Fixing your mistakes, advice needed.

[tkatc]

So I joined the smiley club today. Doing my first rivets with a gun instead of a squeezer on the rib of the HS. I was very careful and moving along. The rivets were sitting flush and looked pretty good. I was feeling very proud of myself when the next to the last rivet wouldn't set completely. Not sure if I couldn't get the bar seated properly or what but I decided to give it some umphh to get it set properly. Perfect! The shop head formed nicely...then, I looked up and discovered the gun had strayed. A small dent, a smiley, and particularly disappointing because it now made the rivet stand proud as the skin was dented beneath the rim of the rivet.

I drilled out the rivet and tried working the dent out with a large screwdiver. This worked somewhat but it also flattened the dimple as I was prying between the rib and skin. At this point I figured leave it alone until you get some expert advice. I don't have a picture just yet...maybe later tonight. I suppose this is a typical experience in RV building...but it still sucks. Even if I decide to press on, how do I re-dimple a skin that already is riveted? There is no way to get a squeezer in there, of any kind.

[Mike S]

You can re-dimple it with the same dies you used the first time around.

You can drill a hole in the end of a piece of round stock to hold one of the dies,---I used a brass drive about 3/" x 6"---and another hole in something heavy that will fit in under the bottom area, to hold the other half of the dimple die set.

Have a helper hold the piece on the underside, with the female die in place, and using the round stock like a center punch, you hit it gently with a hammer on the top side of the dimple.

Hope this makes sense----almost as easy to do as it is to describe.

[AJ85WA]

You can always use one of these pop rivet style dimple dies. I found it a must have in my tool collection
http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...t=28965&page=2

You will have many moments like these through the build, You prob wont even notice most of them at the end Like everybody always says....Build on

[Andrew M]

I have a bucking bar that has a female "dimple" drilled and countersunk into it. It is used just for you situation. Place a rivet in the hole, hit it with a flat set to re-dimple, then set the rivet. It's not "perfect" but it's perfect enough for a few fasteners and the end result usually looks really good.

[tkatc]

Ahhh!! I have some of those pop rivet dimple dies! I will have to look and see if it is the correct size but I believe it is. I assume you can orient the dies in a manner in which I can use the pop rivet squeezer on the outer part of the skin? That would be awesome!!

Now...how about minimizing the damaged skin. I think I may be able to work it flat enough...Should I sand it or scotch brite it to remove the "lips" of the smiley?

[Phil]

Pop Rivet Dimple Die gets by vote. But it looks like others beat me to it.

Dimple it and see if the skin falls back into position.

Phil

[Bill.Peyton]

Unless you do not plan on painting... Drive on. Believe me, paint will cover it nicely. Sometimes you can do more damage trying to fix it. I assume you are using rivet tape to hold the rivet in. If not, use a little masking tape on the head of the rivet, it is less slippery than the bare metal. Just make sure you don't hide the rivet with t he tape and miss driving it on the center.

[rzbill]

Pop rivet dimple dies are gold incarnate.

There were a handful of times that nothing else would do the job.

There were even some times that the dimple dies themselves, sans nail, in a no-hole squeezer or some other Rube Goldberg setup was the trick.

Don't loose them.

[tkatc]

Pictures as promised...
Here is the top side. Looks pretty good IMO.


Here is where it got ugly...

[Mike S]

Originally Posted by tkatc

Should I sand it or scotch brite it to remove the "lips" of the smiley?

The skin is pretty thin on the tail feathers, I would be very careful with trying to smooth it by removing material.