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Jims RV-8
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Date:  1-17-2013
Number of Hours:  1.00
Manual Reference:  6-10
Brief Description:  bad day in the shop...confession time

Well...I always enjoy my time in the shop...but tonight was an exception!

I started off looking at the bend I made in the trim tab (that's a story for another day) which came out really well - except for one side at the very back of the trim tab. It was not as crisp a bend as the others...so I decided to "fix" it. Well I should have left it alone - it was just fine. But I didn't - in trying to fix the cosmetics, I made it worse - so then I decided I needed to straighten it back out and have another go at the bend...that's when the crack happened...and the bad bend. SCRAP!

(Back to the skeleton) I was in final prep mode before priming the skeleton for the left elevator, so I dimpled the counterweight skin - no problem... then I needed to countersink the top of the elevator spar that hinges to the trim tab. Now, you have to be very careful - because you are supposed to dimple the bottom of the spar but countersink the top...no problem, I was careful to dimple the bottom, using the pneumatic squeezer...because it was a tight fit I was lifting the male dimple die up in the ram to "pre-align" it before it went into the drilled hole. Well, clearly I didn't get it aligned properly and ended up breaking the bottom off of it. DOH!

Then I proceeded to over-countersink the spar... I thought I had it set up correctly, but I didn't! It was only 3 holes and I probably could have gotten by with it - but, no - my RV-8 deserves better than to have hollowed out holes. I did consider using oopps rivets, but didn't want to have to drill the skin and the hinge to #30 size...so I am just sticking with the plans.

Total cost of this evening mess ups... about $70 for the 2 parts from Van's and the new dimple die set from Cleaveland. I am still planning on using the using the dimple die set - after I grind down the stump on the back, maybe I will make myself some vice grip dimple dies.
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over counter sunk 3 holes!

over counter sunk 3 holes!

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broke the cleaveland dimple die

broke the cleaveland dimple die

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cracked the trim tab trying to

cracked the trim tab trying to "fix" it.

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