Tip: Engine Baffle Material Install

I'm currently in the process of doing a complete rebuild on a 25 year old 4, engine airframe and also converting it to a fastback. Over the years I've used and seen many ways to attach the baffle material to the engine baffles, an rivets, soft rivets, screws and nuts, pop rivets and more. I don't care for most of these options but have had success with softened AN rivets with a aluminum strip inside. The photos attached show how I've done this 4. some of you may like it some may not, just posting for your info, also I looked a bit for past info on this and didn't find much if I'm just rehashing past stuff here just ignore.
Jerry

Interesting

I'm actually off the hangar today to start putting baffle seal on the baffles. Do I understand you that there is, or will be an aluminum strip? Is it under or over the seal?

No alum strip on this setup but you do need one if you use rivets. The staples are actually for hardwood flooring, you can see the drill guide I used to do the holes in the photo lying beside the unibit. I just pushed the staples through, cut them to the desired length, lay the back (closed end of staple) on a long steel bucking bar and clinched the ends over with a small hammer. You can put them either direction I thought it looked better with the clinched end bedded in the baffle fabric.

That's very much the way the baffle seals were attached on my 1975 Grumman Yankee. the only problem I had was it was that after years of service, the steel staples didn't play well with the aluminum baffle material - galvanic corrosion set in, and the edges of the baffles became to rotten to re-use. But by that time, the baffles were pretty badly cracked, with numerous repairs.

Paul