Flap seal

[Brantel]

Mounted my flaps last night while doing final things that need doing before I mount my wings to the fuse, I found that the curved part of the leading edge of my flaps do not contact the upper wing skin at the trailing edge.

My friends RV6 always rubs in this area and makes a good seal.

Do I need to bend the leading edge of the flap to pull it up till it contacts the wing skin or bend the wing skin down to meet the flap or do nothing?​

 

[Mel]

Some QB kits had a defective rear spar bend.

If the upper wing skin curls up (like a ski-jump) as it has on some QB kits, Van has a tool to correct the problem. If the upper wing skin is straight, bend the flap seal up.

 

[Lars]

If the upper wing skin curls up (like a ski-jump) as it has on some QB kits, Van has a tool to correct the problem. If the upper wing skin is straight, bend the flap seal up.

I'm interested in that tool myself. On my QB wings it doesn't look like the wing skin curls up, but even though the forward edge of the flap sticks straight out for at least a half inch before arcing downward, it still doesn't contact the wing skin. Almost as if the flap is mounted a little low.

 

[Brantel]

I am pretty sure that my wing skin is in trail and follows the airfoil. I will check again tonight with a ruler.

When I pull the flap all the way up till it stops, the top skin of the flap where it curls is contacting the flap brace closer to the center of the radius than what is shown on the plans. This makes me think that the flap skin was over curled at the factory leading to the gap.

 

[Chappyd]

I wouldn't think you would want it to rub. Mounted my wings a couple weeks ago and mine have a very small gap. Youo can tweak it any way you want if desired I guess.

 

[frankh]

Sure you do

Mine rubs (not too hard) and thats what that UHMW (or whatever it is) tape is for.

Frank

 

[DrHolling]

Any more details about the "..Van's tool to correct..." the ski jump effect? I probably didn't tweak the rear spar quite right and have about a 1/4 inch gap, very uniform but too large, and a slight ski-jump.
Pictures or a description would be very helpful. I had been thinking about how to fix this but haven't done anything yet.

Dave

 

[aerolite]

My rear spar was set right but I still have a slight upward bend on the trailing edge of the skin after riviting, the "ski jump"as you guys are calling it. I had another builder over today and he has the same thing on his 7. The gap is just under a 1/4 inch. I am planning to bend the skin down so it is in line with the rest of the top skin and this should leave almost no gap when the flap is on. Havn't decided excactly how I'm going to do this though.
We installed the wings today and that went really well. Had two other builders help and it was the first time for any of us installing wings on an RV. Had to pull the wings back out so I could file off about another 1/16" off the rear spar at the top. it was hitting a 470 rivet thats just above the fork. After that the sweep and triangulation was a snap. Will set the incidence tomorrow.

Steve

 

[rzbill]

Glad to see this thread

My SB wings have the ski jump too. Didn't notice until installing the flaps the first time after assembling them. Sounds like its a known issue and I am not a lone ranger (whew!) And even better, sounds like a fix is defined.

 

[Brantel]

I fixed mine by just light hand pressure all allong the rear of the top skin and I slightly bent the curved portion of the leading edge of the flap up and it looks great now. The skin and flap come together evenly and there is no gap thru full flap deflection.

This was all worry about nothing.

I took my time and used slight pressure making sure not to induce wavyness into the trailing edge of the top skin. Be carefull where the skins overlap as this could be an easy place to make a mess.

 

[yakdriver]

I clamped a couple of 1x2s to the trailing edge and adjusted it. Don