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Elevator - Riveting tip ribs

jamcgee1978

Active Member
So i’m Finally reaching the point at which to close up the elevators on pg 9-14 step 6 whereby the plans ask me to perform the following:

1) Rivet the top skin to flange of front spar
2) Rivet skin to counterbalance skin & flange of outboard tip rib but no further than the rear spar to allow trailing edge insert etc

Now my head scratching moment that I also had when the plans asked you to dimple all the holes in the skins top and bottom to #40 and then ask you in section 12 to matchdrill/dimple those same tip rib holes to accept #30.

If I go ahead and rivet above how do you carry out :

Section 12-2 step 3 which asks the builder to match drill #40 the fairing tips using the holes in the top and bottom skins and counterbalance skins as guides then final drill the skins holes to #30 and dimple to accept CS4-4 blind rivets.

There will be no room to dimple these holes....pulling hair out moment I’m sure so just wondering if others have held off until attaching the fairings.
 
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I held off. Only the holes closest to the trailing edge were a challenge. Many techniques have been discussed in the archives. My technique was to fit a wooden wedge in place and match drill it before countersinking the wedge. The wedge then became my female die and I then used a male die to set the dimple. Not as sharp as the other dimples but once the rivet is pulled you can't tell.
 
Thanks Patrick,

It was the 2 holes I was concerned with dimpling further down the line that involve the counterbalance skin, elevator skin for fairing attachment further down the plans . I called Vans today and they said ?just go ahead and dimple them together?.

Crumbs did I feel like a ?numpty? (Scottish term). I always assumed we had to dimple separately

Onwards and upwards , elevators all riveted tonight onwards to the pro seal tomorrow....
 
Oh, I see. Yes, while it's best to dimple separately, you can dimple thin stock together. It is also possible to countersink thick stock and dimple thin sheet over it, using the countersink as the female die, though I've only had to do that once due to an error I made while assembling. It was either that or drill out a lot of rivets so I could dimple the few holes I'd missed. Drilling carried a lot of potential damage while dimpling in place only meant a less crisp dimple.
 
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