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HS Inboard Nose Ribs Rivet Order

Everwild

Well Known Member
A question for -10 builders. Is there any reason not to rivet the HS inboard nose ribs to the front spar before inserting everything into the skins?

Vans has you rivet ALL nose ribs into the skins first, then try to rivet the inboard nose ribs to the front spar and inspar ribs. There are 10 fairly tight rivets in there.

It would be a lot easier to rivet the inboard nose ribs to the spar assembly while I have good access to it. Easier to flex them out of the way for gun access. The inboard nose ribs can still easily be riveted to the skins with a squeezer once the entire assembly is dropped in.

Any reason you can see not to change the riveting order slightly in this way?
 

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These Ate Our Lunch

David,

These rivets were very difficult for us. We enlisted some help and learned there is an inexpensive long cupped rivet set which makes all the difference in the world. I bought one like the one in the link below. BUT beware: it requires MUCH more pressure on the gun to control and drive the rivet. The one below might be what you need, I don't recall the exact rivet size. PRACTICE 20 rivets per day for 10 days with the set before trying to drive the actual rivets. Also be very careful with the bucking bar. There's a guy here (don't recall who) who used a 3-d printer to build a jig for holding the bar in various conditions. Neat stuff.


Lastly, I don't recall the plans at the moment, but I think the stack up is 4, or 5 layers including the ribs on the aft side of the spar. Be careful about making things more difficult by trying to simplify this step. We chose to rivet last which may have contributed to the challenge.

While you are at it, we also learned about the following bucking bar at the same time we learned about the set above. We use it on skins as our first choice when back riveting.


Both venders are reputable. We love Cleaveland.

Best of luck and let us know what you decide.
Mike
 
Best of luck and let us know what you decide.
Mike

Thanks Mike! Long shank 1/8 rivet set ordered. I have that round back rivet bucking bar and looking forward to trying it.

I've had good luck with cardboard and electrical tape to nest my small tungsten bucking bar next to ribs. I found once you get the set-up right, it's a matter of holding it against the rivet and adjacent rib with the right pressure.

Will post the results in a week once the rivet set gets here.
 
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