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how to shoot this rivet?

Desert Rat

Well Known Member
How the heck did you guys shoot this rivet? I must have 15 bucking bars including a couple made from tungsten helicopter mast weights that aren't much bigger than my thumb, and I cant figure out how to get any sort of bar on the back side of this thing. I can barely get my finger on it without a bar?

It's common to the skin overlap, longeron, and the strap that ties into the F-704 Vertical member, so I suspect it's kind of an important little fella. I'm going to call vans this afternoon and see if they approve a pull rivet here unless somebody offers up a better solution before then.
 

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Put a Cherrymax rivet in there. I had to use several in that area on my 6 due to access problems.
Stewart Willoughby, 6
 
Put a Cherrymax rivet in there. I had to use several in that area on my 6 due to access problems.
Stewart Willoughby, 6

What Stew said. You can fill the center hole with epoxy so it looks fine under paint, then build on!

The Mothership can offer specific cherrymax options, of course.
 
Back rivet strike plate?

Will the strike plate to your back rivet set fit in there? I used that in some tight fitting places. It took a couple extra bursts with the rivet gun but it worked fine.

Doug
RV-7
Flying!!!
 
For this rivet, and the rest of them along the side rails, I used a squeezer yoke for the bucking bar.
 
Home brew bar

No CherryMax in 3/32. You might ask Vans about going up to #4 and using a CherryMax.
I have a variety of home brew bars. I have a thin tungsten that fits almost everywhere. I often taped the heavy tungsten to it for extra mass.
The tight spots were done with a piece of steel thin enough to fit. Even a flat blade screwdriver will work. The heavy tungsten was taped to the steel bar as close to the impact point as possible. It adds the mass. Same problem with rivets near the roll bar if you have a slider.
 
No Cherrynax

I did not use a cherry max for anything on my build.(RV9 and RV7 have nearly same fuse) But I did use the end of a squeezer yoke, and the end of a chisel backed up with a bucking bar. Some required creative thinking.
 
No CherryMax in 3/32. You might ask Vans about going up to #4 and using a CherryMax.
I have a variety of home brew bars. I have a thin tungsten that fits almost everywhere. I often taped the heavy tungsten to it for extra mass.
The tight spots were done with a piece of steel thin enough to fit. Even a flat blade screwdriver will work. The heavy tungsten was taped to the steel bar as close to the impact point as possible. It adds the mass. Same problem with rivets near the roll bar if you have a slider.
There are no structural 3/32 Cherry Max rivets. 3/32 Cherry is NOT a Max and NOT structural.
 
no, they are 3's until you get to the 1/2 dozen or so up by the firewall.

Here's a picture of the backside.

I'm just looking for a silver bullet and there probably isn't one. I'm going to ponder this for a while and see what sort of Rube Goldberg bucking bar I can come up with.
 

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Bucking bar

Something like this bar might work, made from 3/8 thick structural steel angle.
 

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yup

no, they are 3's until you get to the 1/2 dozen or so up by the firewall.

Here's a picture of the backside.

I'm just looking for a silver bullet and there probably isn't one. I'm going to ponder this for a while and see what sort of Rube Goldberg bucking bar I can come up with.

Yup, I used a chisel with the tungsten bar resting on the chisel a little below the deck. I taped the chisel and bar together so it was easier to hold them at the same time.
 
Rube Goldberg

Yup, I used a chisel with the tungsten bar resting on the chisel a little below the deck. I taped the chisel and bar together so it was easier to hold them at the same time.

It works! Been there, done that many times.
I have a thin tungsten bar. It's about 1/4" thick. Works great for those tight spots. No idea where I got it but I can look it up in my records. When I tape the big tungsten to it, it's really got some mass.
 
Mild steel 3/8" thick or so (I keep a few laying around for just this sort of thing). Backed up with a heavy bucking bar for mass.
 

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Victory.

I looked at this again after sleeping on it and realized that the whole issue is that the aft lower edge of the forward canopy deck is in the way back there, and it's just a flange hanging in empty space.

Trimmed about 1/4" off it parallel to the longerons and suddenly I had enough room to get a 3/8" thick L shaped bucking bar in there.

Kudos to everybody who can stand on their head and use a screwdriver as a bucking bar, but I've tried stuff like that before and sad to say, thats a skill set thats hit or miss for me. this was eezy peeze.

Thanks for all the suggestions!
 

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Thank you for this suggestions. I am building a QB RV-9 slider and I had to drill out some of those handsome QB rivets to fit the upper front deck skin. As I was drilling I was wondering how I would get them back.
Victory.

I looked at this again after sleeping on it and realized that the whole issue is that the aft lower edge of the forward canopy deck is in the way back there, and it's just a flange hanging in empty space.

Trimmed about 1/4" off it parallel to the longerons and suddenly I had enough room to get a 3/8" thick L shaped bucking bar in there.

Kudos to everybody who can stand on their head and use a screwdriver as a bucking bar, but I've tried stuff like that before and sad to say, thats a skill set thats hit or miss for me. this was eezy peeze.

Thanks for all the suggestions!
 
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