I was drilling holes in the bottom rudder fairing attach strip (R-918) through the R-901 skins and R-904 bottom rib.
Since fairing attach strips did not have any holes, I used cleco clamps to clamp all three parts together (attach strip, flange of the rib and the skin). I did not notice that holes in the skin did not align perfectly with the bottom rib, and as a result, the holes in the skin became oblong.
The worst hole seems to be ~0.122 in diameter. Note that pretty much the whole row of the holes are elongated -- it is not just few of them.
What are my options?
1. I can upsize the holes to the next size, AN426AD4. The rivets heads will be larger, but who cares. The edge distance situation seems to be this: more than 2x on both the skins and the flange. However, on the attach strip it is going to be marginal, less than 2x diameter (0.250), but more than in the MIL-Spec (0.219).
2. I can replace both skins, hoping that everything will match. Not sure if I want to try reusing stiffeners or not. They are not expensive, but I can try to drill out all of the skin rivets without damaging them.
Other options? What would you do?
(I'll ask Van's, too, but interested in other opinions)
Since fairing attach strips did not have any holes, I used cleco clamps to clamp all three parts together (attach strip, flange of the rib and the skin). I did not notice that holes in the skin did not align perfectly with the bottom rib, and as a result, the holes in the skin became oblong.
The worst hole seems to be ~0.122 in diameter. Note that pretty much the whole row of the holes are elongated -- it is not just few of them.
What are my options?
1. I can upsize the holes to the next size, AN426AD4. The rivets heads will be larger, but who cares. The edge distance situation seems to be this: more than 2x on both the skins and the flange. However, on the attach strip it is going to be marginal, less than 2x diameter (0.250), but more than in the MIL-Spec (0.219).
2. I can replace both skins, hoping that everything will match. Not sure if I want to try reusing stiffeners or not. They are not expensive, but I can try to drill out all of the skin rivets without damaging them.
Other options? What would you do?
(I'll ask Van's, too, but interested in other opinions)
Last edited: