ERushing

Well Known Member
Had a bit of trouble back-riveting last night. When riveting my elevator skins I was ?smearing" several rivets which would lead me to believe that either the work was moving or the rivet head was moving. I had the air pressure set at 20 psi. Any other ideas as to what I might be doing wrong?

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I have limited time to work this weekend and, rather than practice, I decided to figure out another way to get the skins riveted. Additionally, I don?t have an offset back-riveting set and the rivet next to the long vertical flange of the E-1008B rib half was going to be a pain. I figured out how to kill 2 birds with one stone.

A buddy had loaned me his Avery C-Frame and showed me how it could be used to set rivets (unlike my DRDT-2). A little work the the table saw & belt sander and a little tape and I had a substitute back riveting jig! I?m pretty sure I?m not the first to use the C-Frame as substitute for a back-rivet plate but?

It worked remarkably well. With the Flush Squeezer set in the C-Frame as the ?back rivet plate?, a piece of 2x4 cut and sanded to the same height as the head with a channel cut through it for the cleco?s, and a couple supports on either side, I was able to get extremely consistent results. Using the jig, I was able to back rivet an elevator skin in about 30 minutes without hurrying and with dramatically better results than I?ve gotten from using a back-rivet plate and set.

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Anyone see any downside from this method? I cover the flush rivet heads with scotch tape so no scratching the skin.
 
Backriveting

Downside? What ever works. Rivets look good. Maybe close to over driven but probably within limits.
Thanks for pointing out what that long rivet set in my tool box was for! Duh!:D
 
C frame back riveting will provide excellent, repeatable results. It's the only method IMO where you are guaranteed that the back rivet stem will stay 90degress to the rivet, provided your material is positioned appropriately (lying flat /supported). I don't use the standard C frame for anything else. There's also an excellent EAA video on it and a 1min clip from Cleaveland for anyone interested.
 
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