The Simple Dimple

[Phil]

I'm a couple of days into the RV-10 kit and moving along quite nicely.

I'm to the point where I need to fit the VS skins to the skeleton and dimple them.

I'm dimpling the skins and I obviously have to dimple the flanges on the rib's, etc.

Here's my question:
Since the skin dimple is supposed to ride inside the rib dimple, do I need to account for the thickness of the skin? In other words, dimple the flanges slightly deeper?

If so, is there a trick to getting the right depth on the flanges??

Thanks in advance,
Phil

[fehdxl]

Phill, No need to do anything different. Dimple the flanges just like you did the skins. -Jim 40603

[pmccoy]

Phil-

I have heard of people making the rib dimple bigger, if they are building a 5,000 hour show plane. For me, I used the squeezer or C-Frame whenever possible, and just made sure to have both parts dimpled with a proper set.

On the Skin with a C-Frame give it a good whack with the mallet. Using a squeezer on the rib, adjust the dimple dies till they just touch and then turn them an additional full turn. That way you are sure to get a full dimple.

Once you rivet it all together, it should look just fine.

[Rick S.]

Phil,

I experimented with using the fuel tank dies from Cleaveland on the inside dimples and the standard die on the skin, it looked the same, seemed to fit pretty much the same so I just stuck with the standard dies for both surfaces. The tank die is a tad bigger to allow for the rivet to sit flush when using proseal. I used them on the tanks and all the rivets sit flush.

I don't know if it made a difference because I didn't use anything but the tank dies on the tank. I suggest making a few test strips out of different thickness of aluminum. Dimple the strips with each size. You can see how well the skins will fit plus use it to test your microstop for the correct depth. Sneak up on the correct size on scrap and make your countersinks fit your dimples perfectly without experimenting on the real thing.