Hello all! Just finished my vertical stabilizer last week and I am now moving forward with both the rudder and horizontal stabilizer. Today I was looking over my vertical stabilizer and I noticed that there was a very small gap between the manufactured heads and the dimpled portion of the skin denoted by the slight shadow under the heads.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/kJoRtW5ZXgd4W93r6
https://photos.app.goo.gl/SY3f6gkt1NVSyvE57
My first thought was that the manufactured head was not perfectly flush with the skin (maybe a riveting mistake), so I put the flat end of a ruler over top of the rivets and saw that the rivets were indeed flush. I then took a look at my practice project and realized that these rivets did not have this same shadow under the rivets. This is when I realized that on the practice project I used Brown dimple dies and on my V-Stab I used Cleaveland dies. I then went ahead and did a controlled test. I took a piece of scrap and dimpled two #40 holes using both dies.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/o1TpuWdVoYzg93pz7
Notice how with the die on the left there is the slight gap, and on the right there is none, which is what I had suspected. I have had a great experience with both companies, so I'm not trying to start any wars Is this gap normal for those that have used the Cleaveland Dies? Once the plane is painted these gaps won't be visible so it's not the end of the world, but as I am ready to dimple the rudder skins I want to know if I should change back to the other dies, or be worried at all? Thanks!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/kJoRtW5ZXgd4W93r6
https://photos.app.goo.gl/SY3f6gkt1NVSyvE57
My first thought was that the manufactured head was not perfectly flush with the skin (maybe a riveting mistake), so I put the flat end of a ruler over top of the rivets and saw that the rivets were indeed flush. I then took a look at my practice project and realized that these rivets did not have this same shadow under the rivets. This is when I realized that on the practice project I used Brown dimple dies and on my V-Stab I used Cleaveland dies. I then went ahead and did a controlled test. I took a piece of scrap and dimpled two #40 holes using both dies.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/o1TpuWdVoYzg93pz7
Notice how with the die on the left there is the slight gap, and on the right there is none, which is what I had suspected. I have had a great experience with both companies, so I'm not trying to start any wars Is this gap normal for those that have used the Cleaveland Dies? Once the plane is painted these gaps won't be visible so it's not the end of the world, but as I am ready to dimple the rudder skins I want to know if I should change back to the other dies, or be worried at all? Thanks!