Saturday, January 22, 2011

What happens when you don't get it quite right


This pic is oriented similar to the pic in the previous post, but shows the opposite side of the middle rib of the VS (VS707). If you double click on the pic to expand it to full resolution you should be able to see the slight deformity of the spar flange (near the center of this pic, on the bottom side of the spar, just to the right of the rib). I am still not totally certain how it got bent that way, but it obviously occured when the bucking bar either slid off the rivet, and perhaps was combined with the rivet gun continuing to hammer on the rivet on top of the skin. Only the spar flange appears to be bent, and thankfully there is little if any damage to the skin. I dressed out adn re-primed the flange as best I could.
I also spoke to Vans about this, and explained that I was thinking about placing a back rivet plate in there to try to pound out the bend in the spar flange. They said that as long as the bend was not compromising the rivets ( it is in between them), and there was not apparent damage to the skin itself, then it should be OK if left alone. There is a risk that any additional attempts to pound out the bend in the flange might also stretch, distort, or weaken the skin. So I decided to dress it out as best I could, leave it alone, and build on.

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