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Elevator skin riveting

H

Hornet2008

Well Known Member
Hi all

I'm about to rivet the top of the elevator skin to the spar. It calls for, I think, AN427AD3-3.5 rivets. How did others rivet the top of the spar to the skin? I tried to open the skin to see if it could be back-riveted but wasn't game to open it right up in case it developed a crease. Looks awfully small to get a bucking bar in there. Any help would be much appreciated. Seem you need two left hands and two right hands.
 
elev skin riveting

The front spar as well as the side ribs have the top and bottom (lands) facing out so there is room to use a rivet squeezer except for the trailing edges on the ribs where the head may not get into the small space. I used a pop rivet on the very last rivet next to the trailing edge can't see it except if you are looking for it.
Of course the reinforcing ribs are back riveted onto the skin top and bottom in a stagger so they overlap when the skin closed

Hope this helps

John
 
Not really sure what you mean John, I don't think a squeezer would get into all the rivets, maybe a few near the rod end openings , but I'm OK with ribs to spar and skin, it's the skin along the top of the spar that has to be flush riveted. Not sure how a 4 and 6 elevators are put together but the 9 has a one piece skin that wraps around the spar. Thanks anyway for your help.
 
A little crazy

Hey Pete,

This part drove me nuts too. I don't know why that spar wasn't designed to face the other way so you could set those rivets by reaching in from the trailing edge. Take a look at the picture below. I rigged a 1x2 board above the edge of my table to hold the assembly open (Taped the trailing edge down to the table so it would stay open without having to hold anything). Notice there's space in the table where the back riveting plate was. I removed it and slid it along under the spar as I reached around the spar and back riveted the top skin (which is on the bottom in the photo). A double offset back rivet set would have been great to have. I'd recommend getting one. You can use it again to attach the top wing skins. Hope this helps...

DSC_1149.jpg
 
I did mine similar to Tom, except I taped the bottom side of the skin to the table and screwed two 2x2's into the side of my workbench so they stuck up like flagpoles, a couple feet apart. Then I taped the top side of the skin to the flagpoles to hold the whole thing open. I used a small tungsten bucking bar and slid it inside the spar with my left hand while working the gun with my right. I didn't backrivet.
 
I used a gun and bucking bar for all the top rivets (easily seen on the airplane) using the "spread it wide open" method. The bottom rivets were another story - I was able to set most of them with a squeezer and the long yoke, but some required pop rivets.

You can see a pic of mine going together showing the mix of rivets on the bottom spar/skin row here on my build site - http://websites.expercraft.com/airguy/index.php?q=log_entry&log_id=25413
 
Rivet gun with a swivel mush set and bucking bar. Plenty of room to get the bar under the spar.



 
answer to Hornet

From the picture it looks like the 9a has a different skin. On the 4 & 6 I built the elev skins are open on the from and the trailing edge is done with a break press. After riveting on the spar to the shin the front open tabs are hand rolled and pop riveted.
Looks to me that the rolled front end is already incorporated into the as received skin and the trailing edge is the final close.

John
 
rvbuilder1 said:
From the picture it looks like the 9a has a different skin. On the 4 & 6 I built the elev skins are open on the from and the trailing edge is done with a break press. After riveting on the spar to the shin the front open tabs are hand rolled and pop riveted.
Looks to me that the rolled front end is already incorporated into the as received skin and the trailing edge is the final close.

John
Click to expand...

You are correct John. All the control surfaces on the 9 use the trailing edge wedge and are riveted. The Elevators are the only items where the top and bottom are the same piece of sheet, pre-rolled on the front.
 
Last edited:
cln1owner said:
You are correct John. All the control surfaces on the 9 use the trailing edge wedge and are riveted. The Elevators are the only items where to top and bottom are the same piece of sheet, pre-rolled on the front.
Click to expand...

Horizontal stabilizers are too...
 
Whether or not

you back rivet or use a bucking bar, the key is not to be afraid to open up the skin WIDE.... 90deg or more. As you can see there's lots of ways to do it just find one that works for you.
 
Solids all the way

I cleco'ed the skin to the spar top and bottom. Set the elevator leading edge up and the hole thing tilted about 45 degrees, with the rivet line hanging over the edge. I used a small tungsten bar taped to a stick with a sponge cut down to keep it from bouncing to much. Another paint stick was laid down on the skin to prevent scratches. It took a little while to get everything dialed in, but I am very happy with it.
 
About to back rivet but set the rivets at the ends of the spar and near the rod ends where I could reach with the rivet set. Holds it beautifully and is easy to set up. Much appreciated all your help with this problem.
 
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