I got through the dreaded tab bending on our RV7 elevator skin and trim tab. It wasn't as hard as I feared from reading all the posts of fear and disastrous bends.
My tabs all turned out nice, but of course the top of the elevator skin half of the trim tab bend, came out a little odd. It's not horrible or anything, but I'd like to see if I can flatten it out just a little more before riveting the skin on the spar/ribs.
Does anyone have a good idea how to do this? I was thinking maybe put the skin on a back rivet plate or chunk of wood and tap it from the inside (it would be a tight fit, so not sure how yet) with the riveter on about 20 psi and going through a block of wood to keep the dings minimal.
Here are photos of how it looks. It all meets nicely along the sides, but I have a bit of a concave area above the crease as you can see. Again, totally flyable, but just wondering if you builders have a clever way of flatting this out? I'm just afraid of messing with it too much and causing a big disaster if it's not needed.
Thanks for ideas!
Tom
Not too bad looking, but could it be flattened?
A slight ridge along the fold.
I think the wood that was clamped on top of it may have held ti too tight while hitting with the mushroom riveter? I did put a block of wood against it and reveted through the wood for extra protection.
My tabs all turned out nice, but of course the top of the elevator skin half of the trim tab bend, came out a little odd. It's not horrible or anything, but I'd like to see if I can flatten it out just a little more before riveting the skin on the spar/ribs.
Does anyone have a good idea how to do this? I was thinking maybe put the skin on a back rivet plate or chunk of wood and tap it from the inside (it would be a tight fit, so not sure how yet) with the riveter on about 20 psi and going through a block of wood to keep the dings minimal.
Here are photos of how it looks. It all meets nicely along the sides, but I have a bit of a concave area above the crease as you can see. Again, totally flyable, but just wondering if you builders have a clever way of flatting this out? I'm just afraid of messing with it too much and causing a big disaster if it's not needed.
Thanks for ideas!
Tom
Not too bad looking, but could it be flattened?
A slight ridge along the fold.
I think the wood that was clamped on top of it may have held ti too tight while hitting with the mushroom riveter? I did put a block of wood against it and reveted through the wood for extra protection.
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