latest screwup

tmbg · Post by **tmbg** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 12:13 am

It's been awfully quiet in here lately... you guys aren't making enough mistakes!

anyway, I was drilling the rear spar doublers to the rear spar, and on the left one I managed to accidentally put it together with the doublers on the forward side, and I caught it when a couple holes were unusually hard to drill. I now have an extra hole in the rear spar and one hole that's been figure-8'd. Once I assembled it correctly, I drilled the extra hole through the doublers, and I intend to fill it with a rivet. I have 3/8" on centers between the holes.

For the figure-8'd hole, I made a scrap of 0.032" that I'll use against the spar to give the shop head more meat to grip. Is this acceptable?

Here's a pic. Click here for the big version.

Post by **Spike** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 7:58 am

Im not sure about your fix for the figure 8 hole. Those rivets are used in sheer, not tension. When the rivet expands in the hole it probably wont work well. You might want to call Van's on this one.

tmbg · Post by **tmbg** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 9:56 am

I'll call them now. I imagine they're going to tell me to back it up with another rivet, and I can do that.

tmbg · Post by **tmbg** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 10:01 am

they said that it's not a big deal if the problem with the hole is just in the spar web and not in the doubler material. He said if it makes me feel better I can use the bit of doubler material to support the rivet head, but to use 0.040" for the doubler.