Do Tank DImple Dies Work?

[David Paule]

A friend was looking at one of my tanks after I'd riveted it, using a dab of tank sealant in the dimples. She remarked that the line of rivets felt so smooth. These are some of those rivets. You can see the sealant at the edges of the head.

Then I showed her a scrap tank that I keep around for riveting practice. Nothing like having real parts to practice on, sigh. She could easily feel the difference. These rivets are underflush enough to feel, except maybe the one on the bottom right. This was riveting practice, remember, and several people have tried it on this tank.

Both tank skins were dimpled with the same tank dimple dies by Cleaveland.

Dave

 

[DanH]

Do tank dimple dies work?

Depends on your goal. Did you have one in mind?

 

[David Paule]

Yep. A bit of sealant in the dimple and rivets that are flush to the skin.

Dave

 

[wirejock]

Tank dies

From your photos, I would say they work. It looks like they did exactly what they are supposed to do. I got the same results and was glad I chose them.
Did you use tank dies on the ribs or did you use substructure dies?
I used substructure.

 

[David Paule]

Me, too, substructure dies on the ribs.

Dave

 

[DanH]

Paint 'em, G 'em 100 hours or so, park it in the sun, and report back.

 

[David Paule]

Dan, this is on an RV-3B, a slow-build kit of a slow build airplane, and hate to admit it but I'm going - you guessed it - slowly. It'll be a while.

What do you predict?

Thanks,
Dave

 

[diamond]

I think the recommended use of tank dies is to use them on both the skins and the ribs. What if I used regular dies already on the skins and tank dies on the ribs? Would it be bad to proceed or should I go back and re-dimple the skins with the tank dies before I continue?

 

[longranger]

There are "substructure" dies (from Cleaveland??) that dimple slightly deeper than even the "tank" dies. I found that using these lets skin dimples made with tank dies nest better.

A skin dimple from a "standard" die would nest necely in a rib dimple made by a tank die, but there would still be the issue of the sealant causing the rivet to stand slightly proud in the standard dimple. Many have built RVs with a single set of dies, but I just didn't seem to be able to make it work.