squeezing rivets for tip lens nutplate

[sstellarv10]

I'm scratching my head trying to figure out how to squeeze the rivets that hold the nutplates for the tip lens hardware without destroying the fiberglass. Did people just decide to use blind rivets or did they buck them?

 

[jimgreen]

I haven't flown yet but I just glassed mine in place. Seems pretty secure.

 

[sf3543]

Soft Rivets

You can use soft rivets when riveting to fiberglass to reduce the chance of cracking the fiberglass. Yoiu can order them from Spruce.
Per the Spruce catalog..."A" rivets are "soft". They are fabricated from 1100-grade aluminum and have a tensile strength of 16,000 PSI. "AD" rivets are fabricated from 2117 aluminum and heat treated to the T4 condition.
AN470A for example.

 

[johnfurey]

I just did mine last night. I always use soft rivets in fiberglass and I bucked them

 

[Vlad]

Rivet and buck but make sure tips are fixated. Fiberglass on wing tips is strong and doesn't crack. I just did the position lights.

 

[Wayne Gillispie]

Blind rivets

work just fine.

 

[panhandler1956]

Glue?

I mixed up some flox for mine, that should hold those #6 screws just fine -YMMV.

 

[sstellarv10]

Thanks for the suggestions, I just bucked mine lightly just enough to set them and everything came out fine.

 

[aerhed]

Nutplate pop rivets & a dab of 5 min epoxy/flox.