Rudder Stiffener "Woops"

When I was dimpling the stiffners tonight I got a little trigger happy and put an extra hole in the longest/lowest stiffner on the right side of the skin. The dimple is pressed the same way as the others so it will not interfere with the skin. Does this need to be replaced or should it be ok??

Woops

I'd say drill it out large enough to get rid of the small tears where the dimple die went through the metal. Call it a "lightening hole" and build on!

Haha sounds good to me, maybe I should correct my post and say it was an intentional Lightening hole!!

I am pretty sure one of my stiffeners came from Van's like that too.

I have one of those too. Clean up the ragged edges and move on.
Mine was a figure 8 so i had to clean up the edges and put a doubler over that hole that tied into the two adjacent holes so I would feel good about it.

woops?

not acceptable call Vans immediately. Only two fixes exist either buy new rudder or find a rivet with double head to cover the mistake Boeing would not accept stiffener like that

Ditto from me

mannanj said:

I'd say drill it out large enough to get rid of the small tears where the dimple die went through the metal. Call it a "lightening hole" and build on!

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I concur with what he said.

At least you did it on an internal part, not the VS skin like when I did the same thing.

7 years flying just fine so far....don't sweat it (it happens).

Don't forget the RTV in the rudder

While you are at this point on the rudder, don't forget to put RTV at the trailing edges of the rudder stiffeners, or a big glob of pro-seal as you close up the trailing edge. The directions don't tell you to do this at this point and only refer to it on the elevators. Some people have had cracks in the skin around the stiffeners.

Just additional info that I didn't have when I was closing up my rudder.

Good luck..

Well I guess I fixed my own problem you could say, too bad it was not in a good way. I went out this morning to back rivet the stiffners on and on I guess I had the air pressure up WAY to high and I ended up leaving creases at just about every hole. Now I am positive that it would have been just fine and every bit as strong as the next however it just looked terrible! I ended up spending the $40.00 for a new skin and stiffners and will remake that entire skin with stiffners. Look on the bright side I now have a rudder skin to hang on the wall!!

PS. I am positive it was the pressure because after I lowered it about 10-15 PSI the other side came out perfect.
-david

Flyguytki said:

PS. I am positive it was the pressure because after I lowered it about 10-15 PSI the other side came out perfect.
-david

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It's good practice to drive a couple of "practice" rivets on scrap every time you set up. Start with pressure too low and build up before you work on real parts.

My how things have changed

You know, back in The Good Old Days (circa 2005), a certain poster all us old guys know would have submitted a small novel (1,000+ words at least) about how this was no big deal, you should move on, how there was no need to call Van's, 53 different fixes for this situation plus the proper ENGINEERING fix for it (his way), the history of holes in aluminum, the tensile strength of the hole, how alternative engines were to blame for holes like this, and on and on and on (and on and on and on)...

God I miss George!

I know Ross misses him too!

Michael White said:

You know, back in The Good Old Days (circa 2005), a certain poster all us old guys know would have submitted a small novel (1,000+ words at least) about how this was no big deal, you should move on, how there was no need to call Van's, 53 different fixes for this situation plus the proper ENGINEERING fix for it (his way), the history of holes in aluminum, the tensile strength of the hole, how alternative engines were to blame for holes like this, and on and on and on (and on and on and on)...

God I miss George!

I know Ross misses him too!

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Those were times when I have learnt about RV so much that I started building one What do we newbies need to do to bring Old Guards back? We want to learn more.

Vladyspassky said:

Those were times when I have learnt about RV so much that I started building one What do we newbies need to do to bring Old Guards back? We want to learn more.

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I whole heartily agree!! I see George's posts on other forums now and then. Did something happen that he decided not to post here anymore? I know he had some long winded posts but it was those posts that gave me so much incite into my own thinking.

Reading other views should be a right of passage for one's own growth. Especially if one ends up disagreeing with those views. By using one's own experiences and brain power when analyzing such posts one cannot help but grow in one's knowledge and understanding.

George, whatever happened, please forgive us and come back to talk and play with us here!!

Make a new part

Many new builders may not know that these parts can easily be made by the builder if you mess one up.
Any builder who worked with a VAN's kit prior to the pre-punched and QB kits, knows that all of these parts were fabricated by the builder from stock pieces of angle. VAN's has just made it easier for the builder by making them for you.
Assuming you had a piece of angle, you could have made a new part in a matter of a few minutes. You have the plans, not to mention the old part, to build from.
I think it is good practice for builders to purchase some extra materials, right from the start, to help in circumstances such as this. Purchasing several pieces of different angles, some hinge and maybe some flat stock is very inexpensive and can save a lot of wait time for a new part.
As an example, even an entire skin is easily fabricated out of flat sheet, especially if you have the original to work from. Just set the new sheet on a piece of plywood, the old piece on top and drill through the rivet holes, clecoing as you go. When finished, trace the outline and then trim the new piece. A lot faster than waiting for a new one from VAN's and maybe even cheaper if you have a local source for aluminum.
My point of this, for new builders, is that you do not need to rely on VAN's for every little piece, just because they provide them prepunched. Of course, there are some parts that make sense to get from VAN's, but for many of these smaller pieces, like stiffeners or brackets, it's quicker and cheaper to just remake them yourself. You'll become a better builder as a result.