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Permalink Reply by David Gallagher on November 29, 2009 at 10:11am

3/16 rivets are probably too large for a hand squeezer. The biggest obstacle to squeezing the spar rivets is the L-extrusion that is on the way. You will need a special flange jaw to clear the L. Pnuematic squeezers will work, if it has this flange jaw. Driving them with a rivet gun is the easiest way. Just practice on some scrap material first. Contact your local EAA chapter or an RV builder to see if you can borrow their tools and expertise.

Good luck!

Dave G.

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Permalink Reply by Jay Bannister on November 29, 2009 at 10:52am

Thanks Dave. That is what I expected. Most of the builders in my EAA chapter are RV guys, so lots of equipment and experience to help me out.

Jay B

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Permalink Reply by Jacob on November 30, 2009 at 5:59am

Hi Jay,

Phuenmatic squeezers certainly are the best option if you can get hold of some and you can get them to fit into where you need them. Hand squeezers would be no good although you never know what you could do with a couple of big long steel pipes over the handles for extra leverage some of the squeezes out there may be able to stand the punishment probably would bother though unless you had no other option.
Another thing to keep in mind is that you may need someone to help you buck up your 3/16 rivets as get they can be quite tricky to do by yourself especially any real long rivets (even working as an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer I still prefer using 2 people when I can with 3/16 rivets, although you can still do it fine by yourself it just requires a little more skill. Also try and get your hands on a 4X rivet gun as anything below that on 3/16 rivet will just make life difficult.

Regards,

Jake

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Permalink Reply by Jay Bannister on November 30, 2009 at 7:43am

Hi Jake,

Thanks for the input. Do you know if these rivets are aluminum, or steel; and would that make a difference in how they are set?

Jay B

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Permalink Reply by Timothy R Mix on December 4, 2009 at 2:08am

Also if you you a 4x gun with a tungsten bucking bar you can drive them with no problem. All the rivets used here are Aluminum rivets part number to look for are MS20470AD-(x)-(x) for button head and MS20426AD-(x)-(x) for flush rivets. You can tell be the marking on the head of the rivet. It will have a single dimple for an AD rivet. If it has NO dimple it is a A rivet which is a NON-STRUCTURAL soft rivet DO NOT use in this application. If you need a rivet gun call The Yard Store in Wichita, KS and you can get a nice used IR or Chicago Pneumatic for a decent price.
http://www.yardstore.com/?gclid=CPXmjM6pvJ4CFQsYawodbwXeaw
Cheers!
Tim

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Permalink Reply by Jay Bannister on December 4, 2009 at 7:55am

Thanks for the input Tim.

PS - You've got me covered. As a little kid, TIM Holt and Tom MIX were two of my favorite cowboy actors.
Any kin?

Jay B

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Permalink Reply by Timothy R Mix on December 5, 2009 at 10:31am

Jay, actually according to my Grandma we are shirttail relatives (not enough to get excited about). But we did all originate from the Philly area. I was able to visit the Tom Mix museum in Enid, OK when I worked for Cessna in Wichita, that was pretty cool. I guess he had settled there for a while and was the town Marshal for a couple of years before his acting career. When they saw my name in the guest register we talked for about an hour, about family history and it does sound as if we were a long lost cousins.
Cheers!
Tim

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Permalink Reply by Alberto Martin on May 28, 2010 at 4:01pm

Hello Jay,

Well, Caleb at ZAC told me to use a 3x riveter gun. I´ve already ordered one from http://www.aircraft-tool.com/shop/main.aspx , they have a complete kit for 235 u$s. I do not know if it could do by hand with the tool you mentioned.

Take care,

Alberto

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Permalink Reply by Phill Barnes on May 28, 2010 at 5:31pm

Hi guys
I purchased an ATS 3X riveting set from spruce http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/topages/profRivetingKit.php . I did all of my riveting with this gun by myself. I struggled a little on the first wing but I really mastered the solo technique on the second. A LAME told me to use the biggest bucking bar that I had but the trouble with that is if you put slightly to much preassure on the bucking bar, the gun will buck slightly and ruin the rivet head. I found that if I used the smallest bucking bar in my kit it would allways be submissive to the gun and my age hardened No. 15 AD's squashed in seconds. So if you pushed to the point where the bucking bar stopped bucking, the gun would buck and damage the head. Remember that your bucking bar arm mearly acts as a return spring. Also instead of using masking tape on the die in the gun, I laid down 3 layers of the clear packaging tape with the fibreglass strands accross the rivet heads before riveting and you would swear blind that the heads had never been touched. When riveting solo it is essential to use a little extra protection for the heads.

That's a rough transcript of how I managed the job.

Phill

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