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DIY back rivet plate

Rainmaker

Rainmaker

Member
Ok first post. here it goes...

Just getting started on project. Mostly getting workshop and tools in order. I thought I would save a few bucks and pick up some mild steel for a back rivet plate. Found some great sources for steel, but looks like I'll neet to polish or smooth the surface myself. Any tips on how to do this? Scotchbrite wheel/grinder?
 
Rainmaker said:
Ok first post. here it goes...

Just getting started on project. Mostly getting workshop and tools in order. I thought I would save a few bucks and pick up some mild steel for a back rivet plate. Found some great sources for steel, but looks like I'll neet to polish or smooth the surface myself. Any tips on how to do this? Scotchbrite wheel/grinder?
Click to expand...

Good move making your own back-rivet plate! The ones they sell in the tool kits are so small and incredibly expensive.

I picked up a piece of steel at Lowes that and took it to a local machine shop and just stopped in without an appointment. They "grained" (almost polished) both sides of the plate and charged me $10. Took about 5 minutes.

I initially tried to do it myself, but there's really no way to get a perfectly flat surface if you try to use a scotchbrite wheel or grinder. If you've got a LOT of patience, sanding it with progressively finer grades of sandpaper is what you need to do. Hope this helps. Good luck.
 
BR the wing skins!!!

So, has anybody else tried the Wing Skin back riveting technique? I've been contemplating it, but can't decide. Seems the chance of screwing something up would be diminished.

I'm confident Sid has much more talent than I do, so I need a second, third, forth... opinion before I risk it.

Joe
 
If you get cold rolled (often called cold finish) steel, you don't need to do the milling or finishing work you do on "regular" carbon steel - beautiful finish manufactured in! I got an 8 foot piece 3 1/2" x 3/8" and a 2 foot 4" x 3/8" piece of cold finish steel from a "metal supermarket", which is a convienience store for metal - with convienience store prices for $70. Probably available cheaper at a regular steel yard, though you might have to order it.
 
I tried the back riveting method on the top skins of my Rv-9 wings. The back rivet set was about 10-12 inches long and a double offset. I found that I got much better quality shop heads using the conventional method. I just never seemed to get the technique down using the back rivet set.

I hold the rivet gun in one hand and hold the mushroom set with other to keep it from skating and the mushroom head is a 1-1/4 inch diameter with the swivel head and rubber ring around the perimeter.
 
Wow thanks for all the quick responses. I guess this forum really does work. Also nice to see some RVers here in Washington. I got a bench grinder last night from Lowe's. Tool collecting is like having Christmas every day.

Looks like I'll ask about the cold-rolled stuff first. For anyone in the Seattle area I have a found a place by the Ballard bridge called Online Metals. Looks to have everything and no minimums. They also have decent website:

http://www.onlinemetals.com/

I'll check it out in person today and report back.
 
Help required

jferraro16 said:
I'm confident Sid has much more talent than I do, so I need a second, third, forth... opinion before I risk it.

Joe
Click to expand...
Joe,

If I had help to do it the normal way I would have. Taping a couple hundred rivets in and hoping the skin or rivets don't fall out on the way to the table was a nightmare.

Even though you can rivet by yourself you still need help to get the wing on the table without destroying the skins.

If you can get a airplane friend to help you rivet the skins, do it the normal way.

Where do you live? I'm a few days away from putting the right wing skins on. :)
 
Sid--

I guess I'll drag the wife out to the garage and have her help then.

I was wondering how you held the skin in place with the rivets and moved the whole thing onto the table!

Good on you man, I'm impressed that you pulled it off. I'll just accept a few dents from my wife's riveting ability...cause I'm sure they won't be MY fault :D

Thanks for the advice--

Joe
 
Back riveting wings

jferraro16 said:
So, has anybody else tried the Wing Skin back riveting technique? I've been contemplating it, but can't decide. Seems the chance of screwing something up would be diminished.

I'm confident Sid has much more talent than I do, so I need a second, third, forth... opinion before I risk it.

Joe
Click to expand...
I back riveted all my upper wing skins. I have a back rivet bucking bar (looks like a dumbbell with a flat top), and a long offset back rivet set. Worked great. I had various non technical helpers (my kids, neighbors), and didn't want to have to train them how to rivet. Riveting an entire upper wing took about 1.5 hours at a very leisurely pace. I had marked the wing to show what rivets to use, since the helper inserts them (but you can see if they are right from the inside as well).
 
DIY plate

I did my own with a scrap piece of steel from my local welding shop for $6. It's 6x15, and I ground the scale of with a die grinder working my way through the grits to a nice polished finish. I think it took about two hours of grinding to get the polished finish from ugly grey scale.

9_4_05_005.jpg
 
Made mine

Yup I decided to make my own back rivet plate after going off the edge of the puny one that came with my tool kit. I picked up a 6" x 30" x 1/4" stainless steel plate. I sanded one side down to a smoth finish using a DA working my way down in grit.

On the second subject I've backriveted both my wing top skins and my fuse. I used the aformentioned "mushroom" or backrivet bucking bar along with a selection of backrivet sets. The result is nice shop heads and a nice smooth skin. As mentioned it takes just a few minutes to teach just about any helper to buck with great results.
 
One thing to watch out for, use thick enough steel. Hint: 16gauge isn't thick enough. See the "I hate mondays" entry in my build site... Ruined a perfectly good rivet.
 
Is this the one???

For those who back-riveted their wing skins...is this the bucking bar you used?

Avery #635. It says its 2 inches in dia.

Thanks!

Joe

(Doug--sorry for the "actual size" .jpg :( )

bb6354js.jpg
 
Yes, but any bucking bar will do just fine so long as the person holding it can hold a flat surface on the rivet head and skin. I wouldn't buy this just to back rivet unless you don't have something equivalent. Good luck.
 
Can I have my Merit Badge please

Ok so I finished the back rivet plate plus I need to practice uploading a photo so here's a pic of the finshed product.
workshop4kn.jpg

Steel: $8
Pressboard: $12
Glue: $3

Taking the scale off the steel was easiest with a paint removing wheel for my drill from Sears: $12

Just in time for Arlington this weekend. Now I can get the rest of the tools.:)

Anybody know if the tools guys have any specials on tools at Arlington?
 
Back rivet plate

Why are you guys grinding scale off? Just get cold-rolled steel plate! I bought a piece 1/2" x 6" x 18" at a steel service center (check local yeller pages) for about $22.00 It was already smooth, but I stopped by a local machine shop and when I told the shop forman what I was using it for he blanchard-ground the surface free of charge while I think I convinced him to build a Van's! Ask for cold-rolled, not hot-rolled and go with 1/2" or so. It's cheap!
dsc00881tw0.jpg
 
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