Rivet callout on VS rear spar

I started riveting the rear spar of the VS today. (Page 6-4 figure 4) The lower part of the spar calls out AN426 4-7 for the spar and spar caps which looks good and buck with nice shop heads . However, at the lower hinge, the call out is still the same. There is no allowance for the extra thickness of the hinge and the rivet is too short to buck within tolerance as one would expect. I see the same issue with the middle hinge.

Should I follow the callout or use a longer rivet?

Rivet call outs in the plans are not absolute. Use them as a place to start and then go longer or shorter as required to make the proper shop head.

Tom Martin said:

Rivet call outs in the plans are not absolute. Use them as a place to start and then go longer or shorter as required to make the proper shop head.

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Thanks Tom for your answer. It seems a bit early in the build to be having to second guess the callout. I know that the build manual says that there are times that the callout will have a bit of a short rivet but that it will be sufficient. I wasn't sure if this was one of those times.

RandyAB said:

Thanks Tom for your answer. It seems a bit early in the build to be having to second guess the callout. I know that the build manual says that there are times that the callout will have a bit of a short rivet but that it will be sufficient. I wasn't sure if this was one of those times.

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The rivet guides that Avery used to sell are great for newbies. I don't know if anyone else sells them these days. You very quickly learn how to size rivets before and after being set. You quickly get up to speed and will find that you can visually determine if the rivet is set properly.

It's better to be slightly long than slight short. Just be careful to buck them straight or you'll be drilling them out again when then start leaning over.

rleffler said:

The rivet guides that Avery used to sell are great for newbies. I don't know if anyone else sells them these days. You very quickly learn how to size rivets before and after being set. You quickly get up to speed and will find that you can visually determine if the rivet is set properly.

It's better to be slightly long than slight short. Just be careful to buck them straight or you'll be drilling them out again when then start leaning over.

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I do have the rivet gauges; several of them actually. The called rivets are definitely short at the hinges. I really can't see why they called for the same length at the hinge as they called for in the adjacent spar. I used longer ones as you suggest, and yes, I got my share of drilling out smooshed rivets. In the end, it all looks fine. I'm going to river the skin tomorrow.