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Redo this rivet.... again?

J

jdm1248

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Greetings, I messed up a rivet attaching the one of the nose ribs in the horizontal stabilizer of my RV-10 kit. Got the rivet out clean but the placemat of the bucking bar on the new rivet damaged the shop head on first blow. I finished driving it and while it looks/feels stable, the damaged head is now over driven so guessing I should try to do better on try 3 ? It is on the bottom surface should if that factors in to any opinion.

In the picture, it is the rivet below the HS-905 part number. Thanks for any advice! Jeff


1.jpeg
 
My two cents, if you’re good at drilling out, go ahead, access here is good. If this were in a tough spot to access, and probable of messing up bucking or driving again, I’d leave it. If you aren’t good at drilling out, do more scrap piece practice until you are confident you could drill out anything, left or right handed.
 
Don’t know your drill out procedure, but I have both a 41 and 42 for drill out use, and I normally use a 42. This has helped me not do damage to many a drill out.
 
Go ahead and replace it.

If you don't, it will bug you till you do. Take your time and make it as good as the other ones.

Been there and done that.

Bryan
 
lipper03 said:
My two cents, if you’re good at drilling out, go ahead, access here is good.
Click to expand...
I'd do the same. Any bad rivet that is easy to access, easy to drill out and easy to re-set, I drill out. I'd also check (measure) the size of the other shop heads as a couple of them appear to be inconsistent. But then, I'm OCD...
 
I guess there are two ways to look at this particular rivet. 1- Should the rivet be replaced because it's a possible structural/safety issue? 2- Should it be replaced because it's ugly?

I'm not an engineer but I think the majority of the parts we assemble could easily handle a poorly set or even missing rivet. In this case, I wouldn't replace that rivet because I'm worried about safety. I'd replace it because I'm trying as hard as I can to do good work knowing there are many other areas where my work isn't great but I lack the skills to make it better. Any time I know I can do better work, I try again.

I remember a few rivets in my build that I really didn't like. But the reason they turned out lousy to begin with (other than my lack of skills) was because they were very difficult for me to set even with a shelf full of tools to choose from. I left them alone because I was pretty sure there was no way I could do a better job and/or there was a good chance I'd make it worse because it would have been very difficult to remove cleanly.
 
Great input - I thank you all! It really helps reading the different thought processes - that will help me well beyond this issue!

I do start with a smaller drill bit for flush rivets and have had a little (too much) practice. I lean towards carefully trying again but I'll have another look in the morning and see if I change my mind.
 
jdm1248 said:
Great input - I thank you all! It really helps reading the different thought processes - that will help me well beyond this issue!

I do start with a smaller drill bit for flush rivets and have had a little (too much) practice. I lean towards carefully trying again but I'll have another look in the morning and see if I change my mind.
Click to expand...
The rest of the story... I looked again closely, thought through all the input, and decided the rivet, although ugly likely has enough strength to be not worth the risk of removal a second time. If it was not the second time I would have definitely replaced it. I put primer on this shop head in the hopes it will give it some protection asf it was beat up. If it ever fails I will fall back to the pop rivet suggestion as it is not in a visible place.

Thanks again all!
 
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