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Riveting the Fuselage

macrafic

Well Known Member
I posted this in the general site, but I think it got lost in all the traffic. Since it is about an RV-7A, I thought I would post it appropriately here.

I'm at the point, just before "flipping the canoe", where the side skins get riveted on. After that, you are instructed to finish riveting on the bottom forward skin. I have a couple of questions (RV-7A).

First "...finish riveting the bottom skin". That implies that the riveting has been started. Mine hasn't and I can't see anything in the previous pages that indicate I should have started. What did I miss?

Second, nowhere can I find where you rivet the bottom skins where the mid fuselage overlaps the reard fuselage, and the 623 corner ribs. Again, what did I miss? Do I do it now, or is this waiting until later for some reason.

As always, grateful for the resources out there who have forged this path before me!!!!
 
I don't have my plans or book here but I will try to answer your question. The rear fuselage bottom and side skins get riveted to each other and to the bulkheads and side stringers. There are a number of rivets that do not get attached so you can get the longeron between the skin and bulkheads. The center fuselage bottom skin is riveted to the seat ribs, rear spar and main spar. You then mate the rear and center sections of the fuselage. You temporarly install the longerons at the same time. Next comes the side skins from the aft fuselage to the firewall. Lots of drilling countersinking and clecoing. Make and install the bracing for the forward fuselage, attach the firewall, cut and drill the forward fuselage floor stringers and continue matching and drilling everything. As you complete the canoe you will have used a "lot" of clecoes. You will probable take things apart several times for countersinking and deburring as well as any priming. This a rough description of the process from memory but it should give you some idea of what i mean.
 
Thanks Jim. I follow you, and am at the point where you ended. Now, i have to disassemble everything, debur, countersink, etch, prime. Once that is done, I have to start riveting together. That is where my questions came in.

I see the point in the instructions for riveting on the side skins. I'll also assume that the word "finish" in "finish riveting the forward bottom skin" should really say "just do it", since I haven't started anything to "finish" yet. But, I don't see the point where the rear and middle fuselage floors are riveted together (or where the 623 side ribs get riveted to the floor).

Do these two fuselage pieces get riveted BEFORE riveting the side skins on or after (or doesn't it make a difference)? Is there any particular time for the 623 ribs to get riveted to the floor?

Thanks.
 
I'm at the same stage on my 9A. I just finished the disassembly/countersink/dimple/clean/prime process for my fuse parts, and will start reassembling them tomorrow.

The instructions are pretty sparse. I'll complete the small list of pre-assembly tasks in the instructions and then reassemble and start riveting.

I've been scanning Dan and Mike's build logs for tips and pictures (my9a.com and rvproject.com).
 
This is an old thread but I guess things haven't changed. I read through the instructions a couple of times to make sure I hadn't missed it. No reference to joining the aft and mid fuselage sections in the instructions.

My plan is after the side skins are removed for dimpling to take apart the mid and aft sections, deburr, dimple, prime the overlap area and then rivet. I'll have better access before adding the side skins back on.

Oh did I mention how much I love drilling countersinks. :D
 
Blog

This is an old thread but I guess things haven't changed. I read through the instructions a couple of times to make sure I hadn't missed it. No reference to joining the aft and mid fuselage sections in the instructions.

My plan is after the side skins are removed for dimpling to take apart the mid and aft sections, deburr, dimple, prime the overlap area and then rivet. I'll have better access before adding the side skins back on.

Oh did I mention how much I love drilling countersinks. :D

I can't remember exactly but I documented the process pretty well in my blog
As others mentioned, mark the holes that don't get rivets.
 
This is an old thread but I guess things haven't changed. I read through the instructions a couple of times to make sure I hadn't missed it. No reference to joining the aft and mid fuselage sections in the instructions.

My construction manual has a whole section in the Fuselage portion entitled "JOINING THE REAR AND CENTER FUSELAGE ASSEMBLIES".

Is that not what you're talking about?
 
Ray, this is just symptomatic of the general descent into vagueness that the instructions make. They also never tell you when to rivet the F-796 parts in place, but you can safely do that now as well.

If you rivet without the side skins on make sure you can still slide the lower flange of the conical bend into place. For what its worth I had my side skins on.
 
Yeah I was just thinking of the two rows of rivets that join the aft and mid sections. I'll leave the corner ribs until I put the side skins back on or at a minimum I'll leave some of the corner rib rivets out.

I realize that the instructions are getting less and less as construction continues. In general I deal with that but at times I'm not sure if I missed something or it just isn't there. That tends to waste a bunch of time as I have to review the instructions again to make sure I didn't just miss something. I'm thankful for those who have done such a great job of documenting their builds. I read through pages of Bruce Swayze's web site and finally found a comment about this omission. Thanks Bruce you have been very helpful.
 
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