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Wendells RV-6A
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Date: 2-21-2011
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Number of Hours: 3.00
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Manual Reference: Mount Left Flap
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Brief Description: Drilled Left Flap to Wing
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I couldn't understand why my trailing edges of the flap did not align perfectly with the aileron. Checked many different dimensions and measurements. Finally, I found where I made the flaps 3/16 inches too long (front to back). I used a measurement from another builder's flap instructions and it was wrong. I should have reviewed the plans and discovered the discrepency. When you put the top skin on the flap as you are making it, the plan calls for an exact measurement of 10 1/2 inches from the trailing edge along the tooling holes to the front of the flap spar. Mine measured 10 11/16 inches. There it was. Those 3/16ths were the cause of my problems. Of course, I made both flaps the same so the error was consistent. When another builder heard me say I ordered two more flap parts from Vans he said I was too much of a perfectionist. He's probably right. However, I was able to squeeze the hinge up about 1/8 inch when fitting it, trimmed ever so slightly off the end of the wing skin, and that left about a little less than 1/8 mismatch on the trailing edge. I accepted that and drilled the first flap hinge to the wing skin on the left wing. Then I will match drill the flap brace to the wing skin holes. There are so many suggestions how to drill the flap hinge to the skin, I just chose the one that worked for me. I clamped and positioned the whole flap and hinge under the wing skin, got my 1/4 inch gap between flap and aileron, took a small piece of scrap hinge and laid it on the outside of the wing skin replicating where the real hinge eyes laid and marked the flap skin to show where the top edge of the hinge was lying underneath the wing skin. Then, opposite each rivet that was already in place holding the flap hinge to the flap, I drilled a #40 hole 1/4 inch down from the line I placed on the skin. Used my pneumatic cleco gun to give my healing tennis elbow a break and drilled the flap hinge to the skin. Each cleco held the hinge tight enough to drill the adjacent fresh hole and so on. It worked.
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Left wing flap final drilled.
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14 9/16 from trailing edge of bottom side of flap to center of rear wing spar rivet holes.
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Flap/aileron spacing right at 1/4
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