[bertschb]

Yesterday fellow forum member and EAA Technical Counselor Scott McDaniels flew to my house to check the progress of my build to date. As many of you know from his helpful posts here, Scott is extremely knowledgable about all things related to building Vans airplanes. Scott was very helpful and is a super nice guy. I will definitely have him do my final inspection once my build is complete!

Scott shared one tip with me that I wanted to pass along and that was how to remove the "dents" that form when setting rivets in the curved upper section of the fuselage as shown below. Scott explained that when using a typical flat mushroom rivet set on these curved sections of the upper skins, it leaves the area around the rivets more flat than curved. His suggestion was to get a fairly large (easier to control) punch and tap on the shop side of the rivet gently with a hammer a couple of times. To be honest, it sounded kind of crude (hammers and airplanes don't seem to mix to this new builder). Anyway, the results were amazing. It instantly pops out the "dent" and makes these curved sections of the fuselage much cleaner.

Keep in mind this technique won't work with an actual dent made from over-driving rivets, missing the bucking bar, etc. It only works with properly set rivets on curved skins.

These are the rivets I'm referring to (red lines below). Maybe the rest of you already know about this but it was news to me and the easiest thing I've ever done to improve the appearance of "substandard" rivets.

 

[planenutz]

Yes, a great tip and although it sounds a little agricultural it certainly works and its worth the effort. Using a dolly and a hammer on the shop side is another way to achieve the same result but regardless what you use it goes without saying you need to be careful.

I assume you're happy with the results?

 

[bertschb]

I assume you're happy with the results?

Absolutely! Just a couple of light taps and bingo-was-his-name-oh!

 

[bobrv7taildragger]

thanks for sharing. great tip

 

[Sam Buchanan]

I used a light hammer and a wooden dowel, yep, it makes a huge difference in the finished rivet.

 

[Carl Froehlich]

What I learned is for rivets like these on a curved surface, add a shim. A shim is a 1/2”x1/2” piece of aluminum with a dimpled hole. If you can squeeze a shim between the rib and the skin, it needs a shim.

This eliminate the “flat spots” along a curved surface.

Carl

 

[JonJay]

Scott is a nice guy but what I value is his no BS attitude. As nice as he is, he’s not afraid to call out BS. I know. He’s called me out a few times!
What a resource to have in our area and here at VAF.

 

[bertschb]

Scott is a nice guy but what I value is his no BS attitude. As nice as he is, he’s not afraid to call out BS. I know. He’s called me out a few times!
What a resource to have in our area and here at VAF.

Yes, we are really lucky that Scott takes time out of his busy schedule to provide feedback here! I feel really fortunate that he took the time to fly over here to check my project. I'll have to admit as a clueless new builder I was a little nervous showing him my work

 

[PaulvS]

I used a light hammer and a wooden dowel, yep, it makes a huge difference in the finished rivet.

Same here and a slight refinement is to drill a shallow hole in the end of the dowel, slightly larger than the shop head. This avoids hitting the rivet directly but still pushes the skin out with just a tap. The hole also helps to locate the dowel over the rivet.