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GO TO Protek Performance THE RV-7 AIRCRAFT BUILDING THE KIT e-mail: robert@protekperformance.com
OTHER USEFUL SITES Project started 8/15/01
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Finishing the leading edge of the rudder and elevators One of the more difficult tasks on the empennage is finishing the leading edges of the rudder and elevators. The problem is that a roll must be formed into the leading edge after the assembly has been otherwise completed. Van's has a reasonable method outlined in the instructions to complete this task. But after the recommended roll process, the leading edges still require quite a bit of coercing to get them into the correct final shape and position. I found that a two step roll process works much better and requires much less fighting with the edges to finish the part. First, I rolled the first inch of the material using a smaller diameter bar. I used a piece of
1/2" EMT, but solid bar would work better. The O.D. of the EMT was .7 inches. This provides a nice
start to the roll. Without this step, the first inch of the material does not get enough "overbend"
to retain a curve.
Second, I completed the roll process as suggested by Vans using a 1" diameter bar. This provides
an adequate "overbend" to the rest of the edge to leave a reasonable size roll when the bar is removed.
Then the leading edge is clecoed together. The clecoed leading edge can be final shaped by carefuly holding a piece of wood along the high spots in the edge and tapping the wood with a hammer until the desired smooth round shape is achieved. After closing with pop rivets, the leading edge can be shaped a little more to make it perfect. The above two step roll process yielded a nice result with much less stress (on me) than
the single roll process.
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