K

ksauce

Well Known Member
Patron
Howdy all,

I'm still debating the build decision. Primarily I'm concerned about the noise of riveting. I just am not a big fan of noise. Fir instance, when I build furniture I mostly use hand tools. I'm curious if the noise is going to drive me out of the garage. How much construction time is noisy? I've also been considering the Zodiac due to the pop rivet construction method. Any thoughts?

Also, I'm most likely not going to have a building partner readily available to help buck rivets. Will this be an issue?

Thanks,
Kevin
 
Noise is not a huge issue- at least not as much of an issue as self discipline>

You'll need a riveting partner from time to time. If you are even moderately good looking, such a partner can be found at the local tavern. Tell her you're a pilot building your own airplane, make 6 figures a year, and you won't be able to get rid of her. Show her how to use a bucking bar before you show her how to use a %ucking bar and you're all set. :D
 
David Johnson said:
Noise is not a huge issue- at least not as much of an issue as self discipline>

You'll need a riveting partner from time to time. If you are even moderately good looking, such a partner can be found at the local tavern. Tell her you're a pilot building your own airplane, make 6 figures a year, and you won't be able to get rid of her. Show her how to use a bucking bar before you show her how to use a %ucking bar and you're all set. :D
Click to expand...

I wonder if that line will work on my wife?
 
sensory deprivation

one word:

Ear plugs.

Spend a few bucks and ware 'em; but only when you are riveting.
The rest of the time you are working in relative silenece and of course listening to satalite radio - npr, rock and roll, pop, classical.....
What ever floats your boat (vertually no commercials) :D
 
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quick build 3-4-7-8-9-10

very lttile riveting still the best aluminum plane on the market.
 
Kevin-
Most of the build process is not riveting. I'd say that so far riveting has accounted for less than 5% of my total build time. And out of that, probably 50% of that time is spend squeezing rivets...YMMV. Most of the construction time is prepping parts, priming, drilling and trying to figure out how not to screw up the next part (big time waster there).

When I do rivet, I have on hearing protection and I don't find it bad at all. Just make sure you invest in a comfortable set of hearing protection.

So far (empennage complete, 30 hours into wings) I have only needed help riveting 4 rivets on the HS on my -7. Everything else I could of done solo, and now with more knowledge, I could of got those rivets too.

I'd recommend that you take a RV builders class if you are really concerned about the noise. That would be good exposure to all the noises involved in RV building.
 
I'd echo what others have said - bucking rivets is such a small percentage of what you do that it's not a big deal. I do find the air compressor to be more of an annoyance, as well as the forced air heater I use to heat the garage in the winter months, but not bad. You can still have a normal conversation over either.
 
Kevin,

I made furniture for a living for quite a few years. I've never worked in a production environment, it's always been just me and one helper building one-off pieces.

One of the things I like about working on the RV is how quiet and clean it is compared to woodworking. No dust, no shavings, and very little noise. It's a 5 minute job to put everything away and clean up at the end of a session. Try that with woodworking!

Guy
 
ksauce said:
............I'm concerned about the noise of riveting. I just am not a big fan of noise........I'm curious if the noise is going to drive me out of the garage. How much construction time is noisy?...........Kevin
Click to expand...
Kevin,

Short answer.....not much. In the overall scheme of things, riveting accounts for a small percentage of the build process. If you elect to squeeze the rivets (as a HUGE percentage of them can be), the rivet gun will remain idle for even longer periods of time. The only time using a rivet gun can get tedius are the extremely rare instances when you are fastening whole skins onto the airframe. Other than that, its use is infrequent. In addition, shooting small diameter AD3 rivets which the overwhelming majority of the rivets are in an RV, the noise level is quite tolerable even without recommended hearing protection. YMMV.

P.S. As far as noise goes, you will generate more DB's by setting "pop" rivets than you will by squeezing them.
 
I too dislike lots of noise, and I was concerned about the neighbors as well.

As others have said, I would be less concerned about riveting (which is loud but rare -- use ear protection), and more concerned about your compressor.

I have a good (Campbell Hausfeld), 20gal oiled compressor, with a noise-containment box and an air-filter "silencer" made of some long pipe, and I still find the noise annoying. You need to raise your voice to be heard over it. If it's running a lot, I will sometimes put on earplugs which makes it very tolerable.

I know other people who have quieter compressors without all of that extra work, so my suggestion to you is to visit other builders or do some careful research to find the absolute quietest one you can. Just becasue it says "oiled" on the box doesn't mean it'll be quiet.

Or if you can keep the compressor outside, that would surely help.

Don't let this discourage you from building an RV though! This is a solvable problem! :)
 
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Alright then, it sounds like noise shouldn't be an issue for me (bad pun intended). Thanks for the replies gents.

Kevin
 
I don't agree

Is this a sincere question? There is all kinds of noise and filth and if that is enough to keep you from building an RV, well you should be able to figure that out for yourself. It's a real airplane that requires all the normal tools and associated noises. The most offensive is the compressor and as mentioned before, you need to use hearing protection. Much of the riveting can be done by yourself but when you can't reach both sides of the work you need an assistant (bucker or driver). That being said, there are hundreds of hours of quiet time in the building process.

Bob Axsom
 
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