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1. 07:59 AM - Battery Box Problem - Anyone Else? (Tim Olson)
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| Subject: | Battery Box Problem - Anyone Else? |
When you get to the firewall, you have to beware. I've been finding
more and more plans errors lately as I'm moving ahead. If there is
anyone up to the same spot I am, I am unlikely to be the only one with
this issue. If you also have this issue, I'm hoping to join up with you
and share the cost of some parts to repair it.
Let me explain:
In the plans, there are many areas on the stainless firewall that they
tell you "DO NOT DIMPLE". There are also areas on the underlying
support aluminum that they tell you "DO NOT COUNTERSINK".
The battery box gets riveted on to the forward side of the firewall
using countersunk rivets. The INTENTION is to countersink the battery
box and rivet it to the firewall. The reality, in the current version
of plans, is that you end up dimpling all those holes in the firewall,
and countersinking the aluminum supports under them. So, now you'll end
up with a battery box that is laid on top of countersunk/dimpled
holes...creating a gap, and then you countersink the battery box for the
actual AN426AD4 rivet.
So, DO NOT DIMPLE OR COUNTERSINK the holes for the battery box as the
plans tell you.
I emailed Van's support after finding this all out the hard way, and
after a few days I finally got a reply that I didn't really like. It
wasn't discussed with engineering...just off the cuff. The suggestion
was to just rivet those dimpled holes with nothing in them, but then
move the battery box over and re-drill new holes. The firewall supports
being somewhat structural, I wouldn't do this without engineering
blessing, but beyond that, now your battery box location is shifted and
who knows what may be affected later on.
From the discussions I've had with tech support, it sounds like they
are highly unfamiliar with the kit thus far, as you'd expect, because
they need to learn as they go just like we do. Only engineering knows
the intention, or structural concerns, so any RV-14 specific questions
need deeper investigation by them until they learn it too.
I did find a better fix. Genuine Aircraft Hardware sells some
Countersunk Repair Washers/Plugs, p/n LS5931A71, that are designed to go
into a countersunk hole if you later need to cover it with a flat
material or a round head rivet. It's a cone-shaped filler. It would
fix the issue nicely.
The only catch is, they are sold in 100 packs only, at about $56 per
pack plus shipping. We only need 19 to fix a battery box. If there are
enough of you out there who have dimpled this area, then I'll consider
ordering a 100 count pack of them and splitting it up. This being the
real fix, it would be good to do, but at almost 1/2 the cost of a new
battery I don't want to swallow it all alone if I don't have to.
Anyone else up to this stage with the same issue?
Tim
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