Countersink depth question

[prestwich]

I can now say from experience that the shallow countersinks work, with one caveat. I finally got to riveting the HS front spar together. This was the area in question, when I was countersinking the reinforcing angle brackets.

So far I've been squeezing all my rivets. But, if you follow Van's guidelines of *not* countersinking until the dimple fits flush, but only until a rivet sitting loose in the countersink is just barely below flush, you *must* use the rivet hammer, not the squeezer, or that gap between the parts is not going to go away. DAMHIK.

Also, it's nice to know that squeezer yokes make good bucking bars if you haven't actually bought any bucking bars yet!

[Wicked Stick]

My C-yoke made an excellent bucking bar for the ailerons and flaps .

The shape allows for a good grip to hold it while bucking.

[brewtoo]

I too have been having trouble getting a dimple to nest down into a countersink and end up with no gap between the parts.

Yesterday I got an old piece of scrap aluminum at the airport. It had been dimpled along one edge. I noticed the dimples looks more delicate and shallower than my dimples.

I drilled and dimpled the other edge. Sure enough, my dimples moved the metal further out on the bottom...not a whole lot, but definitely more significant.

I tried another dimple die and got the same exact result.

Yes, the rivets fit nice and flush in both the original dimples and mine. The original dimples fit nicely into a countersink hole, though. My dimples did not.

So, are there different "styles" of dimple dies? I'm going to try to find out about the dies that did the original dimples...hopefully they were done on site at the airport.

Thanks