Silver (bare) Rivets??

[gpiney]

While taking inventory of my fuselage kit, I discovered one of the parts bags contained silver rivets. They were 426AD4-7 rivets I believe. If not '-7's they were '-6's. All other rivets were plated. Has anyone seen this before???

[osxuser]

As the rivets get older, sometimes the gold color fades. If they are AN4xxA something you are fine. Those A rivets are softer and usually silver. Do yours have the little divot in the head (marking to indicate AD)

[lostpilot28]

I was going to ask the same question, but haven't gotten around to it. I have a couple sets of rivets that are silver and I have been afraid to use them because I thought they may be softer.

Can anyone provide instruction on how to identify if a rivet is soft?

[gasman]

Originally Posted by lostpilot28

I was going to ask the same question, but haven't gotten around to it. I have a couple sets of rivets that are silver and I have been afraid to use them because I thought they may be softer.

Can anyone provide instruction on how to identify if a rivet is soft?

A soft rivet has no dimple. It can be used for nut plates, fiberglass and other non structual items.
AD rivets have A Dimple on them.

[az_gila]

Yep.... the soft rivets have no markings on the head - our "usual" ones have the dimple mentioned above.

Check out AC 43.13 for the list of marking options.

I have the rivet spec. at home (not there now) and IIIRC the spec. does not specify a color for the finish. Silver or gold are both acceptable...

Ones that are dyed specific colors should probably be avoided, since they mean special cases...

gil A

[lostpilot28]

Originally Posted by gasman

A soft rivet has no dimple.

Perfect! Thanks.

[gpiney]

Just checked the silver rivets last night. They are AN426AD4-7 rivets. They all (randomly sampled) appear to have a dimple in them.