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Elevator Fiberglass tips question

Wesflies

Wesflies

Active Member
:confused: I riveted the fiberglass tips on my left elevator. All was going well until I reached the last rivet. The predrilled holes on top and bottom of the trailing edge of the skin are directly across from each other. This means the first rivet went in great. Now, however, there is no room for the last rivet because the training edge of the elevator is too narrow for two rivets (one on top of the another) :mad: . Did this happen to anyone else? What do I do now? The right elevator predrilled holes are the same......I'm not going to rivet this one until I figure this out or get an answer. Thanks, Wes
 
Wesflies said:
:confused: I riveted the fiberglass tips on my left elevator. All was going well until I reached the last rivet. The predrilled holes on top and bottom of the trailing edge of the skin are directly across from each other. This means the first rivet went in great. Now, however, there is no room for the last rivet because the training edge of the elevator is too narrow for two rivets (one on top of the another) :mad: . Did this happen to anyone else? What do I do now? The right elevator predrilled holes are the same......I'm not going to rivet this one until I figure this out or get an answer. Thanks, Wes
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I had this problem somewhere else in the kit. I think what I ended up dong was putting the rivet in as much as I could, pulling it a bit, put it in some more, pull it some more, etc... until the stupid thing fit.

fyi: just because I did it this way and it worked, doesn't mean it's the right way of doing it :)
 
Rivet conflicts

I had the same problem. I used -3 rivets which are a bit smaller, but they still touched. Just do the best you can!
 
Wesflies said:
:confused: .........The predrilled holes on top and bottom of the trailing edge of the skin are directly across from each other.......no room for the last rivet because the training edge of the elevator is too narrow for two rivets...........Thanks, Wes
Click to expand...
Same condition on the -8 empennage kit. I used (flush) 3/32" blind rivets to attach the nutplates at the (narrow) trailing edge locations.

Rick Galati RV-6A "Darla"
 
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It worked

I tried John's method. It worked great! Thanks to all that replied.
Wes
Wings (almost)
 
tried it

Here it is 10 years later - same problem. Maybe Vans could tweak those last two hole locations to get rid if this annoyance?

I tried the above solution and it didn't work too good for me - ended up with a really ugly cocked rivet. I drilled it out and substituted a shorter grip rivet. Unfortunately, the spare rivets I had are not flush type, so I have an ugly standard rivet on the bottom - maybe no one will notice. I have also just ordered a variety of shorter countersink type rivets - maybe I'll drill out and try again.
 
SgtZim said:
Here it is 10 years later - same problem. Maybe Vans could tweak those last two hole locations to get rid if this annoyance?

I tried the above solution and it didn't work too good for me - ended up with a really ugly cocked rivet. I drilled it out and substituted a shorter grip rivet. Unfortunately, the spare rivets I had are not flush type, so I have an ugly standard rivet on the bottom - maybe no one will notice. I have also just ordered a variety of shorter countersink type rivets - maybe I'll drill out and try again.
Click to expand...

They fixed it on the 14?
 
You can do a variation of the method for the riveted trailing edges. Put a filler (aluminum shim, flox, whatever) in the tip between the two hole and drill through. Then put a long rivet in and back-rivet it on the other side. A soft (annealed) rivet would be Ok here. Or, fill the hole on one side and drill for another rivet slightly forward or aft enough to let you put a normal rivet in.
 
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