can this garage rash be repaired?

OK guys - first the good news. There is an airplane in my garage with wings attached, ailerons attached and rigged, and flaps attached:

In the next < 2 weeks I need to rig flaps, attach and rig tail, and anything else that requires a fully assembled airplane. Then the cars go back inside and the plane goes back to the single stall side (up on its gear for engine/cowl).

Now the bad news. Due to a horrible garage door incident involving storage racks above the door, the inboard trailing edge of my right rudder was damaged. This is what a garage door opener can do:




Can this be repaired? I'm not building a show plane, but I don't want to see a huge mess either. There are no rips/tears in the aluminum. If this could be reduced to a ripple that didn't affect flight I"d probably be happy. I really wanted to get the elevators on and rigged.

Thanks for any advice.

Absolutely can be fixed. Remove the bottom rib and "unfold" the bends carefully. You can form a block of hardwood in the shape that area is supposed to be and with a planishing hammer work the dents out. Go slow and deliberately.

Hi Dave:

So sorry to see this damage. I've been on this forum for awhile and I know you have been at it for quite some time. Set backs are part of the process, but this really hurts....

If it were me, before I would throw in the towel and start ordering new parts which is the ultimate solution, I would find the very best auto body man in town and see what he can do. It might be possible to get that coaxed back close to normal and then use some filler to level things out. This is certainly not a structural problem, more an aerodynamic and aesthetic one. So long as you can restore the proper taper to the trailing edge, a bit of filler will not effect things from a weight concern due to the requirement to balance the elevators anyway.

Just a suggestion. let us know what you decide to do. Hang in there.....

As Bob said.

It is just a challenge. Start with Bob's encouragement, then just start working the parts with a clear mind. It doesn't have to come out perfect. If good enough for you, think of it as a conversation piece in the final build. I'm building in a bunch of such pieces that I will be tickled if someone will ask me about when it is done. There is a story behind every one that makes it so much more special. Don't order parts or call Vans, just be a builder like the rest of us and work it out .

Thanks guys - I do want to fix it... just don't know how. I've never even heard of a "planishing hammer" but if I had one handy I'd try it. Looks like Harbor Freight doesn't have such a thing...

It's a pretty small area, and I didn't think of taking off the rib. Keep the suggestions coming!

Reforming

It can be reformed by cutting a foot long slot in the end of a 2X2 or 2X4. Slide it over your deriveted skins, clamp, and reform. Get it close then very lightly bump out the remainder going across the dent.
Good luck.

More importantly, 'right rudder'? Is this the first twin-tail RV? Or, seriously, did you mean aileron? Not that it changes the advice you've been given, but I just couldn't let it go.

planishing hammer...aka body hammer. HF has them.

It would also make straightening the skins out go a whole lot easier if you could drill out about 8" of the rivets on the trailing edge...you could then pretty much straighten the skins with nothing more than your fingers.

A few references. Read and watch some youtube vids on metal finishing. That should help you understand what to hit, where, and with what.

http://www.tinmantech.com/html/kent_white.php

http://www.covell.biz

And a quality, but value tool supplier. Also there are good metalworking references. http://www.trick-tools.com

Kent White is usually at OSH and is a wizard with aluminum forming and Ron Covell used to build aluminum race cars for Roger Penske. They are a couple of the best in the metalworking.

Good luck. Bend some scrap and bang on it to get the hang of it. Good news is that aluminum is easier than steel. You don't have to smack it so hard. Recommend a fine grained wood to make the fitted buck, like oak etc. You will need the wood block AND the hammer.

flion said:

More importantly, 'right rudder'? Is this the first twin-tail RV? Or, seriously, did you mean aileron? Not that it changes the advice you've been given, but I just couldn't let it go.

Click to expand...

OK - I guess I'm more upset than I thought

When I first saw it crushed into the ceiling, I thought it was the rudder. It was only when I got it down I realized (sadly) that it was the right elevator.

I'll look for a "body hammer"... but the wedge block of wood sounds interesting too.

IowaRV9Dreamer said:

OK - I guess I'm more upset than I thought

Click to expand...

Ok, serious advice coming here. By the way, I'm the guy who had the wind blow over his HS jig just after he had riveted the skins on. I ended up drilling off the skins, inspecting the skeleton, and then purchasing and installing new skins. These things happen and it's a huge blow; I really understand how you feel right now.

So, the advice: work on something else (another part of the aircraft) for awhile while you let this stew a bit. There's no rush. Worse case, you decide to re-skin that elevator (looks like the skeleton is just fine). You might decide to try your hand at bodywork. You might also see if a local body shop is willing to take a shot at it. One of my fellow pilots owned a Jeep dealership and was kind enough to get rid of a couple of riveting dents for me. These body guys can work seeming miracles. So you have options (and other folk will chime in with more) and the project isn't ruined. What you need to do now is give yourself time to get over the upset before you plunge ahead.

And, trust me, you will look back on this with both a sense of accomplishment for overcoming the difficulty and the kind of confidence that allows builder who really had accidents get their birds flying again. I'm not just talking my minor nose-gear incident in the RV-6A; I remember when Black Magic was damaged and Dana did his rebuild very publicly on VAF. Take heart, repairs happen.

Harbor Freight does indeed have planishing hammers. Somebody bought one for my chapter (32) years ago and it has never been used.

