Elevator rear spar holes enlarged, rv-10

[BryanG]

Hello,

I made a mistake on the elevator and riveted my right rear spar to the left skin and left to the right. Bottom line I had to drill out all the rivets connecting the rear spar to the ribs. In doing so 3 holes on each spar got slightly enlarged/elongated. See picture attached.

Any advice or thoughts?

Thanks,
Bryan

 

[Jonnyb]

You need to speak to Vans. You could go up a size to a -5, but they are difficult to set because of their size. I don’t know if a nut and bolt would be feasible.
My gut would be saying replace the parts and make a job of it.

 

[Desert Rat]

There is a mil-spec for rivets, hole sizes, edge distance, etc.

http://everyspec.com/MIL-SPECS/MIL-SPECS-MIL-R/MIL-R-47196A_2735/

In the certified world this mil-spec or AC43.13 is your fallback in cases where the manufacturer doesn't give guidance. This is an important bit, because manufacturer's engineering takes precedence over a generic mil-spec. If it says something different it's because they've got the design data to back it up.

I would call Vans and see if they have different guidance, otherwise your two simplest choices are to upsize those to #5 (because the holes are literally out of spec for a #4). or replace the part.

And before somebody brings it up, yes, I know that since it's experimental you could go off the reservation and attempt any number of heroic fixes, but at this point, its not super impactful to replace that one unassembled part.

 

[Carl Froehlich]

What I learned on my first build that has worked for me:
“If you worry that every time you look at the (whatever it is) you wonder if it will fail, then just get a replacement part now while it is easy”.

Replacement parts are cheap. Defer that part of the build keeping a list of what you need, then order stuff in batches to cut down on shipping.

Carl

 

[BryanG]

Thanks everyone, I went ahead and re-ordered the parts.

Bryan