Rivet not set correctly

[WVM]

Hi,

I had set myself a goal to finish the empennage of my RV9 before departing to Oshkosk. It didn't work out as planned... :-)
In preparation to glue the wedges of the rudder and elevators, I noticed by coincidence that some rivets are having a small gap in the dimple hole.

While having a closer look I noticed that there a quite a few with this issue.





It is rather a surprise because these are actually one of the more easy rivets to set as they are easy accessible and set with a hand squeezer.

Any idea how this happened? Seen this before? What would you do with them?

Thanks!

[Kent Ashton]

Your squeezer is just tilted a little or you are moving it laterally during the squeeze, pushing the shop head laterally. IMO, a few of those won't hurt. Go, and sin no more. :-)

BTW, keep your dies and bucking bars highly polished. When they get rusty or dirty, they will pull the shop head laterally and clinch rivets. A polished bar wil bounce around while you're driving but it it won't pull laterally on the rivet (unless you tilt the bar).

[wirejock]

Originally Posted by Kent Ashton

Your squeezer is just tilted a little or you are moving it laterally during the squeeze, pushing the shop head laterally. IMO, a few of those won't hurt. Go, and sin no more. :-)

BTW, keep your dies and bucking bars highly polished. When they get rusty or dirty, they will pull the shop head laterally and clinch rivets. A polished bar wil bounce around while you're driving but it it won't pull laterally on the rivet (unless you tilt the bar).

Agreed.
You could try another squeeze but they are probably hardened.

[Ron B.]

I had a squeezer that had a broken pivot pin but still holding and it would do this. Replaced the pin and it works great.

[Charles in SC]

Are you sure the hole was the correct size for the rivet. It looks like it might have been a little large. The flat end of the shop head looks square with the rivet. I would not think it would pull like that unless the rivet was to long, which it does not look to be, or if the squeezer did not squeeze square, but it looks like it did. I would work with some practice pieces until you find out why this happened.

[WVM]

Originally Posted by Ron B.

I had a squeezer that had a broken pivot pin but still holding and it would do this. Replaced the pin and it works great.

I use the squeezer from Cleaveland Tools and now you mention it, I had an issue with it a week after the first use. A dimple set was stuck in it and I needed to disassemble the squeezer partionally to get it removed. What do you exactly mean with "pivot pin"?

[WVM]

Originally Posted by Charles in SC

Are you sure the hole was the correct size for the rivet. It looks like it might have been a little large. The flat end of the shop head looks square with the rivet. I would not think it would pull like that unless the rivet was to long, which it does not look to be, or if the squeezer did not squeeze square, but it looks like it did. I would work with some practice pieces until you find out why this happened.

The size and length are correct and I hold it square to the rivet. Not all rivets have this issue. Talked to VAN'S and Cleaveland during Oshkosh and showed them the pictures. They also could really point out a reason after all the questions they asked me. VAN'S conclussion was technique, but was uncertain on the cause and Cleavelands guess was that the set was polished and advised to roughen it a bit. Yesterday I drilled out two of the rivets and replaced them. They now look good. Still going to check the suggestion from Ron, as I had issue with the sqeeuzer... I really like the sqeeuzer from Cleaveland BTW.