[skydiverlv]

Some one please tell me the countersunk rivets on the spar stubs do not need to be flush. Neither side is flush with the shop end much high than the manufactured end. I was shocked when I unwrapped the spars to see this.
I know the rivets are much larger that what I have been working with but I would never let a job like that out of my shop and I am a first time builder.

 

[Geico266]

Can you post a picture?

 

[skydiverlv]

Pics

 

[Geico266]

They look normal to me, what I mean is that is what mine look like.

 

[rvbuilder2002]

LV (?)

Your photos are how the spar rivets are intended to be.

The manufactured heads are left very slightly proud as an assurance for mass production that because of countersink tolerance the rivet will always get squeezed tight into the bottom of the machine countersink (no chance of it being slightly too deep and having a poorly set rivet).

The shop head side is squeezed for a specific diam rivet head, not a flush one. Remember, these are BIG rivets (by light aircraft standards anyway). The rivet squeezer that is used to set these rivets is capable of making them nearly flush to the face of the spar web. The problem is, if that was done, the rivet head would produce such a high amount of pressure on the spar plate that it causes plastic deformation of the aluminum material within the taper of the countersink. This makes for a very ugly looking spar with probably sub standard strength also.

All RV-12 spars, since the very first ones on the prototypes, have looked just like yours.

 

[skydiverlv]

Thanks for the OK. Will move on and am thankful spars rivets are normal.

 

[Mich48041]

Fuselage skin spar slots

The Fuselage skin spar slots need to be trimmed so that the wing spar rivets will not catch. It is a lot easier to do that before the skins are riveted in place.
Joe

 

[BigJohn]

Good advice on enlarging skin openings. Go here: http://www.mykitlog.com/users/display_log.php?user=BigJohn&project=639&category=0&log=91097&row=173 to see how I did it with a keyhole shape. Make them big enough! They will not show when the wings are on. Wish I had made my openings even bigger. They still drag and make a terrible noise as the wings are installed!

 

[WingedFrog]

Thanks for the hint!

The Fuselage skin spar slots need to be trimmed so that the wing spar rivets will not catch. It is a lot easier to do that before the skins are riveted in place.
Joe

I like it when builders help builders... I will keep a tab on this one for when I work on fuselage because I doubt I would find it with the search function

 

[ErichKeane]

Ya, I wish we'd seen this in advance. We ended up tearing both side skins the first time we removed the wings :/ We basically cut them back as far as possible on each wing, fortunately they are covered by the wings.