Fearless

Fearless

Well Known Member
I am trying to set the most forward countersunk rivet in the center HS-905 rib in the horizontal stabilizer. I can't seem to get anything down in there to properly buck the rivet. A friend who has done his horizontal stabilizer lent me a makeshift long thin bucking bar but I can't seem to get the leverage behind the rivet to get it properly set. I have the skin placed in the jig to keep it stabilized. I'm using a swivel mushroom set from Cleveland Tools in the gun.

I tried searching through the archives but HS905 or 905 or HS-905 wouldn't return any results.

Can anyone offer up some suggestions to what worked for you? Any store bought bucking bars that seemed to work? Do I need a different rivet set?
 
I used the same bar

I used the same bucking bar as the previous poster. I also used a non-swivel mushroom set (because I didn't have the swivel one then, IMHO a swivel one would be better).

These are some of the hardest rivets in the RV-9 tail, and they are the first ones :eek:

I did it with 2 people (Dad shooting, me bucking with 2 hands on bar). Leave the HS in the cradle leading edge down. Taping the rivets in helps too (use riveters tape).

Good Luck, you'll get it!
 
I used the curved back of a squeezer yoke to buck these rivets -- eventually got most of them, but ended up with MK319-BS pop rivets in a few spots after I botched them a few times.

Try not to get discouraged, these are really difficult to get right. It was really awful for Vans to put these first in the construction order...skip ahead to the VS if you're really having problems. There's some better practice material there.
 
I already did the vertical stabilizer. It turned out pretty decent. I might have gotten the idea from this site but the vertical stabilizer should be the first thing you try to build on any RV. I thought that I was ready for the HS but those rivets are beating me right now. I'll check into the bucking bar recommendations and also give the bucking partner thing some consideration.
My wife and daughter aren't ready for such an adventure at this stage.
 
Mike--Don't get too discouraged. Here's my experience with the same issue. I got rid of the the first half of my HS because I didn't like one of the dents that resulted from not knowing how set these rivets. (in retrospect I should have just filled it and moved on). After the good advice that I got in the following thread, however, it was no problem and I have an almost perfect HS. Also, if you have not already done so already on the other, rivet the inboard ribs to the front spar BEFORE you put the skin on. They are REALLY tough to squeeze or buck once the skin is one. Hope this helps. Let me know how it works out. Good luck.

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=693&highlight=center+nose+ribs
 
Success

Thanks for all the replies. I happen to have the bucking bar that was recommended. I polished the lip at the offset and was able to get it down enough on the rivet to buck. I also read the replies from the section that Steve posted and used those also to get it done. The most forward rivets internally aren't a thing of beauty but the skin is tight against the rib and the rivets aren't too proud. I was able to rivet them by myself. Taping the rivets in place did alot for me. I got the rest of the ribs riveted to the forward spar and I'm working on getting the rest of the skins riveted to the spars and ribs now. I feel like the worst is behind me on this horizontal stabilizer.

Thanks again
 
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