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Old 10-10-2006, 11:34 AM
Paul Eastham's Avatar
Paul Eastham Paul Eastham is offline
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 506
Default Oops rivet -> internal cracks

Hey everyone,
While I was putting the fiberglass tip on my VS, I spent some time going over the work I did so many years ago on the empennage...and found some cracks! Tiny little cracks on the *inside* of the VS, at the very edge of a few dimples.

As I recall, these two AD3 rivets had cleated over on me, so I drilled them out several times...and eventually put in an oops rivet. It also leaned over a little, leaving several tiny hairline cracks in the inner dimple edge (on the VS top rib in this case). I'm guessing the higher stresses associated with a bigger shop head caused the cracks in the thin aluminum.

I tried to dress them out a little, but no luck: the cracks go all the way through the aluminum.

So I guess there is a warning and a question here:

Warning: maybe that slightly-imperfect AD3 rivet is better than a cracked-up oops rivet.

Question: should I attempt some sort of repair here? We're talking about a tiny crack (hairline width, 1/64" long) -- difficult to see without bright light and very close inspection.

Paul
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Paul Eastham - Mountain View CA
RV-9A standard build, flying! ~300 hrs
EAA Chapter 338 San Jose
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