HS Rib Rivet Questions

Sorry for the barrage of questions! However, on the -9 HS....on the inner most rib (the angled one), I had one hell of a time shooting/bucking those three rivets that attach the front of the rib to the front spar. There was not a good way to get a bar on them, and the squeezer yokes wouldn't fit either. I have a couple of rivets that just don't look good. When bucked, the rivets appeared so long to begin with, that I don't have a good looking shop head. Not folded over, but not pretty in any respect.

Any suggestions? Or better yet, do you know if it is feasible to use a blind rivet in there? I just don't want to mess with any structural strength, but I have shot multiple rivets, only to have to drill out every one! Any suggestions? Again, the #8-length rivets just looked really long to start with, and it is tough to get a nice shop head with the angled space.

Thanks!

Trim down the rivet , thats what I did .. this may sound dumb but I have
done this a few times.. whatever it takes..

Danny..

I had the EXACT same problem on mine (now that I have replaced my 2X gun with a 3X, I am pretty sure that would have made a difference), but those rivets still give me heartburn. I botched em so many times I had one with a good size snowman and another that had to be filled with an AN3 bolt (per Van's)
Here is a pic...and this is the better side!

Like I said, I called Van's who first off told me that even a poorly driven rivet is about 95% strong and is usually better than drilling out and re-riveting (not to mention doing this 3 or 4 times like I did! They then said I could use CherryMax rivets in there and ream out the biggest hole for the AN-3 bolt. I do worry about structural strength, but no one who had seen it complete has said that it will be a problem...I still think about scrapping the whole piece every now and then though. Hope it helps! Email me off board at [email protected] if you want more before and after pics!

I know the other builders above already know this, but for anyone who is not at this stage yet, save yourself much heartburn and swearing (both present and future) and rivet those inboard-most nose and main ribs to the spar before you put them into the skin. Aside from the fact that this is not the order Van's suggests in the plans, there is no reason not to rivet them before you get the skin on. Once the skin is on it is very hard to rivet because of the angle problem. I learned from Will's mistake and I am very grateful that I had that advice. I didn't get the advice until after the right half of my HS was done, but it sure worked great on the left half!

Steve
2nd elevator trim tab almost done (and actually looking pretty good!)

Cherry Max rivets worked for me.

My local EAA advisor (A&P) introduced me to Cherry Max rivets to solve that problem. I needed to replace only TWO rivets with the Cherry Max rivets. You can see the results of my frustrations on page 2 of my web site.

http://www.n2prise.org/rv9a002.htm

Jerry K. Thorne
RV-9A N2PZ