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Trailing Edge - getting it straight

lonkelm

Active Member
For those who have completed their trailing edges, I see that some drill holes in a piece of angle iron and cleco the surface to the angle iron while letting the proseal cure.

What's the longest control surface (how long of a piece do I need to buy)?

What size worked? 1.5"x1.5" or so? Is there a preference of aluminum over steel?
 
I prefer alum. Much easier to drill and keep the holes in the correct place. Stays clean and not heavy toppling the surface unexpectedly. Going by memory, I would say 6 ft should do. I have three so I can work on more than one control surface at a time.
 
This is what I did on the first RV-10 build. I'll probably do something similar on this build.

These are standard steel angles (left over from a neighbor's Lancair 4 build). I added packing tape incase some proseal squeezed out. Note under the control surface are some wood shims the exact same thicknes as the steel angle.

After a few hours to let the proseal set a little I removed each clecko one at a time to clean up proseal, then replaced. This made the final clean up before riveting easy.

The control surface trailing edges came out perfectly straight - and no twist.
Carl
DSC01340.jpg
 
Never Prosealed any trailing edges and all arrow straight. Decent back rivet plate, work alternately out from the centre of the piece and plenty of clecos. Also, make sure the wedge is correctly countersunk using a decent guide like from Cleaveland and break the edges before dimpling.
 
I drilled holes in an piece of angle aluminum. I just saw that someone was advertising a jig they designed as a drill guide to ensure you drill the holes straight.

If I had it to do over again I'd buy this jig. The beauty of using the heavy duty angle aluminum is that you can keep the cleckos in while the proseal cures.
 
I'm with Mike... no proseal.

I used VHB tape (the now recommended TE method from Van's) and then used the Cleaveland tools trailing edge squeezer set.

Works like a champ with perfectly straight trailing edges. No muss, no fuss, no weights, no clamping, etc... just laid it all on out on my workbench, cleaned up the parts with denatured alcohol, applied the tape, cleco'd and squeezed all the rivets. It was a pretty quick task.

The question of drilling the TE holes is pretty easy to solve too. I have a spare piece of AEX that I cleco in reverse on top as a jig, and then use a thin micro-stop and drill straight through. I know others clamp this into a drill press, which is a fine method too, although I find the free-hand drill and microstop cage is quicker and easier for me.
 
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angle to drill through angle iron?

So I now have 1/4" thick angle iron. What angle do I drill the angle iron. I did buy the drill jig which I think is a 6 degree angle. Is this the proper angle to drill through the angle iron?

I also picked up some Clecos with a longer grip length.


I drilled holes in an piece of angle aluminum. I just saw that someone was advertising a jig they designed as a drill guide to ensure you drill the holes straight.

If I had it to do over again I'd buy this jig. The beauty of using the heavy duty angle aluminum is that you can keep the cleckos in while the proseal cures.
 
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