Fuselage bulkhead rivets don't fit.

[ravenstar]

Has anyone else had any issues riveting the rear fuselage bulkhead doubler to the bulkhead? (This is page 4 of section 10, parts F-1211A and F-1211B.) I'm finding that the rivets simply don't fit any of the holes in the F-1211B doubler. I've tried almost every AN470AD4-4 rivet I have in every hole of the doubler, and they just don't fit. They do go through the holes in the F-1211A portion just fine. I don't see any steps to final drill the F-1211B #30 holes, but it looks like I'm going to have to do that. Unfortunately I didn't notice this problem until after I riveted the three flush AN426AD4-4 so I'll need to drill those out if I need to go back and resize the holes.

Has anyone had a similar experience or have a better idea?

[JwWright57]

I don’t remember having to final drill those holes. Make sure you have the parts oriented in the correct direction.

[N8DAV8R]

Originally Posted by JwWright57

I don’t remember having to final drill those holes. Make sure you have the parts oriented in the correct direction.

I don't recall having to drill them either.

When you say they don't fit in any of the holes...is this something you tried when the parts were separated? Have you tried putting one in from just the doubler side to see if it fits in the parts individually? I recall this is one of the earlier stages where you have #4 rivets and a number of thicker parts involved so I'm wondering if you're really dealing with undersized holes or maybe just slightly out of alignment.

[Bob Y]

I don’t know if any of these will help you out, but these are the photos I took of this area during my build.

[RFSchaller]

As I recall there were 1/8” rivets that were a bear to squeeze. Otherwise no issues.

[ravenstar]

Originally Posted by N8DAV8R

I don't recall having to drill them either.

When you say they don't fit in any of the holes...is this something you tried when the parts were separated? Have you tried putting one in from just the doubler side to see if it fits in the parts individually? I recall this is one of the earlier stages where you have #4 rivets and a number of thicker parts involved so I'm wondering if you're really dealing with undersized holes or maybe just slightly out of alignment.

That's right, with the parts separated the rivets fit easily as expected through the F-1211A bulkhead, but they don't fit the F-1211B holes. I managed to force a couple into the holes using all my strength to push them in, but even then I could not get them to sit flush and had a terrible time pulling them out. Mangled several rivets with pliers removing them. It's clearly not a misalignment problem, and there's no doubt the parts are properly oriented.

I've noticed a few discrepancies between parts and plans in this section which leads me to wonder if final drilling these holes is another difference.

[PaulvS]

If the factory-made holes are clearly a little bit under-sized then I would just run a #30 drill bit through the assembly from the side that has the correct size hole. Just be careful to keep the drill bit perpendicular.

[Piper J3]

Originally Posted by PaulvS

If the factory-made holes are clearly a little bit under-sized then I would just run a #30 drill bit through the assembly from the side that has the correct size hole. Just be careful to keep the drill bit perpendicular.

Might be best to use a reamer...

[rvbuilder2002]

The following thread has some good information that might be helpful.

https://vansairforce.net/community/s...hole+tolerance