G

gpiney

Well Known Member
Well, last night I managed to screw up the rudder. Some how I managed to punch thru the skin with the rivet gun. Oh well.
The best guess is that I was on the edge of the backrivet plate. I thought I was at least 1" up from the edge. Again, Oh well. To make the most of it, I will practice backriveting the other side. May as well, all the parts are ready. While waiting for replacement parts, I plan on building as much of the rudder skeleton as possible.

I do have one question. How many of the 3 stiffener angles do I need to order? I can't remember if it is one of each or 2 of each.

Thanks
 
Greg, is it just a small hole from a dimple die or something that a rivet will fit in? If so, just put a rivet in it and proceed. I am passing on this advice from someone who gave it to me a few years back.....
 
Nope, an actual cut (tear) in the skin. Happened while backriveting. About 1/4-3/8" long. At least to me, unacceptable. There were also 2 'very proud' rivets. Don't know how that happened either. For practice, I drilled them out, drilled the holes with a #30 and used a couple of oops rivets. I used rivet tape to hold the rivets in place. Tonight I am going to see if there is a difference by using regular 'magic' tape.
 
If I am understanding the problem, you might consider using a thin aluminum doubler (Prosealed maybe) behind the damaged area and fill the outer surface for cosmetics. Hard to imagine what the damage looks like.

Doesn't the drawing show how many stiffners you need???

As for tape to hold rivets in place, I just used masking tape. Worked very well for several thousand rivets.
 
were the 'proud' rivets towards the trailing edge? I found that as I flexed the rudder skin open to back rivet the most aft holes there was a tendency for the aluminum to try to flex off the back rivet plate. It required pressure not only on the rivet gun, but also on the stiffener and skin facing the plate. I drilled out 2 in the same spot before I identified my problem.

HTH
 
I had 1 at the trailing edge and 1 at the leading edge. I noticed the skin warping issue before I shot the first trailing edge rivet. I thought I corrected that by placing a 20lb. lead ingot outside of the stiffener. It was my 3rd trailing edge rivet. All the others were fine.

Cartaire said:
were the 'proud' rivets towards the trailing edge? I found that as I flexed the rudder skin open to back rivet the most aft holes there was a tendency for the aluminum to try to flex off the back rivet plate. It required pressure not only on the rivet gun, but also on the stiffener and skin facing the plate. I drilled out 2 in the same spot before I identified my problem.

HTH
Click to expand...
 
Hold up on "magic" tape!

gpiney said:
Tonight I am going to see if there is a difference by using regular 'magic' tape.
Click to expand...
Greg -Regular "magic" tape sticks real well and tears. It can be a real pain to remove.
Scotch does make a tape that has roughly the stickiness of a Post-It note that works real well - It's been mentioned in the forums before, but I don't have time to search now. You can find it in office supply stores along with the regular tapes. It sometimes tears, too, but is much easier to remove. It is MUCH more convienient than the regular rivet tape that's sticky on the sides with a clear non-sticky band down the middle.
 
Low Pass said:
Doesn't the drawing show how many stiffners you need???

As for tape to hold rivets in place, I just used masking tape. Worked very well for several thousand rivets.
Click to expand...

In the current kit, the stiffeners are cut out of 3 different pieces of prepunched angle. They have notches which indicate where to cut. I already ordered 2 of each and a new rudder skin. Chalk it up to the educational aspect of kitbuilding.
 
I did the same exact thing on my -6A. Too close to the edge of the backrivet plate. I ordered a new skin and chalked it up to experience.
 
I did less damage than UPS!!!!!

Just received my order today. The rudder skin was damaged beyond comprehension. UPS must have used it as a trampoline.

First the damaged area of the carton

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After I got thru all of Vans packing material I was SHOCKED to see this

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Upon further inspection I found:
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And This
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Already sent these to Vans. Will call them in the morning.
 
Wow Greg, you could be in the running for the most screwed up parts from the delivery man. Hey, Doug could start a new section just for this.
 
Your little ding doesn't look so bad now, does it! :) :)

That is the worst I've seen. Fear not, Van's took care of mine with no hassle whatsoever (they contacted UPS, got compensation, etc - all I had to do was inspect the next shipment!)

Thomas
 
When did they start using UPS?

Was it shipped ground?

That is typical for UPS, if the box says fragile they will treat it worse.
The UPS guy that delivers where I work says that they don't care what condition stuff arrives (neither does his employer) because most people never file a claim for damaged goods and when they do UPS RARELY pays it anyway.
 
I would have been irked

I ordered a rudder skin recently for my 9A that I messed up. I was upset at having to pay $40 for shipping from Oregon to Kentucky for ground service. But at least when mine arrived it was perfect. They had packed it in an empennage kit box. Oh yeah I also had to pay Vans $15 for handling.

Anyone gotten anything through DHL from Van's?
 
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