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Dans RV8
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Date:  1-8-2006
Number of Hours:  3.00
Manual Reference:  Rudder
Brief Description:  Bending the rudder leading edge

We ran into difficulty with bending the leading edge. We had dimpled the rivet holes, making it difficult to "seam" the edge of the outer edge. We used the flanging tool to bend the edge slightly. This was slow, but worked well.


We used the Van's approach to rolling the leading edge using a broomstick. This was marginally successful, but the bend was sharper than we liked. We tried other bending methods for the other side. This included using a larger dowel. This didn't work any better. The dowel was too large and we got nothing but spring-back. An in-between dowel is probably the answer.


We mashed up the skin with a wrench during the bending. Fortunately, this was in the leading edge, ahead of the spar. We were able to work the metal to remove the dent without a trace of damage. This is a non-structural area, so we are not worried. While the cosmetics turned out fine, the damage area would have been mostly hidden by the Vertical Stabilizer. Dodged a bullet this time.
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Rolled Leading Edge

Rolled Leading Edge

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Finished Product

Finished Product

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