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Leading Edge Advice

gburciaga

I'm New Here
Good morning everyone. So I have managed to complete the Van's practice kit but I need some advice on the leading edge. Everything on this was going really well (had to drill out a couple of rivets but nothing excessive) until I got to the leading edge. I used the edge forming tool on the forward skin and then used a 1 inch pvc pipe to roll both skins. You will notice in the pictures that I had some "waves" in the top skin of the leading edge. Could someone please tell me what I did wrong here????

Any advice on the rest of the project would be welcome as well as I plan on ordering my rv8 kit in Decembere.

Thanks everyone!
 

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I can't remember how those rivets are set, but it looks like the method you used made marks in the skin. With a gun, maybe hitting to hard or not having the bucking bar secure. If squeezing maybe not having the dies parallel to the surface.
 
Rolling leading edge

Just a guess but I suspect the pvc wasn't stiff enough to prevent a little buckle. I used steel pipe.
The wavyness around rivets is underdimpling. If DRDT, search on how to set it up. If C-frame, hit it harder.
 
Referencing Andrewtac's post.

The "dimple" in the skin created when the rivet was set can sometimes be raised back to level by backing the shop head with a bucking bar and LIGHTLY striking the skin SQUARE with a new (SOFT-REALLY SOFT) rubber mallet.

All else being good, you can return the skin to the point it appears "billet"
 
Can't tell from the pic, but did you by chance use an edge rolling type tool to form a downward bend on the leading edge as described in Section 5.10 - Lap Joints?

From that section, last line:
"Use these with caution as they may tend to stretch a long edge and make it wavy. Avoid over bending the edge and causing a worse visual effect than before. Experiment with scrap material first."

I had a similari'sh look to my rudder leading edge. I ended up doubling the rivets to flatten it. Looks "OK" now - at the end of the day, on the real thing, these edges will be mostly buried up underneath the vertical stab, horizontal stab, etc., and won't be visible.
 
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