Is this a common practice?

1:1_Scale · Post by **1:1_Scale** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 11:14 pm

I was working on my practice project today, and was starting to back rivet the stiffeners to the skin. I was doing 1 or 2 at a time (the most I could hold in place while I turned the part over), when I decided that dropping the rivets in all the holes from the top and taping them in place would make things much faster!

I had already done the rivets in the ends in this pic:

And the first row after riveting and taking the tape off with little circles of tape in the center of the rivet:

They didn't come out quite as smooth as the first four I did, but maybe some thinner tape would work better? Any input?

4kilo · Post by **4kilo** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 11:19 pm

Kelly,

Invest in some rivet tape. I got mine from Avery, I think I have seen it in the Aircraft Spruce catalog as well.

Rivet tape is like very thin scotch tape, but there is no stick-um in the center of the tape, only in two strips along the edges of the tape. You place the tape over the rivets so that there is no sticky stuff over the rivet, and since the tape is so thin, you get really good rivet heads.

Pat

TomNativeNewYorker · Post by **TomNativeNewYorker** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 11:20 pm

Riveters tape

http://multimedia.mmm.com/mws/mediawebs ... ZQCOrrrrQ-

http://products3.3m.com/catalog/us/en00 ... utput_html

JohnR · Post by **JohnR** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 11:25 pm

The riveting tape works great. I would highly reccomend it also.

smittysrv · Post by **smittysrv** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 6:23 am

Here's what I been using. Scotch Removable Magic 811 Tape from any office supply. It works great.

http://www.officemax.com/max/solutions/ ... -536892093

Post by **Spike** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 7:55 am

Thats what I used. Its cheaper and you can get it locally.

1:1_Scale · Post by **1:1_Scale** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 9:50 am

Excellent! Thanks guys, I knew I had to be onto something, but likely wasn't the first

tmbg · Post by **tmbg** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 10:01 am

smitty, you rolled your leading edges before riveting the spar? How are you gonna rivet the spar?

Post by **Spike** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 10:29 am

Ian, the RV9 is different. The skins are one piece, pre-bent at the front, and riveted together at the Trailing edge. The top of the spar is bucked, but the majority of the rivets on the bottom of the spar are pulled.

Spike

smittysrv · Post by **smittysrv** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 10:32 am

Hi Ian,

It's an RV-9A. The elevator assembly is backwards from the RV-7A. The skins are all one piece, completely rolled in advance, and then you rivet the trailing edge like the rudder. Weird huh?

tmbg · Post by **tmbg** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 11:20 am

ah ok, makes more sense now. very weird!

Wicked Stick · Post by **Wicked Stick** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 11:28 pm

The rivet tape is cheap and works best. Because the middle has no adhesive it allows the rivet to move and center itself in and up against the hole. It's also mylar like but thin, so it doesn't allow the rivet to squish back out of the hole like the blue tape would when it's down against the bucking steel plate.

John Courte · Post by **John Courte** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 4:19 pm

Another vote for rivet tape. It's going to be a little stronger than scotch tape, and you can re-use a strip of it a couple of times, if you offset the rivet positions.

Just don't leave it on for a while. I came back to a VS after a weekend and the tape left the green stickage on the surface when I peeled the tape off.

jim_geo · Post by **jim_geo** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 6:04 pm

I've heard of the blue vinyl stuff being cut into stirps and used as rivet tape.

RivetBangers.com

Is this a common practice?

Is this a common practice?

Rivet Tape