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remedy for bad work hammer skate

A

agfly

I'm New Here
So.... rivet hammer skated - fatigue to blame. Piece is sound - but blemished - I assume there's a method to roll that out?
 
Terminology

The term "hammer" is probably not appropriate. If you are using an air hammer instead of an aircraft rivet gun, you will get unsatisfactory result.
Your best bet is to have another RV builder or EAA Tech Counselor visit our build to give you pointers. Sometimes simply adjusting compressor pressure, or swapping the hands you use for the gun and bucking bar will improve results.
 
Learning to use either hand is necessary too I think. Pictures will help a lot. It took me a while to learn it but I set my rivet gun to a very low pressure for AD3 rivets and let it go longer. When I’ve got it right the gun doesn’t wander at all and it is almost impossible to overset rivets. The more the rivet is set the more force it takes to make further change. A very low but adequate pressure makes for great results with very little rivet set wander.
 
Thanks guys - I've got a bonafide 3x redbox.. and to quote from above "when pressure is set properly - almost impossible to overset" ... and nobody lose any sleep on this - just a toolbox kit. It took me a minute but I realized dialing my compressor down to 30 or so psi made all the difference in the world. Rv14a kit in the order queue ... I'm moreover asking the question - if that happens on a REAL piece - what do ya do?.... heh and asking the question "drill the rivets out get another piece start over" is an obvious answer.

...Happy to bear the burden of asking *******ery questions if it helps anybody else. Love the VAF.
 
I once had a similar situation (not from a rivet gun, but similar) and tried to hammer it out with a hammer and dolly, like I would on a steel car body. The aluminum shrunk much more than steel from this and created undesired bending of the sheet. My suggestion is to fill it with bondo or epoxy+micro over hammering or rolling, unless you have experience with stretching and shrinking Alum.

Larry
 
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Try a flush rivet set with a rubber ring, it will keep sliding and blemishes to a minimum.
 
Help

agfly said:
Thanks guys - I've got a bonafide 3x redbox.. and to quote from above "when pressure is set properly - almost impossible to overset" ... and nobody lose any sleep on this - just a toolbox kit. It took me a minute but I realized dialing my compressor down to 30 or so psi made all the difference in the world. Rv14a kit in the order queue ... I'm moreover asking the question - if that happens on a REAL piece - what do ya do?.... heh and asking the question "drill the rivets out get another piece start over" is an obvious answer.

...Happy to bear the burden of asking *******ery questions if it helps anybody else. Love the VAF.
Click to expand...

That helps a lot. Dents can be fixed, but I've never had much success. I've read rubbing with a spoon will take some out. The auto dent people can do some amazing work as well. Bottom line. A new part is probably not much more than paying a shop to fix it.

I recommend two things.
1. When you post a question, it helps to add some important details. Model, Drawing number, part number and a photo. It also helps the next guy running a search.
2. Find a mentor. Build the practice kit. Drill it apart. Reassemble it. Repeat. It will set good muscle memory and save errors on the airplane.
 
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