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Hamiltons RV Website
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Date: 2-12-2013
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Number of Hours: 1.50
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Manual Reference: 9.11.3
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Brief Description: Attach ribs to skins
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This is an interesting task, and I learned a bit about the limitations of the eqquipement we use. The back rivet set has a thick outer plastic rim. The ribs in the elevator have a stiffening flange on their upper edge. The first learning is that the flange pushs the set sideways which I initially counteracted by pulling the flange out of the way with my spare hand. However, I ended up with a number of rivets that were squashed on the side closest to the web. This I believe is caused by the back rivet set spring being overcome. Even when I was absolutely vertical, I would end up with a clinched rivet. I had greatest success when I held the plastic tip of the back rivet set with my spare hand and moved it laterally to push the flange out of the way. Needless to say, my rivet removal skills continue to improve.
The second problem I had today was that one of the stiffener flanges was damaged by the riveting. The cross bar that holds the spring in place on the back rivet set. as it moves up and down caught the stiffener on the flange of the first rib that I did. As a result, there was a deep gouge in the flange. The fix is to ensure that the cross bar is parallel to the flange, not at right angles to it. In future I need to check its placement before every use. After drilling out the offending rib, I looked at the damage. There were 2 stress risers that were quite deep. I cleaned the edge up using seamers, files and scotchbrite. The next morning I inspected again, and while I am certain that I could use it as is, BUT it is in a location that would require a great deal of disassembly to fix later, with removal of the complete skin and possibly the spar, so I deceided to order a replacement part from Vans (5$ + $57 postage ouch). Right decision. I know I will sleep better when I am flying family and friends. THis revents completion of this elevator while waiting for the replacement part.
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Right
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Upper Skin
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