DaleB

DaleB

Well Known Member
Last night I got my right wing onto the workbench so I can get the flap brace, aileron hinges and gap seal, etc. done. Since I was kind of on a roll, I went ahead and riveted on the inboard aileron hinge. Great, right? Except for one thing.

While the wing was still on the rack, I squeezed the rivets attaching the top skin to the rear spar. Well, the jack was in the way so half a dozen of them didn't get squeezed, I figured I'd do that on the bench. So yeah, they were the half dozen just above the aileron hinge. Oops. Today I realized what I'd done and got all but one squeezed with no difficulty. The last one, however, is the one directly above the inboard aileron hinge. There is no way to get a squeezer in there -- heck, the rivet won't even go all the way in without hitting the hinge bracket.

Anyone else done something like this? Is my only option drilling out eight rivets to remove the aileron hinge? I was tempted to swallow my pride and put an MK319BS in there, but there's not enough clearance between the rear spar flange and aileron hinge bracket for even that.

Sigh... guess it's time to start drilling. :(
 
I would drill it out. 8 rivets is hardly a lot of rivets. I've heard of guys drilling out entire wing skins.
 
maybe?

DaleB said:
Sigh... guess it's time to start drilling. :(
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If you are very good at removing rivets, then go for it. If not, then you need to consider whether or not 8 overdrilled, elongated holes in an aileron bracket are a good thing?

I have used the small pull rivet you mentioned many times in tight places. you can fill the mandrel hole with a little filler and no one will even notice. It sounds like the pull rivet will not set totally flush with the surface before you start the pull? I would give it a try anyway, pushing down on the rivet as you squeeze the handle of the puller. If it does not work, then drilling out one pull rivet is a snap, compared to trying to do 8 rivets going through about a quarter inch of aluminum.

If it is me, I am not messin with a well riveted aileron hinge.

steve
 
Or Use the MK319. Get it in as far as you can and then squeeze slightly. Ease it in a little and repeat. You should be able to set it OK.
 
Use a cherry max rivet and save yourself some work they are structural and will work where most solid rivets will work
 
Pail, thanks for that suggestion. It probably would have worked.

I was trying to slip an MK319 into the hole, when I remembered -- they don't fit a #40 hole. So that left me with a dilemma. If I enlarged the hole and that didn't work, I'd be drilling out the hinge bracket rivets anyway -- AND putting in an "oops" rivet. I decided that since I'm pretty much a total stud at drilling out 1/8" rivets by now using my patented super-secret method, I'd just skip the frustration-and-cussing step and start drilling. Got the first two out and had to go back to work, so I'll finish t up later tonight.

Oh, the patented super-secret method? I use a #40 drill to go through the head and just keep going about halfway down through the shank. Then I sink a #30 drill down just far enough to pop the head off. With the shank already hollowed out, they tap out quite easily. Using the #40 bit means that even if I'm not perfectly centered, I still don't egg out the hole - as long as I'm very close.

The remaining six will be more fun. I'll have to use a long bit because I can't fit the drill chuck in there along side the bracket and still drill straight.
 
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