N546RV
Well Known Member
OK, after doing plenty of research, I decided to back rivet my top skins. Got the looooooong offset back rivet set from Avery along with Andre the Giant's mushroom bucking bar. We went out tonight intending to shoot at least a few rivets to get the hang of the technique, but what actually happened is that I set precisely zero acceptable rivets in three tries.
I turned up the pressure at the rivet gun, but it still seems like I'm hitting the rivets forever and they're not deforming. And despite me holding the plastic collar on the set with my left hand, the heads are still tending to fold over instead of driving nice and square.
I've barely even started and I'm already about ready to chuck this stuff and just use a regular mushroom set and bucking bar. The back rivet technique sure doesn't seem to be the easier/more foolproof solution that some folks seem to think it is.
In fairness though, I probably should have practiced on some scrap first. Somehow I just didn't expect this to be so much of a challenge.
Side note: After a few drill outs, I'm pretty sure my first top skin rivet is going to be an oops rivet.
I turned up the pressure at the rivet gun, but it still seems like I'm hitting the rivets forever and they're not deforming. And despite me holding the plastic collar on the set with my left hand, the heads are still tending to fold over instead of driving nice and square.
I've barely even started and I'm already about ready to chuck this stuff and just use a regular mushroom set and bucking bar. The back rivet technique sure doesn't seem to be the easier/more foolproof solution that some folks seem to think it is.
In fairness though, I probably should have practiced on some scrap first. Somehow I just didn't expect this to be so much of a challenge.
Side note: After a few drill outs, I'm pretty sure my first top skin rivet is going to be an oops rivet.