[Reflex]

I've been sailing along on the empennage of my 14 with what I feel like is good success. Last night I had a small error while driving some AN4704-4's. When the assembly was completed, I had an unacceptable space between the pieces being riveted together.

I drilled out the rivet and replaced. I got the same result. The space was roughly .006. Believing that I didn't have the parts properly clamped together, I carefully drilled out the rivet and insured that the pieces were properly clamped. When clamped, the parts fit properly before riveting.

When the rivet was driven, the space appeared again. Being very careful, the rivet was once again drilled out. This time, I made a contraption that enabled me to use a pneumatic squeezer. Feathering the trigger, I watched the pieces develop the same space as the squeezer finished it's stroke.

The pieces are flat, deburred, and the hole doesn't appear to be enlarged. I have two questions:

1) Is the hole enlarged and I just can't see it causing the rivet to swell between the pieces?

2) If an enlarged hole doesn't cause this problem, what am I doing to make this happen?

Thanks for taking a look at this.

Fred

 

[Reflex]

Control,

That was my first thought as well. Unfortunately, I'm able to see light though the joint and can get a .006 feeler gauge in the space. The part on the other side mated up nicely.

Thanks,

Fred

 

[AlinNS]

Hi Fred.

What parts are you referring to? Betting it's a flange. If it gets a skin attached, try clecoing it on to see if all the holes line up.

I'm fairly certain this is not that unusual. Maybe give the folks at Vans a shout to be sure.