Honest opinion on rivets

[marchudson]

I'm probably being a little too cautious but after riveting the ribs to the main spar, I noticed some lifting of the flange of the rib. I'm positive that the flange was flat against the spar whenever I started riveting but started to lift a little after I started bucking the rivets.

Looking at the opposite side of the rib, it looks like it is laying flat against the spar.

Have a look at the pictures and let me know what you think.

Thanks Marc

From the flange side



From the opposite side.

[DGlaeser]

Your rib looks great. You're working with sheet metal, not precision machined parts
Build on!

[Greg Arehart]

Looks fine to me. Sometimes if you overdrive the rivets they can cause a bit of buckling, but yours look like they are driven properly. Carry on and just get another 15,000 of these done like that and you will be well on your way to flying!

cheers,
greg

[Mark Burns]

Marc,
I've found that sometimes you'll just have a little puckering like that.
It's usually worse in a case like the rib shown where the shop head has to be on the side of the thinnest sheet.

Your shop heads look excellent!

Mark

[Rick S.]

Originally Posted by Mark Burns

Marc,
I've found that sometimes you'll just have a little puckering like that.
It's usually worse in a case like the rib shown where the shop head has to be on the side of the thinnest sheet.

Your shop heads look excellent!

Mark

Mark is right on about the shop head, I have read that if at all possible, you should place the Manuf. head on the thinnest material.

[marchudson]

Thanks for the quick reply guys. I'll keep driving more rivets.

Marc

[RV7]

As mentioned in the earlier posts, if you place the manufactured head on the rib (thinnest material), the lifting will be elimated. You can also reduce the lifting by using a rubber washer while riveteing. I use a rubber water faucet washer for this. You can even hit the rivets that are already set lightly with the washer in place and it will reduce the lifting.

[Sid Lambert]

I've noticed if the gun pressure is too high you will get this as well. Even though the rivet is set to the same length. Maybe it causes the rivet to expand in girth more with a few short hard hits than many softer hits?

These look good to me. I'd be happy with them.

[Rivethead]

If you can see seperation at the shank you need to replace. If the sheet metal is tight at the shank location but seperates between rivets you may be using to much air pressure. That's my rule of thumb.