aarvig

aarvig

Well Known Member
Allright, its minimal but it is definitely a palpable scratch that goes all the way to the edge of the upper spar cap. This is a brand new spar that came out of the box this way. There are several other marks like this only on this spar. It appears as if it was set on something and then dragged off it. The scratch is not that deep, but I can catch it with my fingernail. I am obviously concerned because this is the most stressed component of the aircraft. Can this be blended out and primed or should I take another approach?

DSC_0174.jpg


DSC_0173.jpg
 
Blend minimum area with 400. Alodine. Honestly, you'll probably make much bigger scratches just installing your wings.
 
Polish the scratches out

I agree with the previous comments, polish the scratches out and protect with alodine or primer. The MOST highly stressed parts of the spar are the outermost extremities. In normal flight, the bottom spar caps are in tension and the upper ones in compression. The bottom of the lower spar cap has a maximum tensile stress which decreases to zero at the center of the web, then changes sign to become a maximum compressive stress at the top of the upper spar cap. So your scratches are on the inside of the cap where the stresses are lower than the top and bottom extremities. This is less worrisome than the extremities, but still should be polished out.
 
Contact van, send picture, get them to tell you what to do. if you feel is not enough, demand new.....possible or dreaming?
 
mv031161 said:
Contact van, send picture, get them to tell you what to do. if you feel is not enough, demand new.....possible or dreaming?
Click to expand...

Vans will tell you to build on, without a doubt! That's tiny! And yes, as someone previously posted, you'll probably scratch them worse than that during install :eek:
 
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