Need advice on VS const.

I know I'm not building a space shuttle, but also don't want the wheels (or tail) to come off of my truck. In riveting the 706 nose rib and 704 root rib to the 702 front spar of the VS, I ended up with a .025 gap between the nose rib and spar on one rivet. Not sure if this is acceptable, but sure don't want to attempt to drill this out if not necessary. The pic does not show the gap real well, but it is there-measured it with a feeler guage. Also, I drove two rivets one direction and the offending rivet driven opposite direction--brain fade! Advice/comments appreciated.
Thanks,

Sky
8/8A?

Hi,
it is always preferable to put the manufactured head of the rivet on the thinner material just to avoid this problem.
I think drilling out the rivet will result in major damage. Wait for other suggestions, but I'd leave it as is.

Bad riveting

There should be no gap, call your EAA chapter find someone that can walk you through it in person. You will probably have to drill out many more, might as well learn now. Slow down think you moves out before you execute, also there are some videos on the EAA hombuilders hints that show removing a rivet.

Put a couple dozen rivets in a piece of scrap and practice drilling them out. Use a drill bit that it just smaller than the hole that the rivet is in (about one number size smaller). Don't try to drill through the whole rivet, just drill far enough to make the head really weak then pop it off by sticking punch in the hole you just made and prying, ever so slightly. The rivet will usually come out pretty easy.

If the rivet still won't come out then drill an even smaller hole all the way through the rivet and that'll weaken it enough where it'll come out. This method minimized the chance that you'll oversize the hole too much.

I hope that this makes sense. It's really not that hard to do. Just get the right tools and practice a few times.

The rivet you pointed out is not ideal, but is fine structually. It is best to have the menufactured head on the thinner material to prevent the "lift" you are seeing. It is not always possible to install the rivet that direction due to access. I say leave it and move on.

I agree!

WingsOnWheels said:

The rivet you pointed out is not ideal, but is fine structually. It is best to have the menufactured head on the thinner material to prevent the "lift" you are seeing. It is not always possible to install the rivet that direction due to access. I say leave it and move on.

Click to expand...

Colin is right. The rivet is not ideal but is perfectly acceptable in this case.

In this case there is no side with thinner material. Unless I'm mistaken, there are rib flanges on both sides of the spar.

Thanks for the replys--

I have no problem drilling out rivets--done plenty and have only ruined a few holes. However, I didn't want drilling in a bad location to go from "not good" to "much worse". Unless the rib is bent up to get a straight shot with the drill, the other alternative is to use a angle drill, and this just didn't seem like something that would have a good ending. In this case, the root rib and nose rib are of the same thickness, therefore, I don't believe it matters which side the maufactured head goes on. Thanks again for the replys.

Sky

Drilled it out--

Drilled out the rivet last night--no problems. Added back a rivet (orientation like the others). Now, everything is back as it should be. Again, I appreciate everyone's comments and advice. Some year (??????), hope to meet other members of this board at Oshkosh.

Sky
8/8A?

I drilled mine out...not once but twice....waiting for the new ribs to come with my Opps rivets....****!