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Missed Dimple

cderk

cderk

Well Known Member
It was bound to happen sooner or later. Measure twice, cut once.
I forgot to dimple a hole on the lower skin of my tailcone. I realized it AFTER most of the J-channel had already been riveted.



I've heard that its possible to dimple using a rivet gun, but I'm not sure I have the proper tools to do that. Aside from that, is there another good way to do this, or is it easier to just use a pop rivet? The mating piece behind the skin is dimpled - its just the skin that I forgot.

As far as tools go - I have my c-frame dimpler, my pneumatic squeezer and I also have the close quarters dimple set that uses the pop rivet tool. I just don't think you can get enough pressure with this - not to mention that the flanges are behind the skin

Thanks
Charlie
 
You could try to fix it this way:

IMG_3621.JPG
 
Been there, done that.

For me the fix was to drill a hole in the end of a brass drift, sized to hold a dimple male die, another hole in a bucking bar to hold the female die.

A buddy holds the bucking bar/female die inside the fuse, I put the drift/male die into the hole, and smacked the drift with a hammer.

Practice on scrap might be a good idea...........
 
I did that a time or two myself. I took one of my bigger bucking bars and drilled a small hole in it that I could insert the tail of the female dimpling die. Then I used my rivet gun with the male die in it, set the pressure pretty low (40# or so) and then carefully dimpled the skin. The pop rivet dimpler didn't work with the thick skins and especially if when there was a rib behind it.
 
Bucking bar

Zuldarin said:
I did that a time or two myself. I took one of my bigger bucking bars and drilled a small hole in it that I could insert the tail of the female dimpling die. Then I used my rivet gun with the male die in it, set the pressure pretty low (40# or so) and then carefully dimpled the skin. The pop rivet dimpler didn't work with the thick skins and especially if when there was a rib behind it.
Click to expand...

Need to fab a few of these...
20150506_143732.jpg
 
Mike S said:
Been there, done that.

For me the fix was to drill a hole in the end of a brass drift, sized to hold a dimple male die, another hole in a bucking bar to hold the female die.

A buddy holds the bucking bar/female die inside the fuse, I put the drift/male die into the hole, and smacked the drift with a hammer.

Practice on scrap might be a good idea...........
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike - sounds like it would work. I haven't thought about hitting something with a hammer. I guess at that point, I can just take the Ram out of my C-Frame dimpler and use that. I'll give it a try tomorrow and see what happens.

The tailcone has been the most frustrating so far - I'm almost done. Just need to start putting the finishing touches on it. My wings should be here in another 2 weeks!

Thanks everyone
 
wirejock said:
Need to fab a few of these...
20150506_143732.jpg
Click to expand...

Larry - what is the long tool sitting in the dimple die block? Is that just an extender?

I definitely need to start drilling some holes in a few bucking bars or something. It would be useful for removing rivets.

Thanks,
Charlie
 
If I'm not mistaken, that's an extension for the C-frame tool. Sometimes it's handy to get a little elevation from the standard base, so you use that to raise the die up.
 
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