larrynew
Well Known Member
Any reason not to flush rivet the rolled leading edges of the control surfaces like this:
I'm working on Van's practice kit (the instructions said I should end up with various dents, holes and other fumbles and I like to follow instructions) and I didn't like the way the pop rivets held the skin. It seemed to pucker the skin despite gently edge rolling the upper skin per Van's instructions. I previously edge rolled a top skin on Van's raw materials practice kit and it worked fine so I don't think that was the problem.
Anyway, I drilled out the pop rivets and tried countersinking and flush riveting like shown in the picture above. The "bucking bar" I used is a metal bar a neighbor gave me. We don't know what it's made of but it's very heavy and never rusted or tarnished after 20 years outside. It's about 8' long and I suspended it between my two EAA 1000 workbenches with the control surface "threaded" onto it.
I'm not going for show plane perfection. This was just very easy and fast and the overlapped skin looks much better than with the pop rivets. Any reason not to do it this way?
I'm working on Van's practice kit (the instructions said I should end up with various dents, holes and other fumbles and I like to follow instructions) and I didn't like the way the pop rivets held the skin. It seemed to pucker the skin despite gently edge rolling the upper skin per Van's instructions. I previously edge rolled a top skin on Van's raw materials practice kit and it worked fine so I don't think that was the problem.
Anyway, I drilled out the pop rivets and tried countersinking and flush riveting like shown in the picture above. The "bucking bar" I used is a metal bar a neighbor gave me. We don't know what it's made of but it's very heavy and never rusted or tarnished after 20 years outside. It's about 8' long and I suspended it between my two EAA 1000 workbenches with the control surface "threaded" onto it.
I'm not going for show plane perfection. This was just very easy and fast and the overlapped skin looks much better than with the pop rivets. Any reason not to do it this way?