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Dimple Error

L

llarkin

Member
Well it took a while, but I finally did it. While dimpling the right fuel tank skin tonight, I punched an undrilled hole next to the one I was supposed to punch. The mistake hole is only about 1/16 of an inch from the original and is not full size. The remaing metal between the two is very thin and recessed. The mistake hole was not fully dimpled. My question is...Is my skin toast? The rib flange still covers up both holes and since it would have a layer of Pro-Seal on it would it still be a concern? Do I have to worry about cracks or leaks? Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Larry
 
Proseal oughtta fill it and you should have no problem whatsoever. Carry on...
 
I did the same thing last week on a stiffener hole.
What I did (mine was overlapping 50% with the original hole) was drill out to 1/8" and put a AD4 rivet in there - if you are looking really closely at the bottom of the tank you might notice one slightly larger rivet in one of the stiffener rows, but once painted I'm sure this will not be noticeable.

Thomas
 
Larry,
Look closely at the hole created with the dimple. I suspect that upon close examination, (use a jeweler's loop or magnifying glass) you will see tiny stress cracks radiating out from the hole. If these exist, the skin is toast, as they will continue to grow over time.
Ask yourself if it is worth all the extra work, later to try to replace that skin if it leaks. To replace it now is easy. Later will be a lot of work and hassle.
The choice is yours.
Charlie Kuss
 
Pictures of the #*@#* dimple

Here are a couple of pictures I was able to get this morning of the bad dimple.

exteriorrightfueltankskinzf0.jpg


interiorrightfueltankskintr5.jpg


Thanks for the replies. I don't know if these pictures will change any opinions or not.

Larry
 
Don't worry, be happy....

Clean up the hole and put whatever size rivet that will hold the skin while the proseal hardens. Once the proseal hardens, the parts are more secure that another place on your plane. I don't even think that a stress crack could travel with proseal under it, but go ahead and clean to hole up then just fill it with proseal.

Kent
 
Welcome to the Dimple Die slipped club ! :D

I'm sure everyone here is either a member, or about to be one...
 
Rather than try to figure out which of the above conflicting advice above is best, sleep better and call Van's. I always feel better if I run any potential structural issues by them. Usually they tell me not to worry or give me an easy way to fix it. Good luck.
 
On my QB tanks, as in all the RV tanks, there are tooling holes on the end ribs. On my slow build, I put a #5 rivet in them, but on the QB, the factory just put proseal on it from the inside. I did put some proseal on the outside as well, but so far it hasn't leaked and I suspect it never will.
So, put proseal on it and you should be good to go. You can fill the hole from the top with epoxy and flox or JB Weld, etc. after the fact and it shouldn't be noticeable.
 
I would get a new skin to do it right! It's going to crack Or hack it up and put some putty in it and hope for the best.
 
I have done this a time or two on the tail and all I did was drill two new holes above and below the problem area. These new holes would be equal distance from the problem hole and the factory holes above and below. Then seal up the problem hole and rivet away (except the problem one of course).

I'm thinking with paint it won't be very noticeable and if it is oh well. I just want to fly, not win shows.

Out of curiosity... is this an acceptable method? Seemed logical to me but now I'm wondering...
 
I did the exact same thing just now, only it is in the HS skin and it is dimpled a little more but is exactly the same distance from the undimpled hole as in larry's situation. I am thinking I will just drill out the dimple, fill both holes with epoxy keeping it flush, and then adding rivets on both sides like an early post stated. Any other ideas? I will call vans tommorow.
 
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