Here's what not to do...

[cjensen]

there i was cruisin' along on the backriveting table doing elevator stiffeners, and i notice this-



see it?? i intsalled the last four BACKWARDS!!

i was thinking about engines, and this is what i get.

lesson: pay attention to what i'm doing, and not about something that will happen a few YEARS down the road!

i drilled out about 40 rivets (very carefully), and re-riveted them. they all turned out great, but it was a frustrating lesson.



all is well now...

[captain_john]

OMG!!! Good catch when you did!

I have done similar stuff. You get on auto pilot and stop thinking and just start working.

CJ

[Spike]

I think thats one of the biggest problems that builder's face. That is just getting into autopilot mode and going on without thinking.

[jimrobinette]

Chad,

I did the exact same thing, amongst other mistakes, but I only did two. Man was I pissed off!

Good job on getting it fixed.

Take care,

Jim

.. i intsalled the last four BACKWARDS!!

[jim_geo]

I set a couple up in the wrong direction but luckily cought the mistake before riveting. Drilling out rivets isn't THAT bad though, is it?

[cjensen]

it's not bad at all...of course, i have a lot of practice/experience under my belt!

thanks for the comments guys. as you can see (since i authored the last three 'screwup chronicles' threads), i like to share and learn from my mistakes, and hope to prevent others from making the same ones. i know i'm not the first, nor the last to screw things up, but i appreciate the support of this group!

i'll keep on bangin' (or drillin' in my case!! )

[jim_geo]

This may just be a case of my ol dyslexia kicking in but I really don't think so. Tonight when I finished completing the trailing edge bend on the right elevator I noticed that there would be no room to dimple the skin for those rivets at the trailing edge end of the end ribs (skins that is). Now I read the assembly instructions before starting and don't think I missed anything as important as that, perhaps someone would be kind enough to point out the section to me if it was mentioned. Needless to say unless someone out there knows of a good reason not to I'm going to be match drilling and dimpling those holes before finishing the bend on the left elevator.



Of course this picture was taken before I bent it.

[cjensen]

well, i bent both of mine last night, and didn't think of that! guess i'll have to use my tight space dimple thingy that i made with a pop dimple die and a c-clamp. i hope that works!

[jim_geo]

Here is a problem I recognized right away from an earlier post.



Once discovered I called Van's and the right elevator skin was replaced by them this afternoon. Cost me some gas but the new skin is in the shop and I've already drilled out 116 rivets. Yes I'm reusing the otherwise unused stiffeners. Tom was very much against me making new ones sighting all the work it takes to prepare them to begin with. From the misery loves company department I'd say that removing a mess of rivets all at once gives you a pretty good way of seeing just how good or bad a job of riveting you're doing. Discovered a few that could have been better and now know how to do a slightly better job next time.

[tshort]

That seems to be a common problem... Bill Murrish and I both had the same deal.

I remade all the stiffeners .... not fun.

T.

[jim_geo]

Tom requested I return the skin to them so they can take some measurements. I have to go up to Tigard soon anyway so on my way I'll be dropping the error skin off. Should be interesting to hear any feed back they have. Point of interest after the stiffeners were removed I folded (non destructively) the two sides together in order to form two nice flat surfaces. The holes from one side to another are out of alignment by about 3/4 of a hole or perhaps just greater than 3/64th's of an inch.

[cjensen]

eeewwww! man, that's gonna be what i'm working on this weekend. i hope mine are ok! i really don't want to drill out 116 rivets this weekend. that sounds like no fun...no fun at all!