Smoothing pop rivets.

Lyle · Post by **Lyle** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 8:08 pm

The pop rivets on the bottm surface of the ailerons protrude slightly and are a little rough. What would be a good way to smooth them down slightly without scratching up the surface? Thanks Lyle

-8 Wings

captain_john · Post by **captain_john** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 11:00 pm

Well, Lyle...

Me? I would leave it for the painter.

Next time, do this... and it is really gonna suprise you...

Rotate the rivet inside the dimple/countersink. You will find a "happy spot" where it just looks good!

Hold it and rivet it there.

Give it a whirl!

CJ

tshort · Post by **tshort** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 11:53 pm

Mine don't really protrude that much but there is a rough area where the mandrel hole is ... not left over mandrel, but almost a lip around the hole in the rivet. Some are worse than others. I haven't come up with a fix, but I think the scuffing prior to paint will take care of most of it...

Thomas
-8 wings

jim_geo · Post by **jim_geo** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 10:59 pm

Are they rough like this?

tshort · Post by **tshort** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 12:03 am

That's roughly (

) how mine look.

Did you bevel the edge of the skin or is that camera artifact?

Thomas
-8 wings

jim_geo · Post by **jim_geo** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 1:36 am

No actually that is what a dimple looks like straight on and close up. Nothing special done. That is the under side of an aileron QB.

tshort · Post by **tshort** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:56 am

I meant the edge of the skin forward of the rivet where there is overlap. Dimple / rivet look just like mine (non-QB)

T.

jim_geo · Post by **jim_geo** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 11:59 am

OH

Yes all of the overlap edges are beveled quite heavily.

tshort · Post by **tshort** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 7:44 pm

Interesting ... I wonder why they do that? I did not on my flaps or ailerons and there is no mention of it in the instructions or manual...?

T.

jim_geo · Post by **jim_geo** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 9:01 pm

I don't think it's that big a deal. The double row overlaps of the wing skins are also beveled like that. Pretty clearly the manual shows a preferred way to break the edges of sheet aluminum. That is to simply debur to a rounded or softened edge. Personally I don't see a problem with doing it either way. But what do I know? As my Dad would tell me “There's more than one way to skin a cat.”

Post by **Spike** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 10:52 am

A friend of mine was reading this thread the other day and brought up a possible cause of your problem guys. He also had some of his pop rivets end up with a raised area in the center of the rivet.

The first thing he wanted me to pass on are that if the tip of your rivet puller does not have a good fit with the stem this can happen. As you are pulling up the stem, the face of the tip puts a pressure in the opposite direction on the head of the rivet. If the stem does not fit well in the tip of the puller (there is a space around the stem) the center of the rivet will have a tendancy to pull up with the stem leaving that raised, rough area.

The other thing was that you can also leave a ring on the head of the rivet if the face of the puller tip does not cover the full head of the rivet.

-- John