Longeron Fit?

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bullojm1
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Longeron Fit?

Post by bullojm1 »

Today I fit the longerons to the aft fuselage on my -7. The instructions tell you to align top of the longerons with the top of the side skins - easy enough. However, where the longeron passes over the F-711 bulkhead, the bulkhead interferes and makes the best alignment I can get about 1/32". To illustrate my point better, here are two pictures:

Pic showing the gap:
Image

Pic showing the interference:
Image

Anyone else run into this on their project? The the verdict on the right thing to do?

I appreciate any advice.[/img][/img]
Mike Bullock
http://www.rvplane.com
RV-7 | Superior IO-360 | Whirlwind 200RV
Garmin GTN650 | GRT Dual Sport SX EFIS
Status: FLYING!

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cjensen
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Post by cjensen »

Hey Mike,

I just went out and looked at mine, and I had a similar, but slightly smaller gap than 1/32. I just left it alone. I don't think 1/32 is going to matter either. Just my .02...

:)
Chad Jensen
Missing my RV-7...
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bullojm1
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Post by bullojm1 »

Chad,
Thanks for taking a look at your fuse. After taking a closer look, my longeron was slightly twisted causing it to creep up. Once I clamped it down, it turned out to be flush.

Sometimes you gotta cry for help before you figure it out 5 seconds later ;-)
Mike Bullock
http://www.rvplane.com
RV-7 | Superior IO-360 | Whirlwind 200RV
Garmin GTN650 | GRT Dual Sport SX EFIS
Status: FLYING!

Spike
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Post by Spike »

Amen to that. I liken it to teaching. Having to teach someone about some subject is the best way to become familiar with it and to make sure you know it.

Good job !

Spike
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cjensen
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Post by cjensen »

Glad you figured it out Mike! I know just how you feel...
Chad Jensen
Missing my RV-7...
Vertical Power support
920.216.3699
http://verticalpower.com

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bullojm1
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Post by bullojm1 »

As a follow up, my original solution of twisting the longeron a little to make it line up wasn't the fix I needed. The twist cause the longerons not to be parallel with each other when a ruler was put between the two. i.e... they looked like they were pigeon-toed. I worried about this propagating to alignment issues with mounting the horizontal stabilizer later on.

To trim down the F-711A/B bulkheads without disassembling anything or marring up the F-711C bars, I used this trick:

Image

I was able to slide a piece of thick plastic between the F-711A/B and the F-711C. This acted as a guard to keep me from scratching the F-711C bar as I filed. After a few minutes, everything fit nice and snug. I supported the aft fuse by resting it on the end of the F-711C bars so that the longerons could hang down. The only disassembly needed was a few clecos holding the side skins on the aft fuselage.
Mike Bullock
http://www.rvplane.com
RV-7 | Superior IO-360 | Whirlwind 200RV
Garmin GTN650 | GRT Dual Sport SX EFIS
Status: FLYING!

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