Hi all,
So I started my tail today and managed to screw up right away (brilliant work I know). I was cutting the tab off the VS-014-01 front spar doubler as per the instructions and managed to snag it on the bandsaw. This hacked a chunk out of one corner and put a quite a sharp little bend in that same corner.
A few heavy knocks with a hammer and tungsten bucking bar on an anvil flattened it out, and a bit of filing has got rid of most of the damage. However the hammering has potentially thinned the material a tad. It certainly looks like it, although I measured it with digital vernier calipers and can't see any difference so perhaps it's an optical illusion. In addition, the corner is hardly perfectly rounded now, as you will see in the photos here:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0yIwxrg_iT/?igshid=64xtft4esucx
Anyway, I'm wondering whether to press ahead with this part or not. On the one hand, the damage and repairs are limited to one corner and the majority of the stress should be taken by the other rivets. On the hand, it's a fairly critical part and I don't want my tail falling off.
I'm leaning towards persisting with this part, but I'm perhaps biased by the multi week lead time for getting parts over here. I would of course also need a new spar since they are match drilled. In addition, the sawing of the VS-702 spar went so well I hate to risk screwing it up on the second attempt!
I understand this is a bit of a noob question, but given the instructions make it sound like having even a scratch will result in failure I don't want to take any chances until I get a feel for what is acceptable. Unfortunately I don't have a photo of how it looked before the "repairs". It was pretty beat up, albeit in the affected corner only. It's definitely possible that hammering the metal has weakened it in some way.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Regards,
Greg
So I started my tail today and managed to screw up right away (brilliant work I know). I was cutting the tab off the VS-014-01 front spar doubler as per the instructions and managed to snag it on the bandsaw. This hacked a chunk out of one corner and put a quite a sharp little bend in that same corner.
A few heavy knocks with a hammer and tungsten bucking bar on an anvil flattened it out, and a bit of filing has got rid of most of the damage. However the hammering has potentially thinned the material a tad. It certainly looks like it, although I measured it with digital vernier calipers and can't see any difference so perhaps it's an optical illusion. In addition, the corner is hardly perfectly rounded now, as you will see in the photos here:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0yIwxrg_iT/?igshid=64xtft4esucx
Anyway, I'm wondering whether to press ahead with this part or not. On the one hand, the damage and repairs are limited to one corner and the majority of the stress should be taken by the other rivets. On the hand, it's a fairly critical part and I don't want my tail falling off.
I'm leaning towards persisting with this part, but I'm perhaps biased by the multi week lead time for getting parts over here. I would of course also need a new spar since they are match drilled. In addition, the sawing of the VS-702 spar went so well I hate to risk screwing it up on the second attempt!
I understand this is a bit of a noob question, but given the instructions make it sound like having even a scratch will result in failure I don't want to take any chances until I get a feel for what is acceptable. Unfortunately I don't have a photo of how it looked before the "repairs". It was pretty beat up, albeit in the affected corner only. It's definitely possible that hammering the metal has weakened it in some way.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Regards,
Greg