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Builder blues

S

Sid Lambert

Well Known Member
I have the builder blues this evening. Sometimes when I'm building I feel like I am making a web page, but I am on a computer not connected to the internet and I have never seen a web page before. Sorry for the computer analogy, I'm just a computer nerd I guess.

Anyway. What should I do when I screw up like the image below? Should I drilled the rivets out and file the flange off the rib? Should I just keep going because it's safe? Should I toss it all and start over? Should I stay awake at night wondering if it will fall out of the sky because of too many screw ups like this?

I'm just looking for a little advice and/or assurance so I can sleep at night.

Thanks for the support network.

DSC01085.JPG
 
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Can't quite tell what part that is, but you could easily stop drill the crack that seems to be formed on the edge, then just fill the outside at paint time. It won't cause major structural failure :). It really just depends on what "kind" of builder you are. I personally have learned to just build on.
 
build on

Its not easy to deal with those, and I am not sure what part your working
on, worse case move on either side and use the pop rivet
dimpler and put a rivet next to that error.. stop drill the crack
with a really small bit and move on.. I am not suggesting build a substandard
airplane, I am sure you will have other things come up along the way
send pictures to vans and see what they say.. if it will make you feel
better.. many times I have done so they said build on.. Its not the
space shuttle, its a truck.. the rivets look great..


Danny..
 
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Don't worry, build happy

agree w/reply from Scott...this whole building thing is a paradox- you need tunnelvision to complete the many tasks to form a plane, but then you need to step way back when the inevitable mistake happens...there is redundancy in the construction of kits to cover the learning curve- you will not fall out of the sky..we have some boo-boos in our projects that caused anguish at the moment, but I fly over the Los Angeles Basin several times a month, confident that I will not spin into the 11:00 news, and what's even better, no one on the ground can see what caused me to needlessly lose sleep.Keep on building!
 
Rivets

Sid,
Unless it's the photo view, your rivets appear to be too short and underdriven.....not a big enough shop head. If they are 3/32" rivets, the shop head should be close to 9/64" (1.5 X original diameter). FWIW. Van's plans often call for an incorrect rivet length.

Regards,
 
Sid,

No worries. If that is a tear in the flange you could stop-drill it and then fashion a doubler that overlays everything by about a half inch. Two more rivets and you're done.

If that's not a tear then I wouldn't even raise an eyebrow. Build on!

Best always,

dr
 
For the emotional side...

I pride myself on having the ability to fix anything except a broken heart. I've built cars, houses, air conditioning, computers, you name it, I've built it.

UNTIL THE RV9

It's not because the tasks are hard, it's because the medium & many of the tools are unfamiliar (to those of us who never built an airplane).

Step back, accept the fact that you're going to replace a part here or there, that it's going to take longer than expected (or what you told your wife), speak to others and don't internalize the failures.

Work with friends and advisors BEFORE beginning each task. :)

Most of all, give yourself a break.
 
I too have the builder blues . Yesterday I riveted the stiffeners to therudders skin. By the time my building assistant showed up the job was done -he checked my work and we replaced a few rivets. MagIc. Buoyed up by our display of metal working skills, we then moved to the rudder skelton. After due contemplation we riveted the rudder horn to the brace. Hmm. We'll be ordering new parts tomorrow. Maybe we coould salvage them, but I don't want to. But boy am I feeling crushed. So - sympathy -but bounce back and build on.

Chris
 
I had an interesting chat with a friend of mine the other day regarding building standards. I, like most people, like things to be perfect. It wasn't long into the project before I realized that was a rather lofty expectation. The reality of humanity has forced me to alter the expectations I have of myself to the following.
1: Strive for perfection, settle for excellence .
2: If excellence cannot be achieved, settle for pretty good.
3: If pretty good can't be achieved settle for "Can I stand the look of it
and is it safe.
It was a bit of a tough pill to swallow at first, but I have found the building process to be far more enjoyable since I've adopted this new policy.

Have fun and keep on pounding rivets.

RV 8 Fuselage
 
Sid,

I checked AC 43-13 on this and just got confused, but what would you expect from a gov't pub.? It didn't seem to quite cover your problem, but based on what it did cover, here is my opinion.

Stop drill it if you can without drilling into the skin, which I suspect is harder than some have implied. Then, as Doug Reeves suggested, rivet on a doubler. A better repair would be to put a flange on the doubler so that it goes up the face of the rib. Then extend the doubler to cover 2 more rivets, for a total of 5 along the flange of the rib, plus a couple on the face of the rib. Doubler material should be 2024T-3 and at least the same thickness as the rib.

I also thought your rivets were overdriven. Got a rivet gage? Avery has good ones, Clear Air has better ones, but you may not need the extra features Clear Air's gages have.
 
I would replace it. I'm a perfectionist though... I considered replacing parts that were much better than that, just because it bugged me. If it doesn't bug you, stop drill and doubler.
 
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