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Date:  3-15-2020
Number of Hours:  5.00
Manual Reference:  6W1
Brief Description:  Riveting and closing up Left Flap.

Due to the Left Flap seeming to have a bit of a twist (very slight trailing edge inner corner to oposite other side front corner), I strapped it down to the leveled square tubes, un-cleco'd, then re-cleco'd. Unstrapped....wow, everything is straight, flat, and level. Worked wonders. This came from advice from Lorin (my bro). Good deal!
Restrapped, checked level again, and began riveting. Ran into an issue where on the trailing edge and the A5 rivet inner stem is too long on the inside. The other side is already riveted just fine. They are hitting the inner heads of the rivets on the other side.
I tried using the hand riveter, squeezing a little slower thinking I could press the rivet down further as it was retracted inside....wrong answer (live and learn)....it expands the entire shaft, lodging it in the hole before it could be pressed in. Drilled/ground that one out. Don't want to do it again. All of the trailing edge rivets except the very outer ribs are in the same predicament. Again...this is only happening on the very trailing edge holes.Therefore, with some advice from the forum, I shortened the rivet mandrels (is that what they are called?). I tested the strength of the rivet on a scrap piece of aluminium. I tugged and pulled on the test (last 2 pics) and it seemed very snug and secure. They all fit well in the trailing edge holes on the one side.
I was wondering if this would prohibitively weaken the rivet (by shortening). Would this be still good? Do I need to try to sneak another rivet in somewhere to ensure strength? I donno. I floated a question on it to Zenith..they haven't gotten back to me but a guy on the Zenith forum said he did the exact same thing and has been flying over 300 hours thus far with no issue. We'll see what Zenith answers with.
Anyhow, after finishing the riveting, I unstrapped and checked the level again. Once again straight, flat, and level. Left flap done (I think)
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How I shortened them thar rivets

How I shortened them thar rivets

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Shortened rivets on my test.

Shortened rivets on my test.

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