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Rivet direction

D

dareha

Member
Ok, I'm being lazy. I just started building a RV9A and the learning curve! I'm ready to rivet the nose rib on the vertical stabilizer to the front spar and there is nothing on the plans that tells you which side the manufactured head or the shop head should be. I recall reading something somewhere but rather than rereading everything I would be lazy and ask the experienced people here. Is there a rule that if not specified the manufactured head is on the front of the plane?
Thank you,
Darrell
 
No such rule for rivets. The primary criteria I use is (a) whichever direction is easiest to shoot, (b) factory head on the thinner material side if possible to help minimize any skin deformation, (c) put the factory head on the side that will be easiest to drill out in event you mess it up.

BTW-it sounds like a basic build class would be well worth your the money and time you'll be putting into this project. Will probably save you substantial money in the long run.

Good luck.
 
Darrell,

In general, one should strive to place the manufactured head of the rivet on the thinnest material being riveted. That is not always possible of course, but that is what you want to strive for.

Another tip when squeezing rivets that will help keep the two surfaces tight is to cut off a little vinyl tubing a little longer than the shank of the rivet when in place ... slip the piece of vinyl over the shank of the rivet being squeezed. The idea here is ... as the rivet squeezer sets begins to come together, the vinyl tubing will be compressed first thus keeping pressure on pieces being riveted prior to the rivet beginning to set. The result is nice tight rivet joints even on ones where it was necessary to have the shop head formed on the thinner material. The piece of vinyl can be used many times before a new piece is needed.

Happy building,
 
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Unless the plans specify a direction, which they do at times, it really doesn't matter. Having said that I generally followed the advice that Steve and John posted above.
 
Lazy

And that's why I asked the experts so it wouldn't bite me.
Thank you for those people with helpful advice.
Darrell
 
If you don't have the PDF version of the plans (now supplied on a USB drive, I guess), I recommend you buy it. If you're looking for a specific bit of information that you don't recall from reading the plans and construction manual, it's easy to search for text that may answer your question. I can't speak for the RV-9, but it took me about a minute to open the PDF and search for "manufactured head" to find the reference in the RV-7 plans that says, "Place the manufactured head of the rivet on the rib flange (side with thinnest material), to prevent distorting the parts."

Even less time with the VAF search function will turn up over a dozen instances of the same answer given to the same question.
 
Another tip when squeezing rivets that will help keep the two surfaces tight is to cut off a little vinyl tubing a little longer than the shank of the rivet when in place ... slip the piece of vinyl over the shank of the rivet being squeezed. The idea here is ... as the rivet squeezer sets begins to come together, the vinyl tubing will be compressed first thus keeping pressure on pieces being riveted prior to the rivet beginning to set. The result is nice tight rivet joints even on ones where it was necessary to have the shop head formed on the thinner material. The piece of vinyl can be used many times before a new piece is needed.


I like this idea, cant picture it, any pics or vids of this.. I am cranking up my build next week
( waiting on tools).. Thanks
 
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Thanks John. As they say a picture something something...
Seriously. That makes perfect sense now.
 
As an interesting aside I recently had a chance to look at some QB -7 wings. The rib to forward spar rivets had the shop heads aft, i.e. against the thin rib flange. Flanges were nice and flat though, so they probably used a trick similar to Johns. This would probably have been done for convenience.

On the rear spar fork near the root, the manufactured heads were aft, against the thick doubler. Since the spar is riveted on the bench the only reason I can deduce for doing it this way is for future maintenance/ repair to make it easier to remove these rivets.

Just interesting.
 
dareha said:
And that's why I asked the experts so it wouldn't bite me.
Thank you for those people with helpful advice.
Darrell
Click to expand...

I get the subtext of that response, Darrell, but given how you described yourself, I did give you some valuable advice.

You mentioned the "learning curve." I'm trying to help with that.

It's up to you whether you want to accept it or learn it the hard way, but I hope you at least recognize the spirit in which it was intended.
 
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