RV8Squaz
Well Known Member
Hello,
I’m getting ready to perform the service bulletin that repairs the cracks in the elevator spar. I have cracks emanating from the upper and lower rivets that hold the nut plates for the outboard rod end on each elevator.
I’m at the point where I need to drill out the rivets. Normally, when drilling out a rivet, one drills enough to snap off the head and then punch out the rivet. I fear using this procedure to drill out these particular rivets will result in bending the nut plate ear out of the way and leaving the shop head buried in the nut plate ear. I think even normal drilling pressure could mess things up since the only thing holding the nut plate in place is the rivet in the opposite ear.
I could figure out a way to to keep some pressure on the nut plate against the interior doubler of the spar while I drill. I could do this by threading in the rod end bearing with the jam nut back in instead of using the nut plate holding tool. Once the rivets are drilled out and the nut plate held with Clecos, I could then use the nut plate holding tool and proceed with the rest of the SB.
So what have you done? Did you run into any problems drilling out those rivets? Did you drill, snap off the head, and punch out the shank or did you simply drill all the way through?
Thank you!
Jerry
I’m getting ready to perform the service bulletin that repairs the cracks in the elevator spar. I have cracks emanating from the upper and lower rivets that hold the nut plates for the outboard rod end on each elevator.
I’m at the point where I need to drill out the rivets. Normally, when drilling out a rivet, one drills enough to snap off the head and then punch out the rivet. I fear using this procedure to drill out these particular rivets will result in bending the nut plate ear out of the way and leaving the shop head buried in the nut plate ear. I think even normal drilling pressure could mess things up since the only thing holding the nut plate in place is the rivet in the opposite ear.
I could figure out a way to to keep some pressure on the nut plate against the interior doubler of the spar while I drill. I could do this by threading in the rod end bearing with the jam nut back in instead of using the nut plate holding tool. Once the rivets are drilled out and the nut plate held with Clecos, I could then use the nut plate holding tool and proceed with the rest of the SB.
So what have you done? Did you run into any problems drilling out those rivets? Did you drill, snap off the head, and punch out the shank or did you simply drill all the way through?
Thank you!
Jerry