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Crack

F

Flyin4Fun

Member
When I bent the F770 side skin, a crack developed at the sharp bend.

Can I just stop drill the crack and continue building or do I need to order a new skin?

library


Thanks in advance,
 
I had the same thing happen on one of my skins. I filed it out with a needle file. No signs of trouble after 4 years and 250 hours.
 
I would route it out and polish the edge. I believe what I see is the edge of the metal at the crack does not appear to be deburred, it may be but in this and similar locations you need to literally round the edges and polish the sheet edge to a smooth shine. All traces of the factory cut edge roughness should be removed. That is what I did and my bend was just as tight without a crack. I work aircraft structures, sheet metal at a major airline, have lots of experience doing this, proper deburring and polishing edges is required to get tight bends without cracking.
Greg
 
In lieu of a stop drill, drill a hole large enough to remove the entire crack. Position the bit in the least obtrusive location then dress/debur the edges.

I put painters tape on the exterior of these holes then applied a dollop of pro seal from the inside. Appears nice n smooth outside and seals the water/air leak.
 
I also joined this club a few months ago, I called Vans and they said as above, stop drill and move on, that was one of those bad building days, very frustrating but moved on.
 
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