danielhv

danielhv

Well Known Member
I was cutting away the hatched area of R-710 using my straight snips and made the mistake of closing them all the way and cutting all the way to the tip, which distorted and somewhat cracked the wrong side of the line I was cutting on. :( So I come here for the official answer... will this be ok? Not sure if its big enough to jeopardize strength but here are some pics:

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RE:Those nasty snips

Dan

As you know this is a pretty important part. It will be totally surrounded by rudder skins which will give it alot of integrity. One could clean up the affected area by filing out the effected area ...... but .....peace of mind may warrant a call to Van's. I must admit that my check book is much lighter for my peace of mind.

Frank @ 1L8 ....RV7A... last 992 details of which 900 are fiberglass / paint
 
The damage seems very repairable to me. That said, a call to Van's is always prudent. If it were MY airplane and did
not feel comfortable I would probably e-mail this (potential) repair solution to Van's technical support for consideration.

 
get a bandsaw

If you don't have a bandsaw - get one and you'll avoid this problem. (I feel your pain). You can pick one up at Lowes or Home Depot for about a hundred bucks. Metal cutting blade is about $10 and always buy 2 at a time (you'll need the second one on Thursday night at 10:18 when you can't sleep).

Avoid cutting any metal that isn't aluminum and you'll get a lot of time out of your blade and your cut edges are a bit smoother from a sharp blade.
You'll need it later on heavier pieces anyway.

Got some good news and bad news - The bad news - Things like this are going to pop up from time to time. Good news - you can either make one or order one from Van's.

Good Luck.
 
Webb said:
If you don't have a bandsaw - get one and you'll avoid this problem. (I feel your pain). You can pick one up at Lowes or Home Depot for about a hundred bucks. Metal cutting blade is about $10 and always buy 2 at a time (you'll need the second one on Thursday night at 10:18 when you can't sleep).

Avoid cutting any metal that isn't aluminum and you'll get a lot of time out of your blade and your cut edges are a bit smoother from a sharp blade.
You'll need it later on heavier pieces anyway.

Got some good news and bad news - The bad news - Things like this are going to pop up from time to time. Good news - you can either make one or order one from Van's.

Good Luck.
Click to expand...

Yea, Ive got one... Couldnt use it on this piece because of the large folds... :(
 
Here is my repair work guys, thanks for the help... if you see anything I missed let me know, this will be riveted in place in the next few days! :eek:


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Repair looks good

The repair looks great.

Question - Why didn't you just tile the table or hold the the piece at an angle to cut it on the bandsaw? Only asking because I would hesitate to use snips on a piece that thick.
 
Webb said:
The repair looks great.

Question - Why didn't you just tile the table or hold the the piece at an angle to cut it on the bandsaw? Only asking because I would hesitate to use snips on a piece that thick.
Click to expand...

I couldn't get the piece in the band saw to cut one side without the blade hitting the other side... Its kinda U shaped, and I could not find a way to cut what I needed with the band saw.
 
Good luck

I noticed that you trimmed the part using the prepunched holes as a guide. (or so it appears from the photos). Be careful when match drilling the brace to the rudder... at least when I built mine, the guide holes were in the wrong place and I found I had trimmed too much and had to buy a new part. I think a lot of people end up doing the exact same thing:

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=13706

But maybe they have changed the design since then. Anyway, happy building...

mcb
 
Angle cut

danielhv said:
I couldn't get the piece in the band saw to cut one side without the blade hitting the other side... Its kinda U shaped, and I could not find a way to cut what I needed with the band saw.
Click to expand...

I still think you could have "free handed" it. You tilt the piece so that bend is on the table and the top section is swung out and the blade cuts the piece on an angle. The cut is like this -------\------- Leave it a tad long and clean up with scotchbrite wheel so it's back to an equivalent of a 90 degree cut as if you did this ----l---- That allows you to swing that top flang away from the blade the top piece for clearance. The area of the cut is not on the table. The only thing in contact with the table is the bend.

Another way is to cut both sides on the bandsaw. Lift the guide so the piece will clear with a 1/4" to spare. Slowly cut both sides. You may have to tilt the piece slightly but also works.

Anyway - move on my good man...I would deem the repair a success and little ugly known only to builder and those he chooses to bare his soul to.
 
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