What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Trailing Edge Angle

P

PaulR

Well Known Member
I'm getting ready to rivet the trailing edge on my rudder and saw somewhere a mod to a pneumatic squeezer with a bolt to match the angle of the taper to allow a squeezer to work. I have some extra flush sets and thought I would grind one to the proper angle to squeeze them if I can find out the proper angle. It's pretty hard to measure off the AEX wedge. If someone knows the proper angle, I would appreciate it. Seems easier to squeeze than back rivet.

Thanks
Paul
91300
 
PaulR said:
I'm getting ready to rivet the trailing edge on my rudder and saw somewhere a mod to a pneumatic squeezer with a bolt to match the angle of the taper to allow a squeezer to work. I have some extra flush sets and thought I would grind one to the proper angle to squeeze them if I can find out the proper angle. It's pretty hard to measure off the AEX wedge. If someone knows the proper angle, I would appreciate it. Seems easier to squeeze than back rivet.

Thanks
Paul
91300
Click to expand...
I think the AEX wedge has some markings that identify it as an 11.5 that I believe to be the angle of the wedge.
It's closer than I can measure but it does look to be nearly 12 degrees (plus or minus) included angle.
Grinding a 6 degree half angle on each flush set would let the squeezer be perpendicular to the chord line when operating.
-mike
 
I'm exactly where you are right now, re: getting ready to rivet the rudder. I
thought about the squeezer option too, but realized that even with a 11.5-12
degree flush set on one side, it's still going to squeeze the rivet at a 0
degree angle. You risk mashing the rivet over to the side. With back
riveting, you can put the force of the set in line with the shank of the rivet.
the dimple helps stabilize that once the shank starts to deform, but it
seems to me that if you squeeze it off center, a bad shop head is going
to happen more often than you'd like. Of course, I could be all wrong.

I haven't tried squeezing it this way, I'm too paranoid
about having to drill out and possibly do harm to the thin wedge
and the skins. This is just my $0.02.
 
Bill Repucci apparently had a great deal of success using this method from his previous posts and website description (www.repucci.com, I think). [Bill, you around today?] You might want to see how he did it.

That said, I followed Van's instructions by backriveting and got super straight trailing edges. Long bucking bar when riveting is a big plus b/c the whole trailing edge can be clamped down while riveting. If you follow this path, or want other ideas, there have been numerous threads on this topic that you might search for. Alternatively, feel free to ask me any questions if you want suggestions.
 
I had great success with squeezing with a ground set too. I talked a lot about it on my build log when I was doing it. Generally what I did was go real slow with an alternating squeeze pattern in about three passes. The last of which still not fully set. I finished off with a back rivet plate and mushroom set in the rivet gun. I found that I could go real slow with the final set with the gun and have a real direct effect on tuning the edge for a near perfectly straight edge.

To tune the edge for straightness (provided you haven't already over driven it as many of us do, myself included in some instances), when you hit a rivet on the edge with a mushroom set, the edges to the left and right of the rivet will tend to curve up and away from the back plate... With this in mind, you can hit either side (you don't only have to hit the rivet tail) with the gun in broadly alternating patterns for the "perfect" edge. This is a fun art, but you gotta' know when to stop.
 
Concerns

Thanks for all the info guys. I guess I'm just a little scared of this part and I have much greater control of "partially" setting rivets with the squeezer that I do with the rivet gun. Maybe I"m just being anal and I know I need to go ahead and do it. I'm just trying really hard to do it in a manner that will generate the least mistakes. I'm going to get the AEX wedge prosealed in tonite and probably start on the rivets tomorrow nite so wish me luck!

Paul
91300
 
I did the part a few weeks ago and I think the Van's instructions are fine. But I will underscore what they say and what, it seems, experienced builders have consistently seemed to indicate is the #1 piece of advice in building: take your time.
 
Bob Collins said:
I did the part a few weeks ago and I think the Van's instructions are fine. But I will underscore what they say and what, it seems, experienced builders have consistently seemed to indicate is the #1 piece of advice in building: take your time.
Click to expand...

Ditto...I just did this a couple of weeks ago. Followed Van's instructions to the letter and it came out really straight. I will suggest you let the proseal cure more than a night. I left mine alone for a few days, and started on my elevators. You'll probably come to the same conclusion when you see how gummy the stuff still is after only one day.

The other thing I did was coat my angle with Boelube to keep the proseal from sticking. Also dipped the clecos in a little boelube. Everything released perfectly when I took it apart to rivet.
 
Coat the angle with Boelube. Brilliant. Wish I'd though of it. The only part of my trailing edge that came out a little hinky was the part that tried to separate when I tried to get the angle off by twisting it a bit. Duh.
 
PaulR said:
I'm getting ready to rivet the trailing edge on my rudder and saw somewhere a mod to a pneumatic squeezer with a bolt to match the angle of the taper to allow a squeezer to work. I have some extra flush sets and thought I would grind one to the proper angle to squeeze them if I can find out the proper angle. It's pretty hard to measure off the AEX wedge. If someone knows the proper angle, I would appreciate it. Seems easier to squeeze than back rivet.

Thanks
Paul
91300
Click to expand...

11 degrees is what I came up with. I was the one who posted the angled bolt config under building tips w/ the thread title "AEX Trailing edge rivets & pneumatic sqeezer."
Bill Repucci replied w/ the ground angle on spare rivet sets and his stuff is pictured here http://www.repucci.com/bill/ailerons.html

Ken
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top