New builder, rebuilding the HS

I started building the HS and have gotten through most of it but have made a number of mistakes along the way. I have the parts all cut, deburred dimpled and the spars riveted with everything else ready to go for final assembly but I succeeded at damaging one of the foreward skins, put a few bad dents into the rear spar and have serious edge clearence issues on one of the ribs.

My quesions is: if the parts are all already dimpled, how do I go about re-doing the affected parts? In the case of the rear spar, I used a #40 reamer instead of a #40 drill and I don't see any stacking tolerance issues if I were to just ream all the attachment holes on a replacement without the skin present assuming Vans' hole positioning is relatively precise, but maybe I'm wrong? Alternatively, I've done enough of the other parts at this point that I feel like I could probably get back to where I am right now on a whole new HS within a week or so, so should I just order a new one entirely?

Thanks!

HS

I would start over. As your skills expand throughout the build the things you are not happy about now will start gnawing at you. Put it down to useful practice, plus you will have some scrap metal that may be useful later, even if just as a reminder.

Before ordering parts, I would suggest:

• Contacting Van's with pics and a description of pictured issues/concerns.
• Reach out to your local EAA Chapter and get involved with other builders and Tech Counselors. You will generally find most are thrilled to look and offer advice.
• Have you attended an EAA SportAir Workshop? There is one specifically for new RV Builders, and usually held at KBJC....not far from you.

This happens to all of us in the beginning. I would just suggest these steps initially, then if find you still need to order parts...order parts. You can use this one for "practice" and improve your skills (drilling, riveting, drilling out rivets, deburring, etc.) Doing this could save you from repeating some of the same errors.

Good luck! You'll get it!

I just finished replacing the entire forward spar assembly in my HS and just reamed and dimpled the outboard prepunched holes in the flanges on the HS-702 spar channels on the bench. The inboard spar flange holes are not prepunched, so I just drew centerlines and match drilled through the dimpled skin holes. With the entire assembly clecoed together, the elevator hinge bracket alignment was spot on. I haven?t rechecked since completing the riveting.

HS Rebuild

longranger said:

I just finished replacing the entire forward spar assembly in my HS and just reamed and dimpled the outboard prepunched holes in the flanges on the HS-702 spar channels on the bench. The inboard spar flange holes are not prepunched, so I just drew centerlines and match drilled through the dimpled skin holes. With the entire assembly clecoed together, the elevator hinge bracket alignment was spot on. I haven?t rechecked since completing the riveting.

Click to expand...

Same here. Prepunched holes were perfect. Others were drilled using a tubing pilot bushing so as not to enlarge the parent hole.