Attach air seal fabric with screws?

vbpiper · #1 12-21-2009, 07:50 PM

Has anyone attached the air seal fabric to the baffles with screws and large-area washers? I am about to attach the fabric and am considering using washer-head AN525 screws or regular screws and large-area washers rather than the supplied rivets. I guess the real question is: how long can I expect the fabric to last? If I need to replace it every few years, I think I will use the screws. If it lasts a long time, I will use the rivets and not worry about it.
Any thoughts are much appreciated.
Thanks.

kevinh · #2 12-21-2009, 08:34 PM

About 4 yrs for me and the rubber baffle material is still fine. Even if I had to replace it, I'd still prefer pop rivets because they are super fast to drill out.

Rockyjs · #3 12-21-2009, 08:45 PM

I considered using screws also, but in the end went with rivets. They are simple and I agree with Kevinh easy to drill out if necessary. The material will last a long time.

N941WR · #4 12-21-2009, 08:58 PM

Screws and engine vibration may not work out, long term. YMMV.

Jim P · #5 12-21-2009, 08:59 PM

For what it's worth, I used #6 Tinnerman washers and AN470A-4 soft universal head rivets and it seemed to work out well. I know a universal rivet isn't designed to fit a tinnerman, but being a soft rivet, it gives enough surface area with the washer, but doesn't crush the baffle seal too much when squeezed. I figured that I'd have to drill them out at soem time in the future so I wanted to make it easy on myself.

http://adap.com/rv7/IMG_0612.jpg

vbpiper · #6 12-21-2009, 09:03 PM

Looks like rivets it is. Thanks for the quick responses!