292 hours on the hobbs Final Riveting and Skin Preparation for Rudder

So it's been a few days since my last post, but I ahve been busy on the rudder. I am beginning to wonder if this part will ever get finished. Lots of tricky riveting to do. One of the other things that has to be done is to roll the leading edges once everything else is riveted together. Below is a pic of a controversial edge rolling tool from Cleaveland tools. I had ordered this with my tool kit and had done some practice pieces with it, but not with very promising results. Then I ran into a whole bunch of posts on VAF. I found one thread that clearly explained the problem. There is such a lack of guidance from the makers of these tools that nobody understands how to use them correctly. Even the hints for homebuilders video on the EAA web site does not show enough detail about how to properly use the tool.

As the pic shows, there is a large thin flange on the top roller. This fits right against the edge of the skin being rolled, and needs to stay in that position while rolling the tool. The other trick to using this tool correctly is NOT to set the depth between the rollers too close or tightly together. People think that you have to get this really tight on the skin to achieve the desired slight bend on the edge. In reality it just needs to be tight enough to allow the roller to EASILY roll along the edge of the skin. Everyone expects to see a noticeable bend in the edge of the skin, probably because the diagram in the picture in the plans provided by Vans shows this bend to fairly distinct. The fact is that the bend is barely visible to the naked eye when done correctly. The tool creases the edge of one side of the skin just enough to counter-act the tendency of the skin to curl up when the pop rivets are applied. Most builders are complaining about how they cannot move the rollers, or how wavy the skin edge turns out, or how uneven the rolled edge is because it slips away frome the edge while being rolled. ALl because they are not using the tool correctly.

The fact is, if you use it correctly, it leaves a nice, even, small crease in the skin, exactly like it is supposed to.

Here is a set screw to make certain that the depth of the rollers stays set exactly where they need to be

And the Top roller that shows the flange that is kept flush against the edge of the skin, adn also shows the tapered part of the roller that actually apples the bend to the edge of the skin....

A bad pic attempting to show the gap between the rollers after snugging them up against the skin so that they were firm but not tight or smashing the skin.

Another not so good pic trying to show the edge of the skin after rolling was completed. You can just make out a slight bend on the edge. Again, you only roll the skin edge that will overlap the other skin. You do NOT roll both edges.

Many more pics to post, but it's late, so I will finish catching up tomorrow. As a preview, I will post pics showing the method I used to set the remaining 6 rivets on the edges of the support bracket, putting RTV on the stiffeners before closing up the skin, and a mock up/test tool that I created for practicing the rolling/bending of the leading edge of the rudder...