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Dimpling nutplates

D

Dean

Active Member
Does anyone sell nutplates that are dimpled on the ears. I know that K1100 have the dimples in the middle (srew) hole, but does anyone sell the ears dimpled. If so, what is the part number and where do you get them. I am attaching the cabin tunnel covers and cannot countersink matl less than 0.032". Thanks, Dean
 
Dean,
You can search the VAF forums and find a couple of refernces to dimpled nutplates. You also have two other alternatives -- why not dimple the nutplates yourself, OR use NAS1097AD3-? rivets from Van's. They are similiar to OOPS rivets, but they have a 3/32" diameter and a very small head. You only need to spin the deburring bit a couple of times to have them sit flush.
 
Try NAS1097AD3-3.5 rivets

I am using the NAS1097AD3-3.5 rivets that are mentioned in the plans as an option to dimpling the ears of the nutplates. The rivets are a -3 diameter, but with a smaller diameter head that requires a shallower countersink. They work well in the .025 seat ribs.

Van's sells them.
 
Dimpled my own!

Hi Dean,
I ground down one side of one of my female dimple dies and use that to dimple the nut plates. You don't have to grind very much off to miss the cone shaped center section on the nut plate. Hope this helps. :)

Paul
N694BP - Reserved
 
Nutplates with dimpled rivet holes NEVER seem to seat straight for me. Makes runing the screw or bolt into the nutplate difficult. Use NAS1097's
 
We have both the Nutplates and the Rivets

We have the Nutplates dimpled at the rivet holes, or the NAS1097 rivets. :)
 
I dimple my own and have not had to modify the dimple die. The Avery kit came with an additional female die that is about 1/2 the diameter of the other. It works great.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. I think I will try each one and see what works best for me. Glad to be part of this community as I know I can always find an answer. Dean
 
Just dimple 'em!

I dimple the K1000's without any problems. Just dimpled and installed a dozen last weekend, and everything lines up fine.
 
Why?

I am not sure what the advantage to dimpling them is. Why bother? It would seem to me that doing so destroys the intrety of the nutplate. Plus, they probably will not line up properly not to mention all the extra non-essential work.
 
I just like having the nutplate sitting flush up against the back of the sheetmetal part. I can assure you that the nutplate survives this minor reforming easily, and the alignment is unaffected. With my pneumatic squeezer, the time and effort to do this is minimal to say the least.
 
Only thing I would add is to prime the platenuts. I notice that when I dimple mine, it damages the black anodizing on them.
 
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