Jim Bower
RV-6A N143DJ
St. Louis

Boone, IA has a builder center doesn't it. Maybe some of the masters there could help. It looks to be just west of you, maybe a good drive for the repair and meet some new friends.

Just an idea. I know that beating metal takes some learning and sometimes one learns too much.

It always looks better in the morning.

seems fixable

Hi Dave,
If I were me, I'd drill out enough rivets to get access to the back sides of the skins, and then see how much I could fix by bending with fingers (as others have suggested). From there, maybe move up to a set of pliers with the the teeth ground smooth or a hand seamer. To finish off, I might slip a thin bucking bar/plate behind the skin and tap with a hammer (any hammer that doesn't require a trip to the store). Do a little at a time. It may never be perfect, but it's bound to be good to the point that you'll be the only one who knows there was ever a problem.
-Bruce

Go Easy with the body hammer...

I had a similar incident a couple of years ago when one of my wings slipped off of the table and the outboard leading edge hit the floor. I thought I was done for. I turned to the VAF for guidance and got a lot of advice on how to go about fixing it. I used a body hammer and a hardwood block sparingly, relying on my hands and a leading edge rib form to do most of the reshaping. The key is to take your time, be methodical. When using the hammer and wood block, use light straight taps. Aluminum will flatten and thin very quickly. After all was said and done, my repair is barely noticable to me. Others ask which wing was it. I say guess. Most get it wrong.

Good luck.

I like the advice others have given on repairs.

Rest assured that even if your repair turns out unsatisfactory, it really isn't all that bad to re-skin an elevator. I happen to know from experience. The best part is realizing how easy skinning an elevator is now that you have all the experience of wings and fuselage under your belt. It goes so fast and seems so easy that you'll wonder what took you so long the first time around.

I often wonder how much more quickly I could build a second RV. Doubt my wife will ever let me find out

Lead bar

First, severely scold the garage door. Take a day to settle down. Then get a win back by fixing this unfortunate event.

Body shop magicians also use a pliable lead bar which is roughly 1/2" thick x 1.25" wide x 12" long. This is heavy yet gives a little on each light whack. It does not take much to move aluminum. Go slow, do most of the work with your hands and fingers then the remaining work with very light taps of the lead bar with a solid piece of dense wood underneath. tap, tap tap, check, tap, tap, tap, check. (don't TAP, TAP, TAP) I used this strategy to reform the tip up canopy mis-design frame on the starboard side of the 9A. That lead bar moved the steel frame into place and looks better than when I started whacking on it. No more 3/16" gap.
Go slow. You can do it.
Pat Garboden
Katy, TX
RV9A N942PT

Good advice from others

Dave,

You got lucky. I've had two unfortunate incidents while I am trying to paint my parts which fail off my paint rack. One was the horizontal stab that caught a aft corner. A friend helped me straighten it the best we could and the skin area was filled with epoxy at a slight depression. The other happened last week in which my right elevator fail off the rack catching the right aft corner. In my case it bent the skin, wedge and ripped some trailing edge rivets out. I did order a new skin, wedge and stiffner ribs because of the rivets tearing from the rivet holes. Following the advice of other posters I think you can get yours back pretty straight. If the wedge had gotten bent then I'd say no. Just move onto something else for the shock to reside and then tackle it slowly when your mind is in a better place.

As far as my elevator I get a chance to do it better the second time around.

Elevator plan of attack

First of all - thanks to all. Here is my plan:

Step 1 ) scold garage door: COMPLETE. I may have done slighty more than than "Scold". The real problem is that I overloaded the storage shelves above the door. All the stuff up there that got in the way has been relocated.

Step 2 ) Do something else: UNDERWAY. I'm going to profoundly ignore the bent elevator until I have flaps moving up and down correctly on my plane.

Step 3 ) Repair. After studying the part and reading the posts, and watching some amazing videos, I have decided I can fix this. Unfortunately I need to get inside to back up the metal (and smooth it out from the inside) and because of the way the structure is built, I'm going to have to go in on the trailing edge. I'm going to drill out 10 or so of the double flush rivets and the skin to rib rivets and work a razor blade thru the proseal until I can peel open the skin. Then I'll unbend the skin from both sides.

I can also slide in my small steel back rivet plate and use that to tap against. I may even try the rivet gun as that looks just like those cool pneumatic planishing hammers in the video. I will approach this slowly and carefully. Hopefully I'll get it straightened out and just have to re-seal and re-rivet some of the trailing edge.

I'll post some pics as it moves forward. Thanks again!

all repaired!

First of all - thanks to all who replied and especially those who PM'd.

The executive summary - my elevator is now no worse than the rest of my tail (wow, I have sure gotten better since then). I was able to build on this weekend:


The fix turned out to be pretty easy. After reading all of your suggestions, I decided to modify Rocketbob's idea:

rocketbob said:

It would also make straightening the skins out go a whole lot easier if you could drill out about 8" of the rivets on the trailing edge...you could then pretty much straighten the skins with nothing more than your fingers.

Click to expand...

Since I really like my trailing edge and it was still straight... and also because I prosealed it together, I decided to leave it alone. I drilled out 7 or so rivets holding the skin to the end rib and was able to slip a variety of tools inside to back up the skin. A lot of patient hand work, and even a few light taps with the rivet gun, and it is pretty much gone. I had forgotten how thin the elevator skins are. I was able to get most of it out with finger pressure only.


Here are the final results. The second picture looks worse than it really is.