How many rivets are there?

[toolmanmike]

Surely someone has counted?… Curious minds want to know. How many rivets are in my finished plane?

Bragging rights if nothing else.

 

[mfleming]

I have no idea how many rivets are in a RV but I'm sure someone will chime in.

Not that you asked but it's my experience that new builders get caught up in the intricacies of the the sheetmetal construction. Not that thats bad but I'm here to tell you...The sheet metal is the easiest part of building. When it's all over, the other systems, canopy, fiberglass, wiring etc will be what you remember as being hard

The sheet metal won't even enter into the "WOW, that was tough" category.

 

[RV8JD]

Asked and Answered!

Per Chad Jensen for his RV-7 --> 16,225 rivets plus those for the plate nuts for the wheel pants!

https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=58984​

Other previous threads on the question:

https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=132075

https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=172341

https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=96099​

 

[wirejock]

Other 90%

<snip>

The sheet metal won't even enter into the "WOW, that was tough" category.

Truer words were never spoken.
That "90% to go" is the tough part.

 

[PilotjohnS]

One day…

Truer words were never spoken.
That "90% to go" is the tough part.

And then suddenly one day you wake up and the only thing left to do is to go fly. I never thought I would make it. But keep going and it will come together.

 

[longranger]

I too am OCD enough to have counted. Mine is a slow build past QB stage and have 12224 so far and there are still a LOT of empty holes.

http://www.mykitlog.com/users/displ...nger&project=2052&category=0&log=294333&row=1

 

[Kyle Boatright]

16K sounds about right. I did the rough math a time or two on the RV-6 and came up with about 14K. Given that the -7 is a little bigger, 16K makes sense.

 

[scsmith]

Per Chad Jensen for his RV-7 --> 16,225 rivets plus those for the plate nuts for the wheel pants!

Presumably it should be an even number --- unless you have a Continental

 

[toolmanmike]

16 thousand! That doesn’t sound like nearly enough. I’m sure I have drilled at least that many back out
Maybe that’s why it seems like so many?

Thanks all. Just a fun topic.

 

[riseric]

15154

I counted... for no particular reason, just for fun at the end of each work session.
RV-8 slow build
15154 rivets

 

[plehrke]

How many rivets are in my finished plane?

.

More than on the floor and less then the total number of rivets driven/squeezed.

 

[AlpineYoda]

I counted mine as I built. I had QB wings and a QB fuselage so I am not counting those. The rest of the RV-10 kit had 12,126 rivets that I installed.

 

[Roadjunkie1]

How many rivets in an RV?

Surely someone has counted?… Curious minds want to know. How many rivets are in my finished plane? Bragging rights if nothing else.

Back in the Stone Age with the Slow Build RV-4, I remember someone (it might have been Vans!) said there were 13,000 driven rivets in an RV-4. That is the number I always have used just as an aside. Wait....YOU built this airplane? Yep. 13,000 driven rivets and most all of those had to be drilled, deburred, countersunk and bucked. Holy ****! Yep! How long did that take? Six and a half years. Wow! Yep!