Leading edge dents

[wlarson861]

If you polish the plane and take it to a fly in the sun glare will keep the public from ever seeing those little aberrations. You will be the only one who notices. The bug juice from landing will need more attention than those little bumps in the skin. That said, I built a plane to fly not win awards :-)

[daleandee]

I built a plane to fly not win awards :-)

Hear! Hear!

That's why mine has what I now refer to as a 2200 paint job (name copyright pending):

20 feet or 200 miles an hour and it looks as good as anything on the field!

:lol:

Dale
N319WF
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYHTtb2C_ko

[Bryan Cotton]

Mine will win grand champion someday, except for all the mistakes and imperfections.

[pfhoeycfi]

I am looking for advice...my first set of leading edges had horseshoe shaped dents in them, several right at the bend making them unusable. I received two new leading edge skins and the left one has the same horseshoe shaped dent in it right out of the box, mid wing right on top (of course), 2.25" diameter. I'm extremely frustrated at this point. This dent is not at the bend but mid way between the spar and bend. I'm thinking maybe it could be "worked" in some way to salvage the skin. The new right skin also has a dent but one disaster at a time.

Has anyone had any success working out these horseshoe shaped dents and if so how was that done? I've been polishing as I go and had no plans to paint but this dent issue might force me to rethink how I finish the surfaces.

peter
SNB0021

[sonex892.]

Peter

See my post on page 1 of this thread.

Steve
Sonex 892

[bvolcko38]

I too have leading edge dents, cosmetic, but still troubling. They came from the wing cradle being wheeled off the garage floor onto the driveway and inch and a half drop. Gussets on the wing cradle touched the leading edge and made small dents. I bought a harbor freight hot glue dent puller. It worked great on the tailgate of my truck but the hot glue doesn't stick to aluminum. Open to suggestions.

BV

[Marrahm]

Gliston and a few others sell higher strength hot glues for PDR on amazon and elsewhere.
GlueSticksDirect PDR Paintless Dent Removal Sticks 10 Amber 7/16" X 10" sticks 11mm x 254mm https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AF0LY6E/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_Mc1YBbAB4PRC9

[Area 51%]

Those horseshoe shaped dents are a result of holding the edges of the skin together at a single point. They happen in an instant. Think oil-can. It is natural to bring the sides tightly together to remove (or replace) a skin from the box, or transport the skin. Get help, or fight the urge to bring the edges together close enough to touch each other. The safest way to carry the leading edge is by one edge only. If you reshape the radius to under 90deg or so, the problem is minimized.

If you are working alone, put tape across the gap on each end (leave at least a 4-5in gap) before taking the skins out of the box.

I went through 3 skins before I realized what was going on. I eventually ordered unbent leading edges and vacuum bagged them to take other people's inattentiveness out of the equation.

[chrisyk]

I had a problem with a couple of leading edge dents acquired while handling them. I managed to work them out before installing them on the the wing, working the back side of the dent out with a spoon and a bit of oil. A bit of elbow grease and patience. My wings are polished and I might be able to find them if I really looked for them.

[Area 51%]

If someone wants to practice polishing out the dents , you can have my leading edges. I can cut the flaw out and send just the bad spot (cheaper), or if you live in Northern Florida, the whole thing is yours.

If more than a couple of you want to try, I'm sure I can duplicate the dent.