Brief Description: Completed Riveting of the VS Rear Spar
I contacted Ken Garland my Technical Consultant and he invited me to drop in to see him regarding the rivets in the bottom hinge bracket of the VS rear spar. I had been secretly harboring suspicion that I would need to drill out and screw them or alternatively start the spar again.
Ken was confident that they were still able to be driven without any concerns. I guess thtis is what experience comes down to. Knowledge about how to deal with the issues that are not covered by Section 5 of the plans and the explicite instructions within the plans themselves. It was great to have confirmation that I was still on the way to messing up, rather than there 8).
We spent some time hand squeezing them with Ken doing the honours. They turned out pretty well. When I got home, I spread the shop heads using the back riveting plate and a large pin punch and a hammer. I ran the scotchbrite over the face of the pin punc to make sure that it was a good finish before using it. Another option that I could have used was the C Frame with its rivet set.
At the end of the evening I was thinking about alternative strategies for those rivets. Ken suggested back riveting them from the start which would have made a lot of sense. I am sure there will be a next chance to give that a shot...
Pin Punch and Hammer I used to clean up the Shop Head of the Rivets
