Are 12" back rivet sets worth it?

I just got an avery 12" offset back rivet set, to rivet bottom fuse skins and the firewall. unfortunately, i am having horrible results with it. the offset seems to be bending too much causing offset shop heads and such. it also requires increasing the pressure to the point that things are getting violent! my hit ratio is just too low to make it useful.

i want to return this long offset rivet set. however, i was wondering if the 12" straight set is better and worth exchanging for? i would imagine the straight set would give more consistent results?

also, with such a long reach, i can probably bend whatever piece out of the way that is interfering with the gun, that i could not do as easily with the short rivet set?

thanks for any feedback!

Jae

Offset Back Rivet

I used that 12" offset backrivet set with a lot of success to backrivet my wing skins. I really haven't needed it for the fuselage though.

Jim
-7 Finish

I used my 12" straight backrivet set quite a bit on my tailcone and really liked having it. The learning curve was pretty short and once mastered I am happy with the results.

Friggin great

I'm not sure what 12" backrivet set you have but I have three flavors of them and I love them. The key is the bucking bar and holding the set. Get the three pound bucking bar #635 from Avery that has a large flat mushroom head on one end. http://www.averytools.com/cart/pc-649-19-bucking-bar.aspx I back riveted the skins and the major portions of my fuse with very good results. My skins are very smooth with ZERO smiles. I found the double off set and single offset 12" backrivet sets tends to try to spin in the gun while bucking. To prevent this you need to hold the set with your hand while shooting . Your bucking buddy just needs to hold the bar flat against the skin as tight as they can. This is the opposite of a standard bucking bar that you allow to bounce just a tad to for the shop head.

The 12 inch offset bar from Avery or Cleaveland (I don't rmemeber which) is what I used to do my wing skins and I loved it. I would not want to use it and try to hold the bucking bar at the same time. As mentioned above it wants to turn and you need to hold it which requires a partner. Our use resulted in nice smooth skins.

Minority opinion here--for my wings, I tried the offset set from Avery along with the big bucking bar and found I (we) could do just as well, maybe better with a conventional swivel set and bucking bar, riveting from the outside, not the back. Others here have posted similar results in earlier messages and the opinion seemed divided, at least for the wings. Results may have depended on the skill level of the helpers. I had different people from first timers to A&P's helping on my wing skins.

Haven't used the offset set anywhere else--yet.

Thanks for the feedback. The main reason why i got the longer back rivet set was to help me rivet some of the fuse and firewall parts solo. i did several with the short set, and a longer one would have worked. it was either get a long straight or offset, and i guess i chose wrong. my bucking partner is only good for 20 minute stretches, so it makes progress really slow in these long riveting sections.

Jae

Need your recommended settings

I too have had very marginal results with the 12" offset back rivet and 3 lb Avery bucking bar. Seems like most of the driven heads are bent not centered. I've tried varying the pressure, tape/no-tape on the bucking bar. The results with conventional swivel set are so much nicer and easy, except for reaching between the wing doubler.

Nope- mushroom set and tungsten bar worked better

I bought one for the wing skins and found I liked the flush finish better with the mushroom set (with rubber protector) and a tungsten bar. I felt it gave me a smoother set on the skin face.

Besides- buy the tungsten bar and you'll never use another. Buy the 12" offset and only use it once in a blue moon.

jcmcdowell said:

I bought one for the wing skins and found I liked the flush finish better with the mushroom set (with rubber protector) and a tungsten bar. I felt it gave me a smoother set on the skin face.

Besides- buy the tungsten bar and you'll never use another. Buy the 12" offset and only use it once in a blue moon.

Click to expand...

I've gotten so good with the tungsten bar that I'll use it instead of squeezing if I can!

JC steered me away from the 12" back rivet set...

I have tried using the double offset 12 inch back rivet set several times and I just can't get a nice uniform head. They always seem to lean one way or the other. I get great results with the 1 inch mushroom head with the rubber ring and a bucking bar. One beer or 10 beers it's always the same.