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Dimple Screw up

Hi all, I started building my -8 Empennage last month. I'm just about ready to start riveting the skins but somehow while i was dimpling the skins I managed to get a double hole...Do I need to purchase a new skin and replace the whole thing? or is there a fix for this?
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Unfortunately, I don't know of a good fix for your extra hole. I think anything you try will not come out looking very good. You might try sending the picture via email to [email protected] (include your builder number), and then calling them during their tech support hours.

I had the same thing happen to me when I was using my fancy new pneumatic squeezer to dimple a rib. I ended up punching a new hole in the flange and the result ended up looking almost exactly like your image. I ordered a new rib and hung the old one on my "wall of shame" where I'm collecting all my ... let's call them "learning opportunities". For me, the problem was trying to tease the ram up to get clearance in the tight space before lining the male dimple die up with the intended hole in the rib flange. I teased too far and the ram fired all the way punching a nice new hole where one should not have been. Lesson learned - use a different tool to dimple in tight places.
 
Also - what tool are you using to dimple with? The dimple at the top of your photo has a strange depression around the cone that I've never seen before. Are your dimple dies not flat at the edge? If they are, are you squeezing too hard?
 
Me too

Had this happen to me, but mine wound up with a crack. So I flatten dimple and filed hole so there was no crack and then put two new dimples/rivets on each side. I figure the painter will remove all trace of my screwup.
 
Dimple failure

Just drill out put in ?oops? rivet and keep going. May need a little filler to make paint cover it adequately.
 
Dimple fix

Ask Vans to be sure but there's several fixes.
Leave it as is and fill it before paint.
Add a rivet equal distant either side.
 
Local A&P said your paint shop can fill w METAL SET A4 ALUMINUM FILLED EPOXY ADHESIVE and you will never know. Take a space halfway between original holes and put two new rivets in.

METAL SET A4 ALUMINUM FILLED EPOXY ADHESIVE sold at aircraft spruce.
 
I put an extra hole in mine a little further off center from yours. Called Van?s. Solution was to put in too more, on on each side. You?ll end up with two extra rivets and an oops rivet or a -4. You?ll be the only one who notices.
 
Local A&P said your paint shop can fill w METAL SET A4 ALUMINUM FILLED EPOXY ADHESIVE and you will never know. Take a space halfway between original holes and put two new rivets in.

METAL SET A4 ALUMINUM FILLED EPOXY ADHESIVE sold at aircraft spruce.

This stuff is good if you are planning to polish but structural epoxy is a little better if you are planning to paint. Flatten the dimple, drill if cracks develop (don't flatten or drill the underlying structure), and install with a dab of epoxy between the structure and the skin. Remove excess and rivet the holes closest to the fix before it sets. Extra rivets as mentioned in other posts are a good idea. If surface is not completely filled, add a little extra epoxy. Finish riveting. When the epoxy is set, carefully file the fill down to the surface - this step can wait until you are ready to prime for painting so any scratches can be filled.

If you are trying to preserve your dimple pattern in a painted surface, take a piece of metal tubing with an inner diameter close to the diameter of the rivet and sharpen the circumference at one end (bevel toward the inside). While the epoxy is not wholly cured, press the tubing into it, leaving an impression that will mimic a rivet.

A similar technique can be used for countersinks that are too deep, simply fill them, flush the top and bottom surfaces of the hole, re-drill, and re-countersink. A rivet or dimpled piece will hold the fill in place and the fill will take the compression loads of setting the rivet without deforming.

Caveat: Both of these techniques are suitable for fixing a single, isolated oops. But multiple errors should be cause for replacement.
 
I see this issue brought up here a lot. Most of the time the damage is done with a pneumatic squeezer. It is really easy to miss hit.
C-frame or hand squeezers give you better feel and rarely will this happen, but it still can, it is just harder to do by accident.
 
this was with the DRDT-2, still not sure how i managed to misalign it but i ultimately just ordered a new skin and decided to replace the whole piece. I'll be sure to move slower this time around. Thanks for all of the replies though!
 
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