Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Stabilator Leading Edge Ribs (0.5)

0.5 hours

I figured out how to pull those last rivets on my leading edge ribs.  After watching this video, I went and picked up a piece of 1"x1/8" aluminum for a couple dollars at Home Depot.  Then I ground an angle on one end of it, drilled a #40 hole in the face of the "ramp" (perpendicular to the angled face), and cut it off with the bandsaw.  After a few minutes of cleaning up and rounding off the edges with the Scotchbrite wheel, I had my little wedge that would allow me to pull the rivet with my gun at and angle, while still keeping the rivet aligned in the hole.


Then I drilled a #30 hole in the remaining piece of bar stock.  This is just to hold a rivet so I can bend the stem over slightly with my fingers, like this:


Now my little wedge and bent rivet stem fit together like this...


...allowing my rivet gun to pull the stem from an angle that clears the rest of the part.


Done!


Note: I also found an idea for a more elaborate adapter, here.  I might try to make one of these later, but Home Depot didn't have any aluminum that thick and I didn't feel like driving to another store today!

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