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delusional

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On the right elevator I managed to avoid blind rivets entirely, but the plans and drawings seem a bit ambiguous in places as to exactly which blind rivets could be solid instead if one cares enough to make a special tool/tool holder or just recruit a person with small fingers to hold the smallest bucking bar available (no, not my kids, I mostly build from 10 to midnight and they are asleep, i hope)

I think I can avoid almost all of them on the right elevator, but I don't want to go to the trouble only to find out that the blind rivets are somehow "required" and i'm a scofflaw for using solid instead. Or worse, having to rebuild something because of some real or imaginary airwothiness issue.

I really like the fact that solid rivets are generally easier to remove if need be and probably do less damage, upon removal, to the skins. I don't care so much if they take a bit longer. And they are less expensive...
 
Yes, It is acceptable!

Feel free to substitute solid rivets for blind rivets anywhere on an RV9.
 
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Are you building a -9 or -9A?

Not that it matters about the blind rivets. Which by the way, are perfectly acceptable, just require some attention as in time they sometimes loosen up.
 
Bucking Bar on a Stick

I built a "bucking bar on a stick" for my RV-9A elevators. The "stick" was a piece of 3/4" x 2" x 68" steel bar. The bucking bar was a piece of 3/4" x 1-1/2" x 2-5/8" steel bolted onto the end of the stick. It had both ends polished and angled to match the elevator spar flange angle so I could do right and left elevators. Clamped the "stick" onto the workbench, slid the elevator onto it, used a tape measure clamped to the stick to show where the bucking bar was and solid riveted the skin to the spar. Worked a treat! No blind rivets in my elevators.

The "stick" also worked great as a weight to hold the ailerons and flaps down on the workbench when I was making them.
 
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