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New RV-7 Kit Owner with Riveting Question (no pun intended)

C

Capt_Riney

Member
I just purchased an unfinished RV7 kit and am busy organizing/inventoring it. I've previously built (and own) a Kolb Mark III, but am new to the RV world. I have very little solid riveting experience, and my first job will be to complete the rudder so I'm looking for advice on best way to back rivet the stiffeners onto the rudder skin. What kind of tape are folks using? Do I need to get the tape that Van's suggests or are there alternatives? Any tips on back riveting technicque would be greatly appreciated.

Mark Rinehart
 
Practice, practice, practice, on scrap. You will need less air pressure when back riveting. Also find a way to make sure you don't keep riveting past the back plate and ruin a skin. I used the tape they recommended at first but when it ran out I just used blue painter's tape with no issues. Make sure the pieces are flat against the back rivet plate, and press down FIRMLY. Have fun!

Also, a lot of people suggest sealing the stiffeners in place as well, as some people develop cracks in the rudder skin near the stiffener ends, possibly from flexing. I didn't do it but too early to tell what will happen.

Chris
 
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you can buy the tape from ACS or try electrical tape, that's what I used, try on a sample first and see if you like the results.
 
In my experience with aileron stiffeners, and way back on Dad's -6, you can use regular clear packing or scotch tape. I also found that using -3 rivets made much better shop heads than the -3.5s called out on the plans. The longer ones kept folding over.

Thirdly, I found that typically I get better results when not back-riveting; the control surfaces are too thin for that to be practical.
 
Hi Mark,
Welcome to the VAF fold. The easiest answer to your request: go onto YouTube and search for a video called Back Riveting 101. It's a straight-forward demo on how to back-rivet those stiffeners. A few tips:

- Be careful deburring the rivet holes in the rudder skin. It's really thin sheet alclad. You can easily remove too much and over-widen the rivet hole if you aren't careful.

- Invest in some back-rivet tape. The edges are adhesive, but the center part that rests against the rivet factory head has no adhesive to pull the rivet out of position.
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cspages/3mRivetersTape.php

Hope this helps.
 
Tape

All good advise.
I didn't use tape. I put them in one at a time. I also prosealed the stiffeners. They were prosealed then clekoed to a nice flat piece of particle bard. Left for a few days then back riveted.
For flush riveting I use heavy packing tape. Cheap.
 
rmartingt said:
....I found that typically I get better results when not back-riveting; the control surfaces are too thin for that to be practical.
Click to expand...

Interesting - that's the opposite of my own experience and on my RV-3 project, the surfaces are only .016.

I much prefer the results I get back-riveting.

Dave
 
Scotch removable magic tape

Scotch removeable magic tape. It pulls off with no residue.

Go the the junk yard and get a nice smooth piece of scrap steel and make your own back riveting plate.

Do use a back rivet set, and you will make great rivets.
 
rmartingt said:
...

Thirdly, I found that typically I get better results when not back-riveting; the control surfaces are too thin for that to be practical.
Click to expand...

I started my first project in 1998, an RV-4 empennage with 0.016 skins. I started out with the plate on my wood bench and had trouble with proud rivet heads. After moving the plate to the concrete floor, no more problems (except when I ran past the plate...:eek:).
 
longranger said:
I started my first project in 1998, an RV-4 empennage with 0.016 skins. I started out with the plate on my wood bench and had trouble with proud rivet heads. After moving the plate to the concrete floor, no more problems (except when I ran past the plate...:eek:).
Click to expand...

Use a small powerful magnet from True Value to mark the end of the steel, or a red WakTack. I wish I had.
 
like mentioned above, make your own BR plate, I made a 8X40" plate, be carful with a small one, you can easily do serious damage if you miss the plate and pull the trigger!
 
David Paule said:
Interesting - that's the opposite of my own experience and on my RV-3 project, the surfaces are only .016.

I much prefer the results I get back-riveting.

Dave
Click to expand...

I should clarify, I back riveted the stiffeners in the tanks and ailerons because conventional riveting wasn't practical for those (the ailerons are too thin and the tank too awkward without the ribs). But I never was super-happy with the results. I tried back-riveting the firewall stiffeners and it just didn't work well at all, plus it was awkward to set up. It was easier just to conventional rivet.
 
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