Wanted to get the forum's opinion on the following...I've sent this to Vans technical support for their opinion as well, but in the meantime thought I would ask here also.
I recently completed riveting the Rudder Spar Reinforcement Plates onto the rudder spar for my RV-14A. I riveted them to the spar with the shop head on the spar side of the spar, when in retrospect I probably should have riveted them with the shop head on the plate side of the spar since that is the thicker material. The plans didn?t specify, so I didn?t think it would matter one way or the other.
Because the spar is thinner, there was some slight deformations/indentations made in the spar where the rivet shop heads were formed with the squeezer. Also, there is a slight gap between the reinforcement plates and the spar itself in a couple of areas. The rivets themselves look like their set fine.
My question is?.is this acceptable? If not, is it repairable? Or am I looking at buying a new rudder spar? Pictures are below.
I recently completed riveting the Rudder Spar Reinforcement Plates onto the rudder spar for my RV-14A. I riveted them to the spar with the shop head on the spar side of the spar, when in retrospect I probably should have riveted them with the shop head on the plate side of the spar since that is the thicker material. The plans didn?t specify, so I didn?t think it would matter one way or the other.
Because the spar is thinner, there was some slight deformations/indentations made in the spar where the rivet shop heads were formed with the squeezer. Also, there is a slight gap between the reinforcement plates and the spar itself in a couple of areas. The rivets themselves look like their set fine.
My question is?.is this acceptable? If not, is it repairable? Or am I looking at buying a new rudder spar? Pictures are below.
![IMG_5690-M.jpg](/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fphotos.smugmug.com%2FVans-Airforce-Forum%2Fi-WMDNnTs%2F0%2F30d3c4d9%2FM%2FIMG_5690-M.jpg&hash=f37dc249748232131a333431afae40d2)
![IMG_5685-M.jpg](/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fphotos.smugmug.com%2FVans-Airforce-Forum%2Fi-kTnpp5b%2F0%2Fbff6c5b6%2FM%2FIMG_5685-M.jpg&hash=da5fd35912492967b97efae1a2dc9877)
![IMG_5686-M.jpg](/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fphotos.smugmug.com%2FVans-Airforce-Forum%2Fi-3hhHKKT%2F0%2F78dda5c9%2FM%2FIMG_5686-M.jpg&hash=5e50266ba48c63fdd09ac7a25c4be354)
![IMG_5687-M.jpg](/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fphotos.smugmug.com%2FVans-Airforce-Forum%2Fi-LvGbGp9%2F0%2F9f3edeec%2FM%2FIMG_5687-M.jpg&hash=9b3d3f40a45c26d60078857dbafa1ec0)
![IMG_5690-M.jpg](/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fphotos.smugmug.com%2FVans-Airforce-Forum%2Fi-WMDNnTs%2F0%2F30d3c4d9%2FM%2FIMG_5690-M.jpg&hash=f37dc249748232131a333431afae40d2)
![IMG_5691-M.jpg](/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fphotos.smugmug.com%2FVans-Airforce-Forum%2Fi-gXpD4R5%2F0%2F6de41194%2FM%2FIMG_5691-M.jpg&hash=56d6a82d98c75d35d4d53325df813e21)