I riveted on the aft deck tonight (9A). I used the squeezer for 90% of the rivets, which are 470 4-6. Everything went fine. When I stuck my head underneath to see how the rivets looked, I noticed that a number of them were cracked. I did nothing different. It makes me wonder about all of the rivets that I do blind and don't double check, aside from feeling that they are the right size. I assume that I need to drill out rivets where the shop head has a hairline crack in it, right? Is this common with 4- rivets? I can't say that I've ever seen it on 3- rivets. Do I need to visually check every single rivet that I buck or squeeze blind?
Van's Air Force
Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.
Cracking Rivets
- Thread starter skelrad
- Start date
Kyle Boatright
Well Known Member
It would be interesting to see how flat your rivets are. I never noticed (which doesn't mean they don't exist) any cracked rivets in my builds, but am lead to believe they are more common in over-driven rivets.
Would I replace them if they are cracked? Yes, unless their sole function was to hold a platenut or something like that, and we don't use 1/8" rivets in that application...
The rivets are all proper size and flat, thanks to the squeezer. I've never seen this happen with so many rivets before (I didn't count, but I think at least 1/3 of them cracked - I did end up drilling them out when I saw how many there were). All of the cracked rivets are from a small bag of 4-6's. I'm wondering if there's something wrong with the batch or something.
Before you start removing rivets and potentially cause other issues, compare the rivets to the Mil Spec ( available in the support section of vans web site).
A certain amount of cracking on a shop head is actually allowed.
A certain amount of cracking on a shop head is actually allowed.
Thank Scott! Based on that, it looks like some were ok and some were definitely out of spec. I had already removed the worst ones, but it's good to know for the future. I've definitely had a few cracked heads before, but the sheer number in this riveting session is what surprised me.
fl-mike
Well Known Member
Quite some time back there was a bad batch of 4-6's or 7's that got out into the kits. I had a bag and they all split.
Tossed them out and bought new. All good after that.
Don't know the vintage of your kit and rivets.
Try setting some other lengths and see if you still have issues. If not, I suggest getting some fresh 4-6's.
P.S. For fun, I solution heat treated the bad rivets and they set fine after that. I still didn't use them, since if my process was off a bit I could see issues with intergranular corrosion in the future. Not worth the $1.50 or whatever a new batch cost!
Tossed them out and bought new. All good after that.
Don't know the vintage of your kit and rivets.
Try setting some other lengths and see if you still have issues. If not, I suggest getting some fresh 4-6's.
P.S. For fun, I solution heat treated the bad rivets and they set fine after that. I still didn't use them, since if my process was off a bit I could see issues with intergranular corrosion in the future. Not worth the $1.50 or whatever a new batch cost!
