What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Have I got the right rivets???

R

RetiredRacer

Well Known Member
Ok, I've just started the first of the riveting, so As a novice I may be doing something wrong......but it does not calculate to me.

the AN470AD4-6 does not protrude out through the front HS Spar and the doubler by 1.5 times the rivet diameter, as it is supposed to. They only protrude by the same amount as their diameter.
At this stage I thought there must be some burs or something that was not allowing the two pieces to fit tight together, So I took to them with a sanding block until they were bare metal again. I then sat a straight edge across them and moved it back and forth to make sure there were no high spots.
And in case the primer may have been too thick or something I Cleco'd the two bare metal pieces together without any primer, and really turned up a couple of clamps hard on them to make sure they were tight together. But no....I still had the same problem.
At that point I decided to squeeze a couple of rivets to see how they would turn out. No they did not look good.

But.... when I sat one of the countersink rivets in one of the countersunk holes it protruded out by the right amount, so I squeezed it to see how it looked. It looked good.

When I compared the two 4-6 rivets the overall length of the two rivets are the same. But this does not calculate, because the manufactured dome shaped head rivet should have a longer shank than the countersunk headed rivet to go through the same thickness material.

Is it something I'm doing wrong, or were the wrong rivets packed in the right bag.

The AN470AD4-6 have a 8.32mm (.327") length shank.


Bob and Robyn (Qld Australia)
 
Last edited:
Situation normal

Bob

This seems to happen quite often. I think the rivet callouts are the closest that will work. Sometimes just a little too short, sometimes a little too long. The only way to get the perfect length for some applications would be to use a rivet cutter. (I brought one for my second RV project for this very reason)
Just make sure whatever rivet you use the finished head is ok.


Peter
 
Last edited:
I have this problem too on the RV8, was told it was "ok" and normal. The skin rivets where all a touch too short as well as many of the others.

My understanding at this time is that it is easier to make a clean shop head on a slightly under sized rivet then a slightly over sized rivet. This is why Vans called the shorter rivets out in the plans.

When installing a "short" rivet I would form the head focusing on the diameter then being sure not to blow the mil-spec on height.

Alcoa studies show that it is better to slightly over drive then under drive; so what that means to me is that shop head diameter is the focus.

My approach was to come up tight on the height and be a little loose on the width

Here is a photo using my gauge, it is a hair loose on the sides and to the limit on the depth.

0212.jpg


I'm a noob, so take that for what it is worth. If you find out diffrent please let me know as I don't want it to fall off after all the hard work :D
 
rivet lengths

I encountered the same problem with the kit - short or long rivets. I decided that the diameter of the shop side of the rivet was a little more important than the length.

Given all of the differences in sheet metal thicknesses, trying to make an exact match with the 1.5 length times diameter would create rivets that would be AN426AD3-3.75 or AN426AD3.25.

I agree with the "make them a tad longer and squeeze to proper diameter otherwise you might end up with a rivet that doesn't have enough "meat" to hold together under stress.

This is my $0.02.
 
I had the same problem...

In my January 2008 archive, I documented that Van's sent the wrong rivets. They were labeled as -6's, but were clearly 5/16" long, not 6/16. Van's support concurred and shipped a new bag of -6's. .327 is roughly 5/16, so I think you ran into the same thing. A quick email to Van's might solve the problem, but since you're down unda, it might be quicker to cut the 7's to length.
 
chipf said:
In my January 2008 archive, I documented that Van's sent the wrong rivets. They were labeled as -6's, but were clearly 5/16" long, not 6/16. Van's support concurred and shipped a new bag of -6's. .327 is roughly 5/16, so I think you ran into the same thing. A quick email to Van's might solve the problem, but since you're down unda, it might be quicker to cut the 7's to length.
Click to expand...

Not entirely unheard of - I received a bag of mixed AN470AD4-4's and 4-5's in my fuse kit.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top