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Do I need a longeron yoke

YellowJacket RV9

Well Known Member
Patron
Call me odd, but I prefer to buck rivets rather than squeeze them where possible, especially when there are a lot of them. Is there are any reason I can't buck the skin to longeron rivets? Don't feel like buying a longeron yoke if I don't need one. Thanks

Chris
 
One of my best build decisions was to buy a pnuematic squeezer and three yokes. In the begining I much prefered to squeeze rather than pound. I found many uses for all three yokes.
 
I bought one when I got to the fuse, for me, I can hand squeze a rivet better than shoot-buck. Thinking of those corner top triagle gussets to firewall, and the longerons. :D
 
I'm well into the fuselage, and at this point in the project I find that I'm shooting and bucking rivets that could be squeezed, especially if there aren't very many. The setup time just doesn't seem to be worth it to squeeze just a few.

As far as the longeron itself, most of those have to be shot and bucked anyway.
 
Never have owned a pneumatic squeezer. I either bucked or hand squeezed every rivet on the airplane. I am sure the pneumatic squeezer is very nice to use but not worth the extra money to me. The longeron rivets were all bucked with a rivet gun and bucking bar on my 9A.
 
Thanks for all the input. Never could bring myself to spring for a pneumatic squeezer, and since I've made it this far, I doubt I will now. Looks like I'll be fine without the longeron yoke. Thanks!

Chris
 
My kit was a quick build so I didn't do nearly as many rivets and so I didn't buy a pneumatic squeezer. Didn't REALLY need one, but I did use someone else's for a little bit and I'll tell you, IF I ever build again, I'm buying one of those right away! Worth their weight in gold I think!

Course though the OP wasn't really asking about pneumatic squeezers was he? :rolleyes:
 
There are many other places where the longeron yoke comes in handy to own other than just the longerons. I think you will be happy you have it the first time you use it.
 
No, you don't need to own a longeron yoke - but it is nice to have a friend who owns one.... :)
 
I don't think I could have gotten by without mine.

But it also could be that I was subconsciously finding more uses for it than necessary to justify the $$$.
 
I built my slow-build -7 without a longeron yoke and honestly never saw a need for one. Your mileage may vary, but here were my experiences:

1) The longerons themselves can be squeezed with a regular 3 inch squeezer yoke by simply turning the squeezer around and squeezing from the "inside" of the fuselage. Of course once you get aft enough on the fuse that the squeezer won't fit between the two longerons, you switch to bucking.

2) Never really saw a need for another yoke. Seriously. I used my squeezer all the time and there may have been one or two rivets that I couldn't squeeze where a longeron yoke would have been handy. Out came the back-rivet set and I just back-riveted the thing. An adjustable set holder for your squeezer makes it quite the versatile tool.

Again, tools are always a good thing to have sitting there ready to be used, but my opinion is that I wasn't going to spend a couple hundred bucks (pun intended) on something that probably wasn't going to add a lot of value to my project.

FWIW: I'm in the minority on this issue. People swear by their longeron yokes, but I still don't get it.
 
I built most of my RV6 'no hole' kit (up to fuselage) without a squeezer ... Then I got a good deal on a second hand unit and bought it ... you always need more tools, right ... :)

The deal included a 3" straight and a Longeron Yoke ... I have to say I have used the longeron yoke 80% of the time .. when I do use it (I tend to stick to my Cleco 2E and Sioux 3X gun most of the time) ... I find it a lot easier to get into 'had to reach places' .. around flanges etc... with the Longeron Yoke
 
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