Well today was another mostly frustrating day. I did have success shortening the 5-12 rivets to 5-9. I used a HF throatless sheer to cut the tip of the rivet down then sanded the end flat on the belt sander. (I finally found a use for the HF sheer.) This process worked well.
The frustration