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Daniel S.

Well Known Member
You'd think I'd learn my lesson after dimpling through a non-exsistant hole in a rib on my vs with the pneumatic squeezer. After replacing the rib which arrived today from vans. I went out to the shop and I freaking did it again!!!!!:mad: This time on the edge of the vs skin. It didn't make a full dimple though just punched the nipple through and made a tiny dimple. I flattened it out with a flush set and deburred. The tiny hole left. What are my options on a fix here if any, replace the skin?
Thanks
 
Several options

Daniel,

You have a couple of options. On the rib you could have put in a doubler where you made the dimple error and you probably would have been alright. Here's an example of where I accidentally made a figure 8 dimple and patched it. Of course use a longer rivet in that hole:
DSC_1136.jpg


The skin is a little different because it will be visible and there maybe a cosmetic issue (or not). What's your edge distance like? If you're not near a rivet hole or too close to the edge of the skin you can probably just shove a little JB Weld in there to fill the hole.
 
jb weld

How many pounds of JB Weld does the average RV carry around?
 
Rivet it

Depending on edge distance and distance to other holes, you could fill it with a rivet. You'd be certain it never falls out, which a filler might.

Watch that squeezer trigger....:eek:
 
I'm guessing. The holes are too close, if both holes were dimpled, the dimples would overlap.... time for a new skin. VANS lovers me right now. :(
 
Daniel S. said:
I'm guessing. The holes are too close, if both holes were dimpled, the dimples would overlap.... time for a new skin. VANS lovers me right now. :(
Click to expand...

You made a mistake in your post. Van's doesn't lovers you, they love you :)

Don't feel bad, they love the rest of us too.
 
Rookie mistakes?

I got distracted while dimpling my rudder skin lower edge and punched an extra hole. Flattened, drilled to clean up the hole. It will be covered by a fairing and is far enough away from other fasteners to warrant replacing the skin.
My point is this, if I have been doing this kind of work for decades, and still make the same (not often!) rookie mistakes, then maybe they aren't rookie mistakes:eek:
 
Other side

Daniel,

Here's what the other side of that patch looks like:
DSC_1137.jpg


It will just look like there are a couple of extra rivets and no one will know except you. It's up to you but I'd consider a fix... I think part of the pride of craftsmanship comes from successfully recovering from our mistakes.

Tom
 
Let those among us who are perfect throw the first stone...

This was among the first, but definitely not the last:
DSCN3038.JPG


The fix (per Scott R at Van's) in progress:
DSCN3073.JPG


It's on the bottom left HS... if anyone ever notices, they're looking too close!
 
As Miles pointed out, just put a rivet on either side of the bad one and move on. The only reason to replace the skin would be cosmetic if you are that picky.
 
Forgive my lack of understand, but a dimple tool is what makes these countersunk holes correct? And if 1 of those holes are wrong, is it a critical issue?
 
Correct - somewhat

Yes, the dimple tool makes the "countersink" dimple in the hole. Sometimes the piece your dimpling jumps out of position and you accidentally put a hole in the skin (when that happens, your dimple tool becomes a hole making tool).

It can be a critical issue if you end-up with a hole too close to an edge or any place else that could weaken the structure, but having said that, there are plenty of places where an extra hole results in just a cosmetic defect, followed by lots of bad words.... :eek:
 
I've seen this mistake corrected with a rivet before. It works well. Of course, this was on a -9A....and a SLOW -9A at that!! :D
 
Guys.
Thank you so much for the options... I had a skin on order with vans but I just canceled it. I'm going to put rivets on either side of the hole and move on. I may add two more on the opposite side of the VS just so everything matches up & looks pretty. I already filled the darn punched hole with JB some Weld. I'll post some pictures on my log later this week... I have to do a brake job tonight after work. :rolleyes:
 
Daniel S. said:
... I may add two more on the opposite side of the VS just so everything matches up & looks pretty. ...
Click to expand...

Suit yourself, but it's kinda hard to see both sides of the VS at once! The only folks that should be paying that much attention are judges...:D
 
On .032 skins and thicker you can do what is called adouble flush -partialy counter sink both sides of skin. squeeze rivet. Rivet will sit proud in hole both sides then file and scotch bright. hole will virtualy dissaper you will not be able to see rivet. Saves alot of work and money.
 
The proper name for this issue is BAR. It is very common. It is possible, but not probable, there are RV's out there without at least 1 BAR.

BAR - Builder Added Reinforcement
 
Been there done that. One of the best pieces of advice I received was from Paul Dye. He asked me, "When Boeing is making a 787 and an assembly line worker makes a mistake on a multi-million dollar wing, do you think they scrap it and start over?" This will be the first of many mistakes, the adventure is learning how to fix them and move on. Rarely will you need to scrap it and start over.
 
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