Holes in spar not lining up - Van's fault?

[DaX]

I am awaiting response from Van's on this issue, but thought I'd see if anyone else has experienced the same thing.

While back drilling my tie down brackets onto my wing spars, I noticed some misaligned holes between the spar web and the doubler plate on both spars - these are the holes where the inboard ribs (W-711) and the leading edge ribs (W-709) attach to the spar. This isn't my fault - the spars come pre-assembled.

Anyone have experience with this?

 

[Paul Tuttle]

There were some holes drilled in the wrong spot in my spar center section.
they were out by 1/8th or so. I emailed Vans with some photos. They confessed that they to are human, and that day the drill gods must not have been smiling upon them. They gave me a solution. I had to make a new bracket to line things up, and carried on.

They seem pretty good at coming up with fixes for this sort of thing, so I wouldn't worry too much until you see what they have to say.

 

[nippaero]

Matt,
I'd like to know what Van's has to say about those holes not lining up. I forgot to drill the lightening holes in my tie down spacers last night. You are making good progress!

 

[DaX]

Matt,
I'd like to know what Van's has to say about those holes not lining up. I forgot to drill the lightening holes in my tie down spacers last night. You are making good progress!

I was wondering if you were waiting to do that until last or not.

Here is Van's response, courtesy of Joe Blank:

Hi Matt,

We have seen this now and again and it is caused by a slight misalignment
of the spar and the waffle plate doubler during its construction. Not a huge
issue though as far as final assembly and flight readiness.

The fix is to simply drill out and the debur holes using the thicker waffle plate
as a guide and taking the material out of the thinner spar web material. This
should straighten up the holes and allow the tie down brackets to be installed
without further problems.

Thanks

Joe Blank

So I guess I'll use the doubler as a guide and enlarge the holes in the spar web.

 

[Sid Lambert]

I too had holes in the middle section that did not align. I did not call Van's as I knew their answer.

I simply drilled the holes out to -5 rivet size and used -5 rivets.