Horizontal stabilo empenare fairing attach nutplates

[JurgenRoeland]

hi all,

I ran into an issue while drilling the F-794B empenage fairing on the horizontal stabilo top skin.
I used the screw positions as indicated on DWG3 - one of my earliest plans - and drilled the #6 screw holes at the locations indicated in the "plan view".
On the rear side I anticipated using a one leg nutplate as a K1000-6 would fall outside the rib/skin.

When drilling the front #6 hole nutplate ears, I saw that the rear leg hole is on the edge of the HS404 nose rib. (see images both sides)
No way I can dimple this without breaking the rib hole.

I know the only function of this hole is to hold the nutplate ear and that it's not structural but I'm kind of not willing to have a hole cracked in front of my stabilo.
How would you guys solve this ? I was thinking of just countersinking for the rivet and not dimple it. The skin is a bit on the tin side but it will be less harmfull than dimpling it.

any other ideas ?

 

[mburch]

I'd use a NAS1097AD3 rivet here. Same shank diameter as a normal 3/32" rivet, but a much reduced head. You can countersink for one of these with just a few turns of a deburring tool. I've mostly switched to exclusively using these for nutplate installation, since it speeds up the process.

 

[georgemohr]

As you noted, its a nutplate attach rivet. Buck that sucker and never look back

 

[nohoflyer]

Debur, rivet on nutplate, and move on.