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Elevator Skin Stiffener Hole Size

RV701775

Active Member
When de-burring my right elevator skin one of the holes for the stiffeners had an excess tag of metal, I believe from when it was pre-punched. Simple deburing with a tool would not remove the defect, so I drilled it using a #38 (0.101in) to try and remove it.

The final hole in the skin is about 0.104 prior to dimpling, which is slightly over mil-spec. I would prefer not to use an oops rivet or make the hole bigger since it is the first hole on the fwd side of the stiffener. Since the stiffener hole is reamed to #40, is there any issue using a normal -3 rivet? I figure it will set fine on the stiffener and drilling up to a 1/2 or full sized oops will only remove more material from the factory head side of the rivet.

Thanks
 
NAS1241AD3-?

You might want to try NAS1241AD3 rivets. They are .109" in diameter and come in real handy to filling slightly oversize holes, with out having to step up to the -4 1097's - which are much harder to drive.

If this is what you decide - PM me and I'll be glad to send what you need.

HFS
 
those are #40 holes.
You can use the fat rivet trick. Take a slightly longer flush head rivet and slightly squeeze it in your squeezer between two flush sets (just in the squeezer, not in the part) to fatten the shank until you get a snug fit in the hole. Then drive or squeeze normally. Takes a little trial and error to get the right length rivet etc, but you have extra rivets! No need to buy special rivets for a slight oversize situation like this.

The dimpling makes the holes a little bigger, so you might not need to drill the stiffener up to match the skin.
 
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Does it matter if the skin hole is a slightly bigger than the stiffener hole? Won't the rivet swell and fill the hole anyway? Do I really need to enlarge the stiffener or can I just use a standard rivet instead of fattening one up?
 
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