What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Helpers - That's Gonna Leave a Mark

skelrad

Well Known Member
Friend
Who has two thumbs and gets to drill out every wing rib/rear spar rivet and rebuild the rear spar? This guy! :eek:

Unfortunately, some miscommunication with a helper who wanted to try his hand at building ended up with a ruined rear spar today (as per Van's). I was just at the point of getting ready to start riveting on the top wing skins, and the last step was to dimple the rear spar flanges. Since he had already dimpled all of the ribs with the pneumatic squeezer, I walked him through the rear spar and set him loose. Unfortunately, my comment of "don't dimple next to this inboard doubler, because those are already dimpled" didn't stick. With 99% of the dimples done, all of the sudden I hear a monsterous thwack! He had tried to dimple the holes next to the doubler. There's no room here, and the pneumatic squeezer popped over the top of the fork of the doubler and slammed BIG TIME into the rear spar flange. It was so fast that it literally pushed the dimple die through the flange. Ouch.

It's a bummer, but given everything going on in the world these days, there is just no way to justify getting upset about an oops on something as trivial as an airplane. I'll get a new rear spar (only $45, but waiting to see how bad shipping will be) and do a "part II" of getting things ready for the wing skins.

Lesson learned - I should have taped off the areas to stay away from. It’s a lot to ask of someone to remember every instruction when building is new to them. I suppose the lesson could easily be not to let new people help, but nah.
 

Attachments

  • 20220314_121631.jpg
    20220314_121631.jpg
    102.8 KB · Views: 748
Last edited:
Before you order a new rear spar. Remove the doubler and take a body work hammer and dolly to it and try to remove the dent. It might just work with a bit of patience and a few taps of the hammer at the appropriate locations.
 
Before you order a new rear spar. Remove the doubler and take a body work hammer and dolly to it and try to remove the dent. It might just work with a bit of patience and a few taps of the hammer at the appropriate locations.

The dimple die actually broke through the material unfortunately. It’s hard to see in the picture because I bent it back out to look at it. I have no idea how it managed to cut a half circle clear through the material, but it did!
 
I hope yor helper didn't feel too bad also!

I’m not sure he understood the rework required, which is probably best. It's just parts and a little extra time. My therapy for my crying inner child was to post here. Something about telling people who will understand just makes me feel better.:)
 
Your attitude, after the fact, is commendable sir. Getting mad does no good. It’s is some time and money and lessons learned. Thanks for sharing the lesson!
 
I’m sure I’ll be flamed but the real lesson here IMHO is not to use the pneumatic squeezer to dimple.

I love my pneumatic squeezer but have never used it for dimpling. Too much chance of real damage with the slip of the trigger. Plus, how do you adjust it? On a manual dimpler I set the dimple force by adjusting until I get the right springback on the handle.
 
Last edited:
Your attitude, after the fact, is commendable sir. Getting mad does no good. It’s is some time and money and lessons learned. Thanks for sharing the lesson!

I will second this statement. Skelrad, you demonstrate a grace not common these days.
 
Hope you hid the body well ;)

Only kidding, accidents happen as as others have said you've handled it with good grace. Best of luck drilling out and rebuilding the damaged bit a new.

Nige
 
AHH Shucks he can kinda sorta blame a helper for helping him damaging something.
I can't do that as I've done worse all by myself. I have a mirror on the wall to prove it.
Art
 
That sucks! But I've been there recently, and replaced a rear wing spar at the same stage..

The good news - the rear wing spar doesn't take long to build second time around. It cost me about 10hrs total, with drilling the spar off the skeleton, and preparing/priming/riveting the new spar back on. And the parts aren't that expensive. Luckily it wasn't the main spar ;)

Chin up, keep on moving!
 
I like how your helper continued to dimple the rest of the row of holes even after the problematic one. Good work ethic :D
 
Back
Top