VS Covering Issue

[Mark Dickens]

Started covering the vertical stab this weekend and put the initial shrink on the starboard side. It pulled the side of the fabric way over away from the rib. There's no way I can pull it into the rib without ripping the fabric. I can't figure out what I did wrong. Any ideas?

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[AZBearhawk272]

Tricky area. I glued and double taped and rib stitched to the ribs before bringing in the final shrink.
Also put the fabric on a bias to help the transition curve down to the longerons.
Think I got smarter after 3 time…………
can’t prove that today.
Today I learned everything is easy till you try to do it!

Kevin D

[Mark Dickens]

All I've done is the initial 250 degree shrink. I can't imagine going to 350 and attempting stitching

[Mark Dickens]

Looking at photos of Companion #1, there aren't any evident rib stitches for that rib. On some photos of 4 places I've seen that rib seems to be only partially stitched

[Mark Goldberg]

Part of the trick to have this area not pull away as much is to not shrink too much down below the ribs of the VS. I have also seen builders glue balsa wood to the rib flanges to get the fabric close enough it can be rib stitched.

[Utah-Jay]

Looking at photos of Companion #1, there aren't any evident rib stitches for that rib. On some photos of 4 places I've seen that rib seems to be only partially stitched

Let’s see if we can get N942VT to jump in with a solution

[jim.mclaughlin924]

I posted some pics of the method I used back in 2016. It was easy and worked well. I wanted to fully tension and did not like the look of the rib stitches pulling the fabric in..

[stinger]

2017-07-04 Summer 2017 003.jpg Mark,by all means once you have both sides covered and progressively bring each side up to full temp keeping tension the same. I did not stitch the bottom rib however I did put a tape there to protect. Stinger

[whee]

I did the same thing on my 4-place.

[Mark Dickens]

I ripped the old fabric off and am taking a different approach which involves wrapping the VS by itself and then when I cover the top of the fuse, I'll bring the fabric back, split it and then wrap it around the already covered stab. All of this will be attached to the bottom rib with stitching, tape etc. The thing I really like about this is that the stab is covered normally and is able to be fully shrunk and the tape on the bottom rib will hide the interface between the two pieces of fabric.. Here's a photo of the covered stab. It's a one piece wrap. Very happy with how it came out

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[Utah-Jay]

Looks good

[N942VT]

Let’s see if we can get N942VT to jump in with a solution

No need to stitch that rib

[Bcone1381]

I agree no need to stitch this area. Most dont.

For those researching ideas, here is Another way to do it. I wanted the profile to match the bottom rib so I improvised a plan and consulted with my covering mentor. .025 2024 aluminum was wrapped in Chaf Tape, then stitched. It received finish tape nice. Its not painted yet but appearance is nice yet different. I'm not the first to do it this way.

I applied the fabric to the vertical stab area then barely shrunk the area between the middle rib and the longeron...it was just taught when pulled to the bottom rib before stitching the bottom rib. I then shrunk it slowly stopping well before 350F by gaging fabric toughness by hand above and below the rib....I wanted tension to be equal. This part of the covering process has more art than science to it. I think I stopped shrinking at 300F, but don't recall exactly. As I was shrinking to bring it up to the final toughness, I stepped up the heat in maybe 20 degree increments.

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[Mark Dickens]

That's a very nice and neat installation. Sneaking up on the final shrink is what I will do with the final wrap around the VS. The VS itself is shrunk to 350 right now. One of the things you have to learn is that shrinking doesn't make the fabric any stronger. Watching all the videos makes you think that everything gets shrunk up to 350 and that's just not true. It's also implies that there are only three temps, 250, 300 and 350. Again not true...yes, I am learning to be more "artsy" with the iron, not that I'm anything like an artist! Hahaha

[Bcone1381]

Have you covered your elevators yet? Collin Campbell advised us to watch the shrinking on them as the opening for the trim tab will migrate and close up a bit as the fabric tightens up. I watched this and stopped striking at 300F to keep it satisfactory.

[Mark Dickens]

They are covered and fully shrunk to 350. I mounted the trim tabs for another reason and didn't have an issue that I noticed. I'll do it again today and focus on that.