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Horizontal Stabilizer 'Glass Tips

txaviator

Well Known Member
For those of you who have already fitted the fiberglass tips to your elevators (or HS)...

Did you find yourself needing to trim an excessive amount of fiberglass before the tip would seat into the ends of the elevators? The outermost rib obviously creates a 'sandwich effect' with the outer skin. Despite trimming off a minimal amount of the tip flange, I still need to trim even more before the tip will seat fully flush again the outer edge of the skin. Right now it hits the sandwiched rib/skin, and the shop heads of the outermost rivets. Any tips on how you handled this situation? I obviously need to leave as much fiberglass as possible in order to have a good stong area to attach through.

I have taken measurements, and if I trim the actual amount needed to clear the rivets, rib, it sure won't leave much to attach to. :confused:

Thanks in advance.
 
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I think this is a fairly common problem. These fairings do not fit very well and I have had to trim and add quite a lot to make them fit.
In the past, there have been some tips in the RVator on how to work on these parts, but my experience with some of VAN's foberglass pieces is that you need to slice and dice them to make them work.
Good luck!
 
If you are concerned about rivet to edge, you might epoxy some aluminum strip inside the fiberglass to rivet to. As I remember, mine had to trim down a bunch. I elected to smooth & fill the rivets then a layer of thin glass cloth on top to finish things out. Looks good, just lots of sanding.

Derrell
Canopy split
 
Thanks for the replies. How much adjusting was there to be done with the counter-weights? Here's my dilemma: I am waiting on my wings to get here, and figured I could do my tips while waiting. However, I sure don't want to permanently attach anything until I know about the weight adjustments?

Any suggestions there? BTW, I DO want to finish them out nicely, similar to what Derrell mentioned. Thanks!
 
While waiting...

1. Build your wings fixture
2. Modify your HS fixture into the leading edge / tank fixture
3. Build your aileron alignment tool
4. Modify #3 female dimple die for nutplate dimpling (grind just enough side to clear threaded column on nutplate)
5. Obtain all the stuff for prosealing (scale, gloves, popsticks, etc)
6. Obtain a longeron yoke for your squeezer if you don't have one
7. Have at least 400 silver clecos on hand. More if doing both wings together.
8. Recommend buying the Avery 12" double offset back rivet tool for top skin riveting. Consider their round bucking bar, too.
9. Pick up a 90 degree drill adapter, 2 6" #30 drill bits and a 3" offset 1/8" set
10. Locate a regular bucking buddy for wings skinning time

Assembling the right wing,
Steve
 
When installing the tips, they should not need to slip under the "sandwich" of skin & rib. That's why there is an extended piece of skin at that point, to attach the tip to. You should be able to trim the tip so it fits up to the rib edge under the skin. Clearances should be fine for this; however, adding an aluminum strip is ok, but I don't think it's really necessary, just additional weight. On my RV6, I just riveted to the fiberglass and after 8 years and a lot of bumping around, they never showed any problems.
 
Thanks for the replies, everyone. While I understand the fiberglass doesn't need to slip under the sandwiched rib/skin, it will butt right up next to the edge. With enough trimming to allow this to happen, based on where Van's has the holes pre-drilled on the outboard edge, I will need aluminum strips for sure. In other words, for the tip to sit flush along side the skin, it doesn't leave but about 1/4" of fiberglass to rivet into. I'll add some alloy strips and go with that.

Thanks for the input.
 
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