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solid rivet shop head should be barrel shaped, not corked shaped

johnbright

Well Known Member
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For those who may not know… a solid rivet shop head should be barrel shaped, not cork shaped. BTW I did not find this in Section 5.

Too many blows with insufficient force will result in a cork shaped shop head that has been work hardened, further forming will likely crack the shop head.

I learned this riveting RV-6A wing spar 5/16 rivets with a C frame on a concrete floor and a three pound sledge hammer ala Tony Bingelis but same applies to smaller rivets with a rivet gun.
Thanks Van’s telephone tech support for educating me when I called so say some of my shop heads had hardened and were not responding to further hammer blows.
BTW I first tried the spar 3/16 rivets with a sledge hammer with a 3’ wooden handle, the handle sucked so much energy it wouldn’t work.

Ref attached photo from the internet. I suspect the barrel shaped shop head on the right was done with a squeezer and the cork shaped shop head on the left with a rivet gun.

IMO, with a rivet gun, three to five blows is proper. If ten or twenty blows, rivet gun energy is insufficient.
 

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For those who may not know… a solid rivet shop head should be barrel shaped, not cork shaped. BTW I did not find this in Section 5.

Too many blows with insufficient force will result in a cork shaped shop head that has been work hardened, further forming will likely crack the shop head.

I learned this riveting RV-6A wing spar 5/16 rivets with a C frame on a concrete floor and a three pound sledge hammer ala Tony Bingelis …..
Bringing back memories. I was certain the Cleveland C Frame would be totally destroyed. However, just a slight mushroom of the ram. It was a lot of violent work! IMG_0891.jpegIMG_0889.jpeg
 
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