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Flange repair advice for new builder

rvanstory

Well Known Member
I'm a newbie building an RV10. Today I royally messed up a hole on rear spar of elevator while squeezing a dimple in the flange. It's not one that the trim tab hinge attaches to, it will be under aft end of elevator where the foam wedges are used for ribs. I wanted to post some pics of my repair just to get an experience builders opinion. I think it will be fine, but don't know what I don't know, so thought it best to ask. Please look at photos and tell me if it will be ok, or if I need to get new spar and try again.

1. Here's the messed up dimple.
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2. I then reamed out the dimple so the cracked portion was removed, creating a much oversized hole. Then cut a doubler and match drilled it.
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3. Then dimpled the doubler. Made doubler to cover 4 holes (messed up one plus 3 more) to make match drilling possible. Here it is clecoed in place.
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The doubler does stick out past flange slightly (about 1/16"), but nothing attaches here that it could interfere with.
 
You've made a good start - specifically by cleaning up the bad hole. Typically a repair like that is completed by drilling holes adjacent to the "Bad" hole and installing a new rivet on each side of the hole while maintaining appropriate edge distances.
 
A future option, should that issue occur somewhere else, is to see if an NAS1097 "oops" rivet will fit. The AD4 has a -4 body and a -3 head, so it possible could.

Dave
 
A future option, should that issue occur somewhere else, is to see if an NAS1097 "oops" rivet will fit. The AD4 has a -4 body and a -3 head, so it possible could.

Dave

Thanks for the advice. I only wish the oops rivet option would have worked. In this case, the hole was way to damaged for an oops rivet to work. When I mess up, it's not 1/2-way. :)
 
You've made a good start - specifically by cleaning up the bad hole. Typically a repair like that is completed by drilling holes adjacent to the "Bad" hole and installing a new rivet on each side of the hole while maintaining appropriate edge distances.

Thanks Kyle. Do I still need to do that? Or, since I included multiple holes, will this work ok?
 
Your doing fine. A very good reference would be AC 43.13-1B which covers many typical repairs. Kyle's method is very commonly used and as the "manufacturer", you can do this. I am not sure it is called out in the AC as it is intended for field repairs, not for manufacturers. I feel Kyle's method is probably the best and most appropriate.
However, your method of reinforcement is actually called out in AC 43.13-1B ".... Add reinforcement to carry the stresses across the damaged portion....." This section is really intended for repair of cracks, but it works for your repair as well. Probably overkill.
So, either method would be acceptable. There is a long explanation of the requirements for what you are doing, splices, which call out the number of rivets per inch of width, blah, blah, blah.... however, you are only splicing through a portion of the spar, the flange, not splicing the spar itself.
As a side note, repair of spars is not allowed in AC 43, as only the "manufacturer" is allowed to tell you how to repair it. In our world, one could assume that means the aircraft designer, since each builder is the manufacturer. In other words, you can do whatever you want, but for anything short of a simple repair like this, you would want Van's involvement for a spar repair.
I hope that didn't muddy the waters.....
 
cosmetic or repair

The feedback on using AC43 are good ones to consider. I am not an A&P, but been around awhile working under them, and having a damaged hole is not usually considered a repair or a structural defect (i.e. crack, tear, etc). The doubler is overkill since you did not really affect the structural integrity of the spar, at least to any discernable amount. My fix would have been fill the hole with a rivet (after your nice clean up), the double-dimple will give the famous acorn-looking finish on the inside (who cares) and then add rivet on each side of the rivet in question, you have lots of room. Even if you stick with the doubler, I would still add rivets on each side. If you look over the AC43, they do not spare on the rivets when using a doubler. Keep up the good work!!
Cheers, Mike
 
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