VS -> Rudder Bonding Strap

Hi everyone,

I am in the home stretch of finishing up my vertical stabilizer. Trying to think of anything else I want to do before closing it up, and thought it might be a good idea to add an attachment for an electrical bonding strap for the rudder.

Surfing around the web I see that some folks have drilled their rear spar (VS-1003) and attached either a nut plate or a stud to attach the strap.

Anyone have any thoughts either way on this? Any structural risk of drilling three holes in the spar for a nut plate vs. a single hole for a stud? Looks like folks are either putting it right above the center hinge bracket, or up at the top hinge bracket through the VS-1017 doubler. Any pros or cons to either location? Any structural/stress concerns with drilling holes that close to the hinge brackets? Any other "good" places to put it that would be better?

Thanks in advance for any opinions/advice!

-Mike

Another option is to not bother.

Auburntsts said:

Another option is to not bother.

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Yes, of course that is always an option as well. However, I would like to understand the pros/cons of all the options before making that decision.

I'm new to this, but I suspect there will be a lot of little decisions such as this that will present themselves throughout the build and I hope to start gaining experience on the best way to evaluate them as they come up.

I'm trying to approach this along the same lines as the aeronautical decision making I learned from my first CFI way back when. The "safest" bet is always to stay on the ground and not fly....but assuming that I am going to fly, what are all of the data points that I need to consider and how do I best evaluate them in order to do it in the safest way possible. After considering all of the available info, "no-go" may indeed be the right answer, but at least I would have considered all of the possibilities.

Thanks for your help!

Sorry, wasn't trying to to be flippant. Nothing wrong with a strap. but what are you trying to accomplish? There can some bonding already through the rod end bearing and the hinges if you remove some powder coat to ensure good metal to metal contact. Are you adding static wicks? IMO that would be the only real benefit to adding a bonding strap and adding wicks needs to be thought out as there's some science behind their location, length, and number.

FWIW, I've been flying IFR for the past 4 years in all types of precip and have never have any issues and I don't have either straps or wicks. However one data point isn't enough to infer a conclusion one way or the other, so YMMV.....

Auburntsts said:

Are you adding static wicks? IMO that would be the only real benefit to adding a bonding strap and adding wicks needs to be thought out as there's some science behind their location, length, and number.

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Yes, that's the idea, but haven't gotten far enough to plan that all out yet. Any references you may know of where I can read up on the science would be greatly appreciated! In general, assuming they would need to go on virtually all of the trailing edges.

Auburntsts said:

FWIW, I've been flying IFR for the past 4 years in all types of precip and have never have any issues and I don't have either straps or wicks. However one data point isn't enough to infer a conclusion one way or the other, so YMMV.....

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Thanks, this is good to hear. I've seen a few people around making the same observations. This plane is intended to be an IFR machine, and I just didn't want to find myself in a situation down the road where I'm listening to static through my $100K panel because I didn't install a $10 strap early in the build while it was still easy to do so . But I also need to weigh that against the possibility of the rudder falling off or the vertical stabilizer disintegrating in flight or something because I screwed up the install of that $10 strap.....you know what I mean?