Michael Burbidge

Michael Burbidge

Well Known Member
I made a mistake trimming the end of one of the j-stringers on the aft fuselage. I have plenty of extra j-string to construct a new one out of two pieces with a splice in the middle.

When installing the j-stringer in the wings I had dimpled an extra hole in the wrong place and Van's tech support had me double it with a piece of j-string that overlapped the hole by three rivets on each side of the hole.

Would it be acceptable to construct a j-stringer for the aft fuselage by splicing two pieces together with an overlapping piece? The aircraft construction handbook that came with my toolkit talks about splicing stringers.

Thanks,
Michael-
 
I think they are basically there for stiffening the skinds, so overlapping would probably be ok, but I would recommend getting Van's approval.
 
Splice away. Pick up 3 holes fore and aft and add 6 holes in the "j" part. If you have some proseal, assemble it wet and it'll be stronger than the original. You can find an example of a repair like this in AC 43.13
 
buckling resistance is compromised...

i also screwed up an end cut on one of the j-stringers and contemplated a splice but went with replacement. it is hard to say what constitutes notable failure contribution for any one point, but ask yourself if you cut a 2x4 in half and then splice it back together over a short distance if it carries the same bending moment capacity... how would it compare to an un-spliced board on a teeter-totter? if the splice is long enough it becomes a laminated composite with stress concentrations at the join ends... it is compromised and i would replace it.
 
While I don't believe there would be any compromise in the "buckling strenth". I think I'd still order new "J" angle. At your stage of the build there's no need to do a repair. You're looking at a $10 part with $10 S&H. The piece of mind is worth ten times that.
 
[email protected] said:
i also screwed up an end cut on one of the j-stringers and contemplated a splice but went with replacement. it is hard to say what constitutes notable failure contribution for any one point, but ask yourself if you cut a 2x4 in half and then splice it back together over a short distance if it carries the same bending moment capacity... how would it compare to an un-spliced board on a teeter-totter? if the splice is long enough it becomes a laminated composite with stress concentrations at the join ends... it is compromised and i would replace it.
Click to expand...

It's not like a splice on a teeter totter. It's more like a splice on a manufactured floor joist. They always have splices. If I'm not mistaken, it seems that the tail section of the 9 & 10 are spliced and not continuous.

L.Adamson --- RV6A
 
Week off

I have the week off and was looking for a safe simple fix so I didn't have to waste my week waiting for a new j-stringer.

Thanks for your thoughts
Michael
 
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