Help with rudder rear rivets please

Hi. The rv 7 rudder rear stiffener rivets touch each other on the sides (not on top of each other) and only just…..but enough to see they impinge on each other before touching the AEX wedge. Most of my rivets are .038 to .045 thickness and a few down to .036…..one or two .033 but I was not going to remove them as more damage than good would result. If those rear most rivets were .050 and .122 wide they probably would not touch. Vans say “it’s totally acceptable to over set the rear rivets to avoid contact”. I think they would have to be squeezed to .025 or less to avoid it…..thoughts?

Yes one rivet has a small bevel on it which I did to avoid contact as I thought I’d have to drill it out anyway……leave it?

I could use my squeezer on the rear rivets to ease them all down a tiny bit.

I'd mash them down a bit more, then add a small amount of RTV/Silicone on each prior to closing out the trailing edge...

Looks good!

B

bjdecker said:

I'd mash them down a bit more, then add a small amount of RTV/Silicone on each prior to closing out the trailing edge...

Looks good!

B

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cheers I had to take them down to .022 to get them to clear so way below spec but thats what vans said to do...then had a day of underachieving by clecoing the skins back on to find the right skin nice and tight looks brilliant...left skin oil canning i cannot get rid of....cannot understand how it could be any different to the right one but it is....nothing hitting inside....the skin does it even when not on the skeleton....gets worse when fully clecoed down....its like stiffener number 5 from the bottom has stretched the skin....wish it had the RV8 rudder and i might still do that...so i shelved it and started working on the HS again.

swift12 said:

cheers I had to take them down to .022 to get them to clear so way below spec but thats what vans said to do...then had a day of underachieving by clecoing the skins back on to find the right skin nice and tight looks brilliant...left skin oil canning i cannot get rid of....cannot understand how it could be any different to the right one but it is....nothing hitting inside....the skin does it even when not on the skeleton....gets worse when fully clecoed down....its like stiffener number 5 from the bottom has stretched the skin....wish it had the RV8 rudder and i might still do that...so i shelved it and started working on the HS again.

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The fit improves when you remove the blue stuff.

You also might try a quick turn of your favorite debur bit in the dimples (concave side).

Another game to play is clocking the wedgeloks/clecos from hole to hole.

The -8 rudder is certainly do-able with minor changes to the fiberglass pieces on the vert. stab. rudder top and bottom.

Tiniest touch with a file…

Tiniest touch off with a file, and move on. Just clearing is good, you’re going to put a blob of tank sealant between them anyway once you go to close the skins, so the risk of them vibrating against each other and fretting in service is low.

AEX

I'm surprised they touch with the AEX wedge in place. I don't recall the rivets that close. I did have to touch up the ends of the stiffeners so the flanges would clear.

wirejock said:

I'm surprised they touch with the AEX wedge in place. I don't recall the rivets that close. I did have to touch up the ends of the stiffeners so the flanges would clear.

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Yup they do. The aex wedge is nearly sharp at the back so the edges should almost touch but the rivets hold them apart. Vans recommended to over set them which I did.

rjcthree said:

Tiniest touch off with a file, and move on. Just clearing is good, you’re going to put a blob of tank sealant between them anyway once you go to close the skins, so the risk of them vibrating against each other and fretting in service is low.

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Cheers. Yes I’ll use a blob of sealant between them