Talked to Vans Support about my concern over the holes not exactly lining up in HS-710/714. It was a bit of a newbie wake-up call. I explained to him my issue with my hand drilled holes not exactly lining up. In short his reply was very simple. "Basically your forming aluminum with a hammer...how exact do you need to be"
His point was this....The airplane is meant to be built in a garage by an amateur. Sometimes things are not to a machinists standard. It's ok. He did say that a times some parts could be up to 1/4" out of alignment....no problem, its still going to fly fine. Again he re-iterated the fact that as long as you cleco everything up using the pre-punched holes.....your good. He did of course warn of the need to maintain proper edge distances, and proper riveting....you can't overlook those.
From his re-assuring confidence....I guess I'm not the only new builder out there that's panicking he cannot achieve machine shop tolerances in his garage with hand tools!
Lessons Learned
Try to draw center lines and reference lines as best as you can.....but if things don't line up 100%....don't sweat it...Build on!
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