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Fwd. baggage door rib riveting technique

gblanck

gblanck

Well Known Member
I'm having way too hard a time setting the rivets on the forward baggage door forward and aft ribs to the outer skin. I've tried several different techniques from just a normal flush set and bucking bar to back riveting with an offset bar from the back.

After some experimenting, my biggest problem seems to be the flanges on the rib pulling away from the skin while I'm riveting- I end up with a decent rivet but a gap between the skin and the rib. The pieces sit flush prior to driving the rivet.

Any suggestions for techniques to set these rivets properly?
 
Tubing trick

Greg, cut a piece of small diameter rubber or soft plastic tubing to the length of the rivet tail or just slightly longer. Place the short piece of tubing over the the rivet tail and then buck or back rivet. The tubing will hold the flange down while the rivet expands. You only need to tap the rivet a couple of times to expand it enough to hold everything in place and then you can take the tubing off and finish setting the rivet.

-Chris
 
Rivet

Take a small piece of baffle rubber 1/2" wide 2" long punch a hole the diamiter of the rivet on one end. When you rivet the rubber will hold the pieces together while the rivet expands.
 
getting better

Thanks for the suggestions.

Using a piece of fairly firm foam with a hole in it for the rivet body helped a lot, but not quite all the way there yet. I'll try something stiffer (baffle material sounds like a great suggestion) and hopefully that will get the job done.
 
Just a thought

What if you used the old trick of clecoing the whole assembly together with proseal and then riveting after the proseal has dried in a few days?
 
I super glued a small grommet on the die on my hand riveter. You just rivet as normal and the grommet pushes the parts together

Dave
 
All set

Thanks for the pointers. I took a couple of days away from the baggage door to regroup and got back to and finished it today.

After experimenting with a few different materials and techniques, what worked best for me was backriveting using a notched bucking bar and a strip of the thickest baffling material I had around. It was also helpful to clamp down the work to ensure the machined head of the rivets sat flat on the steel plate.

-Greg
 
gblanck said:
Thanks for the pointers. I took a couple of days away from the baggage door to regroup and got back to and finished it today.

After experimenting with a few different materials and techniques, what worked best for me was back riveting using a notched bucking bar and a strip of the thickest baffling material I had around. It was also helpful to clamp down the work to ensure the machined head of the rivets sat flat on the steel plate.

-Greg
Click to expand...

Greg,
Would you mind posting a photo or two of the notched bucking bar setup?
Charlie
 
back riveting tool

Would this tool from Avery solve the problem? It presses the material down before riveting...

gULYU.jpg


http://www.averytools.com/prodinfo.asp?number=4595
 
The easiest way to do this task is bucking with 2 guys - one holding heavy off set bar, the other holding the skin to the rib while hitting the rivet with the gun.

We did this this morning, it took about 20 minutes and turned out perfect.

Now comes the less easy task, getting the door to sit flush in the fuselage and riveting the inside skin.
 
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