[DiscoStu]

I just spent 3 hours trying to fit the HS-401 skin to my stab. As per the manual, I was trying to get correct overhang of the skin behind the spar to assure proper alignment, BUT the overhang was out from tip to root (short on one end, long on the other). It seemed like I was going to have to twist the heck out of the skin to make it line up, but even then I couldn't quite get it to work. From this point on, I removed the skin, checked skeleton jigging, refitted skin, swapped skin L to R, blah blah blah a number of times.

Then it occurred to me... What if the SKIN was bent wrong?

I measured the distance from center of the LE bend radius to the skin trailing edges and they're out by +/- 3/8"!

After all that, my question is: Should I just align the skin so it 'feels' right, drill, cleco, rivet, then trim the trailing edge skin to get the overhang the plans call for? The plans made out that the overhang was the one constant you could count on to align your skins properly, but it seems that's not the case.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Mark

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43008524@N00/2233115314/

PS Why didn't I go for one of them fandangaled match-drilled kits?!

 

[szicree]

I had very few parts from Vans that were made wrong, but did run into a problem with some flap skins being bent in the wrong location. Initially they said that couldn't happen because they're all bent in the same machine with the same settings blah, blah,blah.... They sent me a new one anyway and guess what -- also wrong. Again, they were unwilling to believe it was possible. I emailed them some very nice photos of the skin with a measuring tape depicting the problem. This convinced them and lo and behold it turned out that a batch was made incorrectly. Now don't get me wrong, Vans customer service and product quality is awesome in my book, but they are sometimes reluctant to consider manufacturing error. I'm sure this is due to the fact that 99.99999% of the time it's us boneheads making the mistake.

If I were you, I'd send em a real polite email with good simple info and perhaps a compelling photo of the problem. They'll take care of you.

 

[mlwynn]

MIs Bend

I had the same problem with an elevator skin. The CNC tooling that does the punches is very accurate. The bend is done on a brake. If the skin is not in exactly the right spot, then nothing lines up. Call Van's. They sent me a replacement free.

Michael Wynn
RV 8
San Ramon, CA

 

[DiscoStu]

Just talked to Vans, and they said it is possible the skins were bad. The tail kit was from 2003. Anyway, they're sending out new skins right away on the house (I pay shipping, of course).

I took this opportunity to order .020" elevator skins as well since I'm paying a shipping charge anyway. Apparently the 180hp/metal prop combo (my proposed setup) seems to be harder on the .016" skins.

 

[SvingenB]

I just spent 3 hours trying to fit the HS-401 skin to my stab. As per the manual, I was trying to get correct overhang of the skin behind the spar to assure proper alignment, BUT the overhang was out from tip to root (short on one end, long on the other). It seemed like I was going to have to twist the heck out of the skin to make it line up, but even then I couldn't quite get it to work. From this point on, I removed the skin, checked skeleton jigging, refitted skin, swapped skin L to R, blah blah blah a number of times.

Then it occurred to me... What if the SKIN was bent wrong?

I measured the distance from center of the LE bend radius to the skin trailing edges and they're out by +/- 3/8"!

After all that, my question is: Should I just align the skin so it 'feels' right, drill, cleco, rivet, then trim the trailing edge skin to get the overhang the plans call for? The plans made out that the overhang was the one constant you could count on to align your skins properly, but it seems that's not the case.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Mark

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43008524@N00/2233115314/

PS Why didn't I go for one of them fandangaled match-drilled kits?!

A related question. When fitting the skin, can you make the 11 inches at the tip as per drawings, and still have the skin fit at the LE of HS-406?