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Rudder leading edge

T

Thunderpig

Member
Trailing edge turned out pretty nice...on to the leading edge rolling. Started out with a 3/4 in PVC, up to 1" then 1.25". With the clecos in, it's obvious that you can't get a huge bend when trying to get into the spar area. Don't have photos up on my log yet, but have read over a dozen threads on this subject but haven't seen anything about how much gap is allowable between the two halves before clecoing for the final drilling. I have left the middle and lower pieces cleco'd for now, but when I pull the clecos out, I am left with about 3/4" gap between the two edges, which forces me to push them together before putting the clecos back in. Is this permissible? Not sure how I can get the sides to bend over any more...concerned about side loading on the skin and spar connections.
 
Thunderpig said:
...on to the leading edge rolling. Started out with a 3/4 in PVC, up to 1" then 1.25". .
Click to expand...

I don't understand this. Did you roll with a small ID pipe, then roll again with a larger one? For the -10 just roll once, with the 1.25" OD pipe.

Yes, there may be some "spring-back", so you may have to "help" join the two halves together. But not to the extent that there is excessive stress near the forward spar.
 
Your gap looks ok to me. From pics, it doesn't appear to be too much of a gap that rivets won't hold up over time. The real question is how much tension does it take to pull the edges together. The amount of tension on rivets is more of a "feel" than a "look".

If you're worried about too much tension, you could just add additional rivets. This is what Jason Ellis did on his. He doubled the number of rivets by adding one between each existing hole.
 
rvanstory said:
Your gap looks ok to me. From pics, it doesn't appear to be too much of a gap that rivets won't hold up over time. The real question is how much tension does it take to pull the edges together. The amount of tension on rivets is more of a "feel" than a "look".

If you're worried about too much tension, you could just add additional rivets. This is what Jason Ellis did on his. He doubled the number of rivets by adding one between each existing hole.
Click to expand...

I don't have very much pillowing to counteract, but had planned on this. Thx...I'll look at that other method when the time comes for the elevators.
 
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