[jtsmith]

Hello;

Has anyone tried machine countersinking the flap upper and lower skins in assembly with the flap spar flange? This should allow the nose skin to fit more tightly against the skins and prevent having to countersink the spar flange as deep thus preventing knife blade edges at the bottom of the countersink. Of course it would result in an enlarged hole in the skins.

I have previously asked Van's this question in regards to the ailerons and they said is would be Okay since the skins are sandwiched between the nose skin and the spar flange. I assume the same would hold true for the flaps. Has anyone tried this and would you do it again? Anything to watch out for?

Jearld
91066

 

[rv9aviator]

I meant to do that on my second flap to see if I could get a nicer fit and forgot about it between the time I built the first one and started the second. From the instructions it shows it to be perfectly acceptable. One thing that helps the appearance is to slightly bend the skin edge down to make it lay flat with some kind of edging tool.

 

[bruceh]

I did this on my ailerons. Worked great! I'm now doing the same on the flaps. The countersinks don't bottom out on the spar, or wander and enlarge.
I also did the edge roll with the Cleaveland vise grip style tool and the nose skins lay nicely over the top and bottom skins.