vernon smith
Well Known Member
Just started on the practice kits and soon ran into some problems. A buddy and I began the riveting learning process as per the instructions, after dimpling the skin and the stiffeners-inserting the called for rivets-taping them into place and inverting the assembly on a steel surface plate.
The immediate problem was properly aligning the rivet gun with the rivet. We got several shop ends with quite an angle in the top;
My buddy quickly suggested gluing a bubble level to the top of he gun;
Using the bubble level we consistently got shop heads perpendicular to the rivet shaft. I figured we would be doing a lot of riveting in a vertical plane rather than the horizontal plane with the surface plate, so I added a line level to the top of the gun, these little levels can be glued to bucking bars as well to keep them aligned with the shin being held in a vertical position. Of course, this only works if the riveted object is either horizontal or vertical.
The other immediate sticking point was dimpling in the small end of the converging angles of the two end ribs. The instructions go to some length explaining how this is a problem area and requires special dimpling dies for the small available area. While this is certainly a problem, using a squeezer on this operation without distorting the thin metal is another big problem. Assuming this problem would arise on many occasions in the future I made some very crude fixtures to do the job without distorting the metal.
The internal wedge in recessed with a .375 drill to accommodate the existing dimples. If you are smart enough to do the hard ones first you do not have to make the dimple recesses. I did these with a band saw and a drill press, it certainly can be done much more precisely but not worth it for the practice kits. On the plane I will take an hour or so and do it right. A simple inclinometer will tell you the angle needed to keep everything perpendicular to the dies in the DRT. Unfortunately, you will probably need a couple for the entire projects because different angles are probable.
If you drill the pilot holes for the dimple recesses .110 your 3/32 clecos will hold all this stuff in alignment making it a simple one man operation.
Here is a picture of the result with no metal distortion except the dimple on the left with the displaced hole that I did without the wedges, which is what convinced me there had to be a better way
The immediate problem was properly aligning the rivet gun with the rivet. We got several shop ends with quite an angle in the top;
My buddy quickly suggested gluing a bubble level to the top of he gun;
Using the bubble level we consistently got shop heads perpendicular to the rivet shaft. I figured we would be doing a lot of riveting in a vertical plane rather than the horizontal plane with the surface plate, so I added a line level to the top of the gun, these little levels can be glued to bucking bars as well to keep them aligned with the shin being held in a vertical position. Of course, this only works if the riveted object is either horizontal or vertical.
The other immediate sticking point was dimpling in the small end of the converging angles of the two end ribs. The instructions go to some length explaining how this is a problem area and requires special dimpling dies for the small available area. While this is certainly a problem, using a squeezer on this operation without distorting the thin metal is another big problem. Assuming this problem would arise on many occasions in the future I made some very crude fixtures to do the job without distorting the metal.
The internal wedge in recessed with a .375 drill to accommodate the existing dimples. If you are smart enough to do the hard ones first you do not have to make the dimple recesses. I did these with a band saw and a drill press, it certainly can be done much more precisely but not worth it for the practice kits. On the plane I will take an hour or so and do it right. A simple inclinometer will tell you the angle needed to keep everything perpendicular to the dies in the DRT. Unfortunately, you will probably need a couple for the entire projects because different angles are probable.
If you drill the pilot holes for the dimple recesses .110 your 3/32 clecos will hold all this stuff in alignment making it a simple one man operation.
Here is a picture of the result with no metal distortion except the dimple on the left with the displaced hole that I did without the wedges, which is what convinced me there had to be a better way
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