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Filling Pop Rivets

R

rickmellor

Well Known Member
I'm sure this has been covered before but I couldn't find it from searching ....

What is the best way to fill the holes in pop rivets? I've got a few that I'd like to bondo over and pretend that they're solid rivets. Any suggestions? Any perspectives on why this may be a bad idea?

Thanks.

-Rick
 
weight?

I guess you'd have to try to make an estimate of whether the very slight aerodynamic advantage gained by smoothing the rivets would be greater than the very slight penalty imposed by the extra weight of the filler. I would guess that neither effect would be significant, and so it's just a cosmetic issue.

The only concern may be if the filled rivets might be a source for problems with the paint later on... might the filler work loose from the rivet hole, and cause small chips/cracks in your paint.

I think blind rivets look fine on a metal airplane... I actually think details like that, and seams between metal and fiberglass parts, add character and actually look good on a metal airplane. I personally can't imagine wanting to go to all the trouble required to hide blind rivets.
 
By recommendation from a local composites guru, I used JB weld. After mixing, take a thin, sharp object and force it all the way down in the rivet. Sometimes the JB weld will burp and you have a slight crater. Just sand down what you have and apply some more.

Very permenant and no paint reaction after 3.5 years.

Karl
 
I know a guy who was bothered by the holes in pop rivets. Here is his method: He pulled the inner shaft until just before the break, then cuts off the shaft with a cutoff disk flush with the top of the rivet. He is a very meticulous builder/A&P/CFI so I figured he knew what he was doing. The holes don't bother me, however, so I did not use his method. BTW, he also ran a fillet of sealant at every skin lap joint on the exterior of the plane in order to prevent moisture and cleaning products from getting between the skins. As I said before, very meticulous, but I am glad he was my CFI.
 
Filling Pop rivets

I used a syringe and injected a shot of epoxy in each pop rivet hole since I very much dislike the look of a pop rivet. After this cured I took thin piece of machinist shim stock, punched a hole in it about the size of the rivet head. Placed this tin shield over the subject rivet and sanded the epoxy droplet smooth with a Dremel sanding disc. The syringe needle method was the only way I could get the entire hole filled as an air bubble will form in the pop rivet hole and open up once you trawl in any filler. By placing the needle in the bottom of the hole no bubble could form since the injected epoxy displaced all the air while filling the hole. This took only a couple hours just prior to painting and has held up well. I intend to do this again with the RV8 I am currantly building.

Dick DeCramer
N500DD RV6
180 hours
Northfield, MN
RV8 Tail kit completed
 
Filing Pop Rivets

I used Metal Glaze, a two port epoxy type product. It requires a considerable amount of sanding but it works great if you use a flexible putty knife to force the Metal Glaze down into the pop rivet hole. Only drawback is that it sets up real fast so you can't work but a small amount at a time and it is an expensive product.
 
bsacks05 said:
I know a guy who was bothered by the holes in pop rivets. Here is his method: He pulled the inner shaft until just before the break, then cuts off the shaft with a cutoff disk flush with the top of the rivet. He is a very meticulous builder/A&P/CFI so I figured he knew what he was doing. The holes don't bother me, however, so I did not use his method. BTW, he also ran a fillet of sealant at every skin lap joint on the exterior of the plane in order to prevent moisture and cleaning products from getting between the skins. As I said before, very meticulous, but I am glad he was my CFI.
Click to expand...
I don't agree with this method! How do you know "just before the stem breaks". You may or may not have pulled the rivet sufficiently. If you want flush stems, then go with cherry Q rivets. These are designed to break off flush or above the surface.
 
re: JB weld-- be real careful how much you use.

that stuff took so much sanding that we gave up and went back to Metal FLex glazing putty which isn't going to hold up like JB weld. Just a couple swipes with a razor blade, was most of the time too much.

we also spent a small fortune on some proseal for that purpose but it was too hard to work with. Ethyl benthyl bad stuff.

good luck.
 
mark manda said:
re: JB weld-- be real careful how much you use.

that stuff took so much sanding that we gave up and went back to Metal FLex ...
Click to expand...

I have a curved nib file that took it down real nice. About 3 swipes and I was done.

Karl
 
Interesting. I was using a DA sander, i.e. all the pops on the slider canopy skirts. the 320 and 220 sand paper was getting laughed at by the JB weld and I was grinding too much alum.

thanks for the tip.
 
i bought those at the local paint store but i used those for paint runs on my rudder. (and at the same time I had a few rivets on the workbench UNDER the rudder-- scratching the other side. Urghh.) I remember that day.
 
Filling Pull Rivets and Other Small Areas

Just a note. Talk to your painter....one needs to rough up and clean the surface before adding any type of filler on any metal. Grady O'Neal (Glo Custom Aircraft Painting) told me he has blown (just cleaning with compressed air), all kinds of filler off small filled areas (i.e. pull rivets), saying no preparation was done to the rivet or the area adjacent to it.

Just my 2 cents (and Grady's)....

Bill
 
I'm from the functional school of design...

...pop rivets are supposed to look like pop rivets.

But each to his own :)

Jim Sharkey
 
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