Does everyone with a pneumatic squeezer do this?

[avaviat]

Grr... I had started my first session of dimpling on my Horizontal Stab last night, and did this to one of the skins:



You can see where the hole was supposed to be (left side of the image)... the tip of the dimple die was right on the lip of the hole when I accidentally triggered it (I was holding it wrong... gotta remember "fingers off triggers until you are sure of your target").

You can see where it ripped and even cracked the aluminum as it punched the new hole.

So, what's the best way of undoing this sort of damage? I'm afraid the screwed up dimple will cause a drill to wander.

[cjensen]

yep. i think we've all been there! i did it to one of the holes on the TE of my rudder. of course, there is the AEX wedge that goes in there, but i just flattened it out, and redimpled. if yours is too big for the correct rivet size, put an oops rivet in and move on, or put the next size rivet in. it's one hole out of how many??? unless you are building a show plane, no one will know the difference.

where exactly is it?

[avaviat]

where exactly is it?

It is on the inside edge a few rivets aft of the foreward spar. Can't recall if it is top or bottom. If I understand how this all fits together, it'll be covered by a fairing. I think.

I'm just trying to figure out how to go about fixing the hole.

I'm thinking:

1) Flatten the area using a punch and mallet.
2) cleco the rib (and perhaps spar) to the skin
3) drill out to #30 (-4 rivet)
4) deburr
5) examine hole(s) for damage around edges.
5a) What to do if there is any damage?
6) re-dimple skin
7) re-dimple rib (is any prep needed?)

[cjensen]

if i'm picturing it properly, it sounds like that should work. the #30 hole should get rid of the damage caused by the slip. i agree that the area should be covered by fairing later on. since it sounds like it'll be covered, you could always install a 470 4-4. that would put a "cap" over the area. check the plans on the fairing though...

[Dan A]

LIke Jon says , flatten it out and re dimple it. If you don't like the way it looks just remember the Bondo!!
Dan

[Wicked Stick]

Looking at the picture, it also looks like you may have the dimple dies set too tight.

The general rule of thumb is to adjust the squeezer so that you can still spin/rotate the dimple dies when they are fully closed.

I usually like the adjust it up till they touch and back off just enough to spin them freely.

Only the slightest hint of a ring around the dimple is what you want to see.

re-drilling and re-dimpling to the next larger size is a good fix so long as there is no evidence of cracking around the dimpled area when finished.

[avaviat]

Dave,

That's good input (dimple too tight)... I was trying to be careful (I backed them off 'til I could spin the die) but there is no substitute for an educated eye! Thanks!