak it down into a nice straight line.
Is there a photograph of this tool so I can make one (Live in the UK)

I have searched the forums but have not found any, probably my lack of skill in the dark art of forums.

Any help would be appreciated.

Note top skins are riveted on.

Thanks in advance
Rob

[Jonnyb]

Am panicking now Rob! Rear wing spar ski jump? Finished riveting my top skins on a couple of months ago and not heard of this. Got any pictures of what it is?

[rv8or]

Jonny

Sent you a pm

Cheers
Rob

[NavyS3BNFO]

Rob,

I did a post a little while ago about my wing skin to flap gap caused by the ski jump you're referring to. See the thread here.

There is a tool but last I heard it has gone missing. Someone borrowed it and hasn't returned it. I'd reach out to Vans to see if they've located it. If so, they'll mail it to you and you just mail it back when you're done but that may be cost prohibitive if you're overseas. I have heard of some builders using hand seamers to fix it.

Good luck!

[Scott Hersha]

The right wing of the RV6 kit that I bought used, had that sort of “ski jump” at the trailing edge of the top skin where the aileron gap seal piece is riveted on. When you are drilling this part, if you push the gap seal too far forward to where it touches the aft spar flange, it will deflect the aft edge of the top skin up slightly - “ski jump”. I don’t know of any tool that can fix that. On mine, I drilled out the gap seal completely, modified it by cutting off the upper edge where the holes were drilled, and grafted on a new piece to redrill in the correct, flat upper wing skin location. The gap seal is made out of thin aluminum - .016, and is pretty flexible. It’s easy to get under the curved part with a piece of wood to back up the gap seal while you are re-drilling new hole through the holes in the top skin as your guide. I ended up with a few hole in the top skin that were elongated after drilling out the rivets so I enlarged the whole row to #30 and used 1/8” flush rivets to reinstall it. The top skin is .025, so you’ll need to dimple the hole if you end up going larger like I did.

[Freemasm]

Before you drill anything, get a piece of hardwood and slit/shape accordingly. It should be shaped:

slit deep enough to allow the cantilevered skin to not "bottom out" and not be formed.

slit tight enough to "grip" the skin/aft spar flange

notched to work around a rivet shop head.

Many in Rocket world have used this homemade tool/procedure to form this joint. Work it very gradually, of course. Best of luck

[bjdecker]

Originally Posted by Freemasm

Before you drill anything, get a piece of hardwood and slit/shape accordingly. It should be shaped:

slit deep enough to allow the cantilevered skin to not "bottom out" and not be formed.

slit tight enough to "grip" the skin/aft spar flange

notched to work around a rivet shop head.

Many in Rocket world have used this homemade tool/procedure to form this joint. Work it very gradually, of course. Best of luck

Additionally, break the edges of the slit so as not to crease the skin.

Otherwise, this works great.

[RV6_flyer]

Back in the day before match hole kits, the RV-4 and RV-6 used a homemade tool to correct the "Wing Rear Spar Ski Jump" where the top wing skin did not come in contact with the FLAP.

Get a piece of about two (2) foot long (0.6 meters) by (2) two or so inches (5 cm) about one-half (1/2) inch or so (1.3 cm) piece of oak (any hardwood should work) and cut a slit in the end that will go over the skin, spar flange, and rivets. VERY Very very slowly use the homemade tool to bend the skin and rear spar flange so that the skin will make contact with the top of the flap. Yes the flap needs to be removed when you do this.







The aluminum bar was bolted to this homemade tool when the oak cracked / split.

[fl-mike]

for the flap:
This is the Van's tool. Currently MIA I understand. Note using some scrap to protect the spar web and wing skin. Worked great.

[fl-mike]

Would whoever has this tool please return it to Van's?!
Van's has tried repeatedly to get the culprit to return it to no avail.
Come on man!