Local sources for Blind (pop) Rivets?

Good evening,

As I rivet the rear spar of the -9 HS, the plans call for blind rivets on the rear ends of the inner ribs. There are 6-ribs with 3-holes each, and I don't have 18 of the rivets it calls for. After using what I needed to previously, it only left me with a few.

Question: rather than waiting on Vans to ship me some (and pay a large shipping & handling charge for these minor parts) does anyone know of local sources which may also be common to the Dallas-Fort Worth area?

Also (I forget the part/bag number), however, I do have a huge quantity of other blind rivets that came with the empennage kit. They look the same as the ones required for the rear ends of the inner ribs; except they seem to have more of a squared off head, versus the rounded off heads. Could I use some of those?

Thanks for any suggestions. As dumb as it sounds, I must believe these are not your average Home Depot "pop" rivets. And I surely don't want to make assumptions on something so critical. Can anyone shed some light on this for me? Thanks!

Van's is very good about making up for parts shortage if you contact them in a timely manner after receipt of your kit. Example, they sent me the wrong elevator nut plates (-1000s instead of -1100s). The US mule dropped off the right parts a few days later. No cost.
Another case, the -9 rudder uses MK-319-BS pop rivets. They're not included with the kit. As we all know, the -7 uses the identical rudder however the -319s are included (per the parts list on this site). Call to Van's. The rivets arrived 4 days later on their dime.
PS, the -319 rivets are not available from fastener dealers unless you need thousands of them.
Steve

Gary, for some reason I ran short too. Probably should have called Van's on it, but didn't. One thing to keep in mind, those are just about the last rivets you set on the HS, and there's no reason to set them now. Just rivet everything else on the HS and pop those in next time you do an order. I had to wait to add the 2 on my rudder as well, but that's the beauty of pop rivets--you can close everything up and just put them in later. Congrats on finishing up the first part!

Steve

Follow up...

Gary--

I just realized I could have answered your question more directly. Stop down at a local FBO. I've gone to two different FBOs when I was one or two rivets shy (once for an oversize Cherry rivet) and both times they gave them to me without letting me pay for them. Obviously, I try not to take advantage of this, but I think they realize that in the future they will get their money out of you--plus, they're just (usually) good people.

Steve

FBO paybacks...

I did the math about FBO paybacks...

New airplane, 40 hours of test flying, 7.5 gallons per hour of 100LL, equals 300 gallons....$$$$$$

Jerry K. Thorne
RV-9A N2PZ
(moving to the airport very soon)