Unfortunate mistake

I had an accident this afternoon when one of my RV-10 QB wings slipped off the cradle. The inboard leading edge has been dented and the inboard end of the fuel tank is slightly deformed. I sent pics to Vans tech support and hope to hear from them Monday. I am looking for any advice that will help me gracefully recover from this (completely preventable ) goof.

Find you a body man that is at least 60 years old and he will be able to hammer that out so well that you will never notice it once it is painted. If you ever hit a bird you are going to have to do it all over again.

Steve Eberhart
RV-7A almost ready for finishing kit.

Consider this....You got your first flight test in!

I am sure that others will chime in with other ideas, but I will submit my two cents worth.

My first concern would be if the fuel tank integrity has been compromised. I would do a leak test on that tank.

If all is well in that regard, you can focus on the sheet metal repair. From what I can see, is most of the tank skin damage on the bottom of the tank?

Can you gain access to the dented area through the tank access hole? Would you be able to tap the dent back out through the access hole?

If not, I wonder if you could drill a strategic hole in the area where you have the wrinkle in the skin, use a dent puller there, and then apply some sort of patch with a small piece of aluminum and sealed pulled rivets and proseal. It being on the bottom surface, one would have to be looking for it to see it. Also consider that the wing fairing might cover some of the patch.

You can fill in any low spots with super-fil to get a nice contour again. From what I see in the picture, I am not too concerned with the tank rib damage, provided your tank does not leak.

Worst case scenario would be for Van's to send you a new tank. With all the matched drilling going on these days, are they making the tanks interchangable???

Good luck to you. Let us know what the outcome is.

Regards,

Thanks guys! My blood pressure is starting to go down a bit!

I do happen to know a 60+ auto body man! Here are a couple of more images.

[img=http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/424/img0839vo2.th.jpg]

[img=http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/3646/img0836lw9.th.jpg]

Thanks for the prompt

David this was indeed a timely post and you have prompted me to do something that I've been meaning to get around to for a while.

I have now secured my wing in the cradle so this shouldn't happen to me.

http://www.mykitlog.com/users/display_log.php?user=jpreou&project=45&category=0&log=20201&row=1


Thanks for the heads up, and I sincerely hope you get this sorted out without too much trouble; I can only imagine the colour of the air that would emminate from my workshop if that had happened to me...

Cheers,

Remove the rib?

David....

Worst case looks like you could remove the end rib, smooth out the aluminum, and rivet a new rib in with ProSeal.

The rib flange does face outwards, correct?

Messy but easily doable, and a full strength repair, if the aluminum sheet is not creased, just bent...

Your 60 year old body man will be able to do a much better job with the rib removed....

gil in Tucson

Jeff, I can assure you the air was "blue" for a few moments this afternoon in my hangar.

It has been my intent to secure the wings to the cradle since I first got them, but since I was not working on them......................lesson learned the hard way!

I will apply your elegant fix tomorrow.

Thanks.

Not that bad

I had a very similar incident happen as my wings were set up for painting. We had pulled the tanks loose for painting and when the wing was rotated too far the tank slipped off and a very similar dent occurred. Mine actually had a pretty sharp dent. This happened at the body shop so my friend got out some of this body tools and 3 minutes later nobody could ever tell. A little filler was needed on one spot.

Not a big deal. Have the body dude fix and move on!!!

body man

that looks somewhat like an easy fix i doubt you need to remove the rib. let the body man see if he can fix it first then if necessary remove the rib but i doubt you will. good luck.
hate it for ya man, that stings

Thanks to everybody for the advice. This does not look like it is going to be a huge job to repair. I sure love having these forums for help.
(My wings are now secured to the cradle!)

Dent

David we had a strap fail last year and it dented the outboard leading edge. When you remove the rib the leading edge will spring back most of the way. It?s painful but not the end of the world. I have a dent on the leading from dropping a bucking bar in the wing. It happens.

Amature panel beater says...

This did not happen to me but as I was painting my own wings I pretty much had to find a way to rotate the wing by myself during painting without this happening.

I used an old bench that I rested the spar on the inboard end and whacked a 16d nail to stop it slipping.

When it came to rotation I looped a length of 1/2" nylon strap through a wing bolt hole and secured it over the top of the bench...There was just enough slack to allow the wing to rotate but it could not slip off the side of the bench.

Anyway, this is how I would approach the dent...If you have to remove the inboard rib then get some 2" wodden clothes hangar rod and slip inside the leading edge.

Use a bottle jack between the spar (use a flat piece of wood to spread the load on the spar) and the underside of the hangar rod which you will then press into the damaged LE...Go slow and gently ease it out.

You maybe able to use this method without removing the rib but be careful not to streach the LE of the skin at the inboard end.

You could also do this inside the tank thru the access hole.

The main trick is to not use anything with a square edge (a 4lb lump hammer for example) and do'nt use anything made of steel. Avoid over stretching the LE skin at all costs...Use a little filler if you have to.

As the dent has no creases in the skin it should come almost completly out with no filler required.

All the best

Frank

az_gila said:

David....

Worst case looks like you could remove the end rib, smooth out the aluminum, and rivet a new rib in with ProSeal.

The rib flange does face outwards, correct?

Messy but easily doable, and a full strength repair, if the aluminum sheet is not creased, just bent...

Your 60 year old body man will be able to do a much better job with the rib removed....

gil in Tucson

Click to expand...

David,
If you need to remove the rib, sand a sharp edge on a Popsicle stick or tongue depressor. You now have a wooded "gasket" scraper, which can be used to remove the old ProSeal without damage to the aluminum. Home Depot and similar also sell plastic scrapers which can also be used. However the wooden ones are cheaper and easily resharpened on your belt sander.
Charlie Kuss

Proseal cutter

During the FUEL tank SB I also found that a SS rule makes a pretty darned good cutting tool for dried proseal if sharpened on your grinder/Scotchbrite wheel.

How did I ever live without a scotchbrite wheel?

Frank

You will need to remove the nose rib to repair the tank properly. This happened more than once at VANS when the guys unloaded the containers. When you get the nose rib out, go to the steel yard and buy a remnant steel rod 2 in. diameter about a foot long, you want the mass. Use the rod inside as the backing and use a small rubber mallet and you will be amazed how quick you can straighten out that leading edge. Reinstall the rib with a new one and you are good to go. Had the repairs down to 2 hours each after doing several of them. Good Luck pd

frankh said:

During the FUEL tank SB I also found that a SS rule makes a pretty darned good cutting tool for dried proseal if sharpened on your grinder/Scotchbrite wheel.

How did I ever live without a scotchbrite wheel?

Frank

Click to expand...

Frank
While the SS ruler will be very effective in removing the ProSeal, it will be even MORE effective in scratching the cra* out of the skin and rib. Accepted practice is to ALWAYS use something softer than the aluminum. Your skill level may allow you to use this tool without damage. However, I have no idea of the skill level of the gentleman who has the problem. Better safe than sorry.
Charlie

Good point

I was thikin more about making the cut (to free the rib)but not using it to scrape off the remaining proseal from the skin...I would still use it this way but your right you have to be careful.

Frank