Van's K1000-08 Nutplates Have Limited Interchangability

[RV7ator]

The Van's style #8 two-lug nutplates currently shipping aren't wholly interchangeable with the old style, though Van's said they are in a 6-2009 RVator blurb. They are interchange in applications that don't require dimpling the lugs for flush rivets, but dimpled applications have their issues.

Van's now are a rectangular center cross-section tapering around the lug holes in sort of an elongated diamond shape. The style we've seen forever are a dog-bone shape. The wider cross section of the lug to the center of the hole, plus the material being .042 instead of .032 thick, causes the dimple tool to push away from center and form an elongated hole in the lug, and it takes obviously more force to form the dimple. Setting aside the extra strain on the dimple die, I foresee difficulty setting the second rivet after the first shifts the nutplate over its center, and, or course, greater difficulty keeping the thread concentric with the screw hole.

You may wish to use another source for nutplates requiring dimples.

John Siebold

[scsmith]

Dimpling the nutplate lugs is problematic anyway. The lug edge clearance is pretty small, and the stretching/forming involved in dimpling may cause cracks.

My opinion a much better way is to countersink the skin or part that you are attaching to. Remember, the lug rivets are only there to keep the nut in place and keep it from turning, so its not a big deal to remove material - even if it might knife edge...but there really is no excuse for that, if you use the small-head rivets that are commonly called "oops" rivets, but might be more properly called nutplate rivets. Rick Galati has been championing these for years. I tried them and I love them. The head is so small you can just put the slightest countersink in by hand with a quick twist of the cutter, and it makes a beautiful job.

[rv7charlie]

I tried countersinking (std size heads; I'm too cheap to buy oops rivets) & then tried dimpling the (old style) nut plates. No comparison. For me, the dimpled method kept the nut plate exactly centered behind the screw hole, while c/s removed so much material that the nutplate could move around while riveting, meaning that the screw hole was almost never lined up, even if a screw was installed while riveting. I hope the old style is still available somewhere else.

Charlie