Conical Bend

Hi folks,

I'm fitting the F-970 forward skins to the fuselage and I've made the conical bend on the left side. Before I do any more or move on to the right side I'd like some opinions on how this looks:



My question is, should I make the forward bend tighter? Being mindful of the warning not the crack the skin does this look OK or should I try and tighten it some more?

Thanks all.

It looks fine to me - but I'm not an RV-9 builder.

I'd think that the main issue is the contour near the large hole that's just below that bend. Along one edge, the conical bend part relaxes just a bit because there's no material to pull it down. If that matters, you'll have to work on that part in that area.

I forget what's the correct minimum bend radius for 20204 but I think it's something like 4 or 5 times the thickness. You should not go past that at the narrow end, but you might need to look it up to see exactly what it is.

If the part is one of a symmetrical pair, which it looks like it might be, perhaps you should work on the other side too and get them to look alike

Dave
RV-3B still building....

The radius of the bend looks fine, at least as shown, all clecoed up. I'm building a -7, and assuming this area is similar on a -9, you might want to see how the F-623(?) corner rib fits, and make sure the bottom and side skins will meet edge to edge.

It's hard to tell, but it almost looks like there is the beginning of a stress crack on the surface of the skin at about the 8 o'clock position from the small relief hole. One side of mine began to crack in this same position. I stop drilled it, and then removed material between those two holes. Many others have had done the same it looks like. If you're putting in steps, the area will be almost completely hidden anyways, and I sealed the entire area with sealant.