Material for fabricating the HS-909 shims...

[Michael Burbidge]

The instructions say to fabricate the two HS-909 shims out of AS3-040 material. The kit was supposed to have two pieces of AS3-040X1/2X4, but instead I got two pieces of AS3-063X1 1/2X4. Either the directions could be wrong or they could have shipped my the wrong parts. Has anyone recently received an RV-9 empennage kit? If so, what kind of material did the kit contain for fabricating the HS-909 shims. The material should be in Bag 1903.

 

[AF_Alan]

Trust the plans

I got my kit in Aug and the 040 stock was in the bag. If it isn't in your bag, check the misc stock labeled as "trim bundle". My has extra 040 stock.

Alan
Waiting on wing kit to arrive....

 

[Greg Arehart]

Same here, mine was correct. Generally, I have found that the appropriate material is in the kit, but may need trimming or something. As Alan mentioned, there is probably some .040 stock in the trim bundle as well. Failing that, send me a pm and I'll mail you a couple pieces of 040.

greg

 

[Michael Burbidge]

Vans sent me some...

Thanks guys. Vans sent me some. I saw a bunch of stuff in the trim bundle but didn't have anyway to measure the thickness.

 

[chipf]

040 is 2.56 64s of an inch. It's not very thick. Some builders claim that their kit had two small pieces identified as the shim raw materials, but I found no such thing in my kit (delivered November 07). There are two small pieces of stock separate from the trim bundle, but they are clearly not 040. I used calipers to identify the best candidate from the trim bundle. It's tricky because some of those sheets are only half to a quarter 64th difference in thickness. The calipers get used a lot, in fact I think it's worth while investing in a micrometer, mainly to answer this exact question. At any rate, I think I used the correct material for the shims.

I had a panic attack as I was about to install the rear spar in my nearly completed HS. Ahhh. What if I used the wrong shim material!!!! But it fit just right, and that episode is behind me.

 

[craigvince]

Thanks guys. Vans sent me some. I saw a bunch of stuff in the trim bundle but didn't have anyway to measure the thickness.

Go to Harbor Freight or Sears and get a cheap digital caliper. You'll use it hundreds of times during the build process.

Here's the one I got:

 

[airguy]

I used some of the misc sheet that was supplied in the "trim bundle" after pulling out my old-school mechanical caliper (non-digital - but at least the batteries never go dead!) to verify thickness. I read ahead in the building instructions and did not see any uses further on requiring a large chunk of this material, and assumed that this was the reason Van included it in the kit.

Ditto on the caliper need - get one! Digital or not, you'll be using it frequently.