danielhv

danielhv

Well Known Member
Had a little mis-fire with the penumatic squeezer today... :( put an extra hole in the elevator skin right next to an existing hole... any ideas on a work around to keep from replacing the skin? Its on the main spar right where its going to bend to form the leading edge. :(

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Take a light hammer and tap the hole flat. don't over work the metal in the flatting process, just tap it real lightly. When it comes time to paint the plane fill the hole with filler and no one will ever know.
 
Welcome to the "extra hole from pneumatic squeezer" club! :) I joined several years ago. Thought I was a charter member at the time but later found out that I was a little late for that. The membership is large and growing.
 
apatti said:
Welcome to the "extra hole from pneumatic squeezer" club! :) I joined several years ago. Thought I was a charter member at the time but later found out that I was a little late for that. The membership is large and growing.
Click to expand...

Is that an annex to the "extra hole from the Avery C-Frame" club?:D Longtime member here.
 
top or bottom?

I've got one on the top of my HS skin, and of course the bottom HS skins turned out beautifully.

You can also flatten it out with flush rivet sets in the same dimpling device that did the damage in the first place. Searching for "dimple 8" or "figure 8 dimple" should pull up some related threads. Reading them will make you feel better, at least it did for me. Everyone seems to have done this at least once.

I almost don't want to mention it for fear of thread-jacking this into another "blue plastic" debate but it seems like match drilling and deburring can trap AL chips under the plastic and then dimpling with the plastic in place smashes the chips into the skin. I take it all off early on, lots of folks use a soldering iron to remove strips along rivet lines. You can ask 5 people and get 5 different answers... I'm really not trying to start another debate but if you haven't already read the blue plastic threads then you probably should. This way you can find out why different people do what they do and you can form (or revise) your own opinion and practices.
 
Just my TCW

If the repair you end up doing is to flatten and cover later with proseal or something similar at least clean up the edges with a debur and get rid of any sharp corners. That hole looks like a seed for stress cracks later on.
 
It's cosmetic only.

I believe that would be referred to as a "lightening" hole.
Of course if you fill it, it will be heavier than before, but "no problem, build on!"
 
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