Well, despite my best efforts, and spending an hour looking at the plans before doing anything, I managed to make a mistake on my longeron. Fortunately I was doing one at a time so only screwed up the right one (so far).
In essence, the F721 rear canopy deck is supposed to be place at 28.25" back, and drilled to the longeron from there. What I did was place the rear canopy deck back where the curve starts, about 10" aft, and start drilling. Fortunately, I did not drill all the holes yet. I re-bent the longeron properly, as I had originally done it using the mis-placed 721 as a guide.
Now, I can move the 721 deck to its proper position, and re-drill, and it looks like there may not even be any edge distance issues with the current holes, but I also have some holes that extend back beyond where the deck ends.
I will contact Vans on this on Monday, but am thinking maybe somebody else out there made this mistake too and has some input?? I have several possible ideas:
-If I don't feel comfortable with repair, I can probably find a local source and buy a new one
-Leave the holes and drill new ones
-Countersink the wrong holes, and fill with a rivet, perhaps to a doubler underneath
My main concern is if a few holes end up too close to the old holes, as well as if the holes I drilled aft of the canopy deck will cause me problems later. A couple pictures, with the blue dots showing where the new holes should be. Thanks in advance for any ideas!
In essence, the F721 rear canopy deck is supposed to be place at 28.25" back, and drilled to the longeron from there. What I did was place the rear canopy deck back where the curve starts, about 10" aft, and start drilling. Fortunately, I did not drill all the holes yet. I re-bent the longeron properly, as I had originally done it using the mis-placed 721 as a guide.
Now, I can move the 721 deck to its proper position, and re-drill, and it looks like there may not even be any edge distance issues with the current holes, but I also have some holes that extend back beyond where the deck ends.
I will contact Vans on this on Monday, but am thinking maybe somebody else out there made this mistake too and has some input?? I have several possible ideas:
-If I don't feel comfortable with repair, I can probably find a local source and buy a new one
-Leave the holes and drill new ones
-Countersink the wrong holes, and fill with a rivet, perhaps to a doubler underneath
My main concern is if a few holes end up too close to the old holes, as well as if the holes I drilled aft of the canopy deck will cause me problems later. A couple pictures, with the blue dots showing where the new holes should be. Thanks in advance for any ideas!
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