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Defective left spar page 15-5 step 2

V

vernhendershott

Well Known Member
I have had to send the following to Van's, my left spar has two rib clips that are teh wrong size for their location. This should be a real mess to get fixed.

"Today turned out to be not much fun, as we were following the instructions on page 15-5 step 2 we found that the 6th and 7th ribs in from the tip would line up with the spar but the holes in the rib clip were about 0.2500 to close to the spar so that the ribs could not be riveted to the clip. In these two location the holes in the rib clip need to be about 0.8000 from the face of the spar (at the top and bottom of the spar) and the ones attached to this spar are at 0.5500 from the face of the spar. This would be the correct rib clip for the next two inboard ribs, so I assume that when the spar was assembled the person selected the wrong rib clips and the quality system failed to see the problem. The serial number for the spar is PP8T8-12164 L."

Best regards,
Vern
 
Thanks for the refrence to the prior problem it sounds like the same "Quality Control Failure" It is interesting to note that the two rib clips that are wrong apear to have been changed once as the rivets that attach them to the spar are diffrent in color from all of the other similar rib clips. Sure do not need the problem or the delay it causes, I would like to get the wings done so that I can get the wings into the rack and get the floor space to start on the forward fuslage.

Perhaps Van's will respond soon.

Best regards,
Vern
 
Speaking of left spars, Has anyone found any unset rivets in their spar assemblies? My left spar has one unset 3/16" rivet along the bottom row. It is the eighth one from the inboard end. I called Ken Scott at Van's and after viewing the photos advised me to use a 3X rivet gun to back rivet it. The rivet appears to be too short although this is a countersunk rivet. What do you think?
 
Van's plan

I received a phone call explaining what they thought and agreed that it would solve the problem. It may be hard to get a drill to the location to match drill the "rib clip" holes. They also sent the following email:

Vern, I had our chief engineer, Ken Kreuger, take a look at your rib attach problem. A simple, approved fix for this will be to utilize a W-1210B rib doubler similar to what is shown in Section 15, drawing 15-03. Use the existing holes in the spar attach angles ('clip') to match drill the rib/doubler assembly. See figure 13-02 for hole pattern to attach the doubler to the rib. The rib will essentially be 'sandwiched' between the spar attach angle and the doubler and will end up being more than adequate from a structural standpoint. We are shipping you the doublers and the necessary rivets today, Feb 17, 2009. Put a copy of this email in your builder's log for 'proof of approval'.

Scott Risan
Technical Support
Van's Aircraft, Inc.


I hope the FAA agrees that the email is a valid deviation approval.

Best regards,
Vern
 
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