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Dimpled Rivet Removal on Painted Surfaces

M

montanaro

Member
Hello, I need to replace the hinge stock on my RV6 Cowling.

My aircraft is painted and I would like to do the least amount of paint damage as possible.

I have plenty of experience removing rivets of all types on unpainted sheet metal but am worried about the damage on the painted surfaces - particularly the cowling. It looks like the rivet head were slightly filed over/primed prior to painting as the painted surface is smooth and the rivets not visible.

Thanks,
David
 
very hard to do without making a mess. Sometimes *** you can use a sharp implement on the rivet head and succeed in chipping the paint off of just the rivet head. Then proceed as normal. If filler was used (oh, why do people do this...?) then even finding the rivets becomes difficult.
 
montanaro said:
Hello, I need to replace the hinge stock on my RV6 Cowling.

My aircraft is painted and I would like to do the least amount of paint damage as possible.

I have plenty of experience removing rivets of all types on unpainted sheet metal but am worried about the damage on the painted surfaces - particularly the cowling. It looks like the rivet head were slightly filed over/primed prior to painting as the painted surface is smooth and the rivets not visible.

Thanks,
David
Click to expand...

If the hinge and the rivet shop heads are visible from the inside, grind off the shop heads from the hinge [which you are replacing anyway]. You can now see the outline of the rivet, to center punch and drill it out from the inside. Once you have a pilot hole, you can always drill off the flush heads from the outside. Consider adding a paint stripe along the line of the paint damage to avoid having to repaint the entire cowl.
 
I believe they sell cutters that will cleanly cut the paint around the rivet head vs having it crack as the rivet head comes out. Less filler work required when using them.

Larry
 
lr172 said:
I believe they sell cutters that will cleanly cut the paint around the rivet head vs having it crack as the rivet head comes out. Less filler work required when using them.

Larry
Click to expand...

Hello,

I have seen and used the cutters for screws but have not seen anything for a flush head rivet. Aircraft Spruce and Omega Manufacturing make the cutters for screws.

Has anyone seen a set up that works for flush rivets?

Perhaps if you can grind and drill a small hole from the back through the head, you will have an anchor for the point on the screw cutter. It would be a bit of a science project though.

Thanks,
David
 
Assuming you can find the rivet, I've had good success using a gasket hole punch to score the paint. Then just drill out the rivet as normal and usually no chipping.
 
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