Bent tabs in tight spaces

I think this has probably happened to a lot of builders. You're drilling/punching out a bad rivet in a super hard to reach spot, like the back of the empennage under the j-channel, and boom, you bent one of those annoying "tabs":



Ouch! Now what? Get the old rivet out of the way, and you still have that bent tab to worry about. Your fat sausage-like fingers are never going to be able to bend that puppy back to align with the hole AND get a rivet in there!



A precisely cut piece of wood to the rescue! Get it just the right length, jam it in there, and use a punch to carefully align the holes.



Then, get a pop rivet in there and grab a beer, easy job!

Driven rivet

For a driven rivet, i cut a sliver of windshield washer hose and press the bucking bar against the hose to push the tab into place. A few hits and then I remove the hose and finish setting the rivet.