Wing Spar to rib hole fix

Tonight I was riveting the wing ribs to the main spar, and doing a very good job until the end, when the factory head of a rivet sheared right off (must have had the gun at an angle). Was unable to pull the rivet through from the shop head side, and tried slowly and carefully drilling into it just slightly from the factory head side. Needless to say, I ended up with an ugly, enlarged hole.



Plan A was to drill large enough for a -5 rivet. Still not large enough. So I drilled out to 3/16" with the thought of either an AN3 bolt, or a -6 rivet. The hole is still very slightly enlarged to the upper right side, so my thought is a -6 rivet as it may expand slightly to fill the hole. Not even sure how hard it will be to set that size rivet though. Do not want to drill any larger. Any issues with a bolt in this type of hole?

And yes, I will email Vans, but I do like learning from the group as well! I know there are more ways than one to fix things, I like to hear them all!

Also, any tips should I have to drill out a rivet with no factory head again? Think I learned my lesson on holding the gun straight, but you never know.

Drill

It is easier with a split point drill bit.

David, thanks for the ideas. It helps to visualize the forces as you described. I don't like the thought of an empty hole, so I believe with Vans blessing I may go with an AN3 bolt.

Tom, thanks for the suggestion, will have to get me some of them.

Chris

I keep an assortment of 5 and 6 rivets around. I also ordered 5 to 10 each of most sizes of cherry max?s when I started my wings. I?m all but done with the metal work and have not used many at all but, they have kept me building a couple of times. Oh, you could put a doubler there.

Some good suggestion here.
Just as a point for future reference, never drill through the rivet, even from the shop head side. Drill through just to the point it would penetrate the skin and no further. Insert a pin punch and pop off the tail. You can then support the back side and drive it out with a punch.
This will protect the hole.

I really can't believe I didn't think to just punch it through, Do it all the time on other rivets. At least I was smart enough to stop building after that and not make any more dumb mistakes. I've learned that as soon as I get impatient or frustrated to walk away.

YellowJacket RV9 said:

I really can't believe I didn't think to just punch it through, Do it all the time on other rivets. At least I was smart enough to stop building after that and not make any more dumb mistakes. I've learned that as soon as I get impatient or frustrated to walk away.

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Read my tag line. I stole it from Ron White, the comedian.

JonJay said:

Read my tag line. I stole it from Ron White, the comedian.

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I have that posted on the wall in my garage/airplane factory.

Sincerely hoping it's not bad VAF etiquette to re-open an old thread, but lo and behold this exact same disaster happened today while I was finishing up my right wing spar. Chris, I was hoping you could relay what Van's response was. I've got an E-mail out to them already but I'd like to prepare for the bad news

I was reviewing the rivet quality after all the rib-to-spar rivets were done and found a couple of them that were over-set. However, instead of just drilling enough to snap off the head, I got carried away with one of them and ended up with this sad picture:

Rib side:


Spar side:


Enlarged it vertically to about 0.1980 inches all the way through. Hope it can just be opened up for a bolt, and I don't need to replace the spar. I feel totally disgusted at this point--what an amateur mistake on an expensive part!

(also, yes I know the rivet above is over-set too. I'm giving myself a time-out from the drill for now)

I went back and looked at my logs, and Van's let me used a 3/16 screw in this spot. I would imagine you will get a similar response. If it makes you feel any better, I have 150 hours and my wings are still very much intact

Chris

Thanks for getting back to me! Vans recommended simply cleaning the hole up and using a 3/16 blind rivet, so I dodged a bullet on that one! Definitely learned to take my time with rivet removal.

Draker said:

(also, yes I know the rivet above is over-set too. I'm giving myself a time-out from the drill for now)

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Maybe. Use a good set of calipers and measure. Download the mil specs from Vans and if it is within limits, you are good to go. It doesn't look overset to me but hard to tell from the pics.
The one below looks under set, but same applies here in regard to spec.