[Dennis Harm]

Due to not paying attention to directions I dimpled the top flanges of the inboard ribs that attach to the wing walk doublets. These rib holes are counter sunk on the top inboard wing skins. Should I flatten the dimples out or leave as is, thanks Dennis

 

[Carl Froehlich]

Due to not paying attention to directions I dimpled the top flanges of the inboard ribs that attach to the wing walk doublets. These rib holes are counter sunk on the top inboard wing skins. Should I flatten the dimples out or leave as is, thanks Dennis

Assuming you did not machine countersink the skins, I recommend you dimple the wing skin, the doubler and the wing ribs. Not only is this much easier to do, I believe it is a stronger joint. The rivets come out perfect on the top skin so there is no downside. You will need to use a longer rivet then Van?s calls for in the plans - but there are many places where this happens.

If you already countersunk the skins then yes, use your squeezer to flatten out the rib dimples.

Carl

 

[asw20c]

I agree with Carl. I did as the plans directed, i.e. making a shallow countersink so that the rivets stick up slightly on the wingskin on the inboard-most 4 ribs. If I were to do it over again I would have dimpled the skin and countersunk the doubler plates. Since you already dimpled the ribs I would simply dimple the doubler plates and skin as well. In the end I don't think you will be able to tell any difference from the appearance.

 

[czechsix]

I got my wings secondhand and the countersinking & riveting in the wingwalks area looked pretty bad. I ordered new upper inboard skins and wingwalks doublers and dimpled the ribs, doublers, and skins. Looks beautiful now (BTW this is also how I did my RV-8 wingwalks almost 20 years ago). I don't understand why Vans tells you to countersink this area...It's harder to get good results and as Carl mentioned results in a weaker joint compared to dimpling. I also highly recommend dimpling the aft baffle -to- tank skin rivets...I've previously posted about that area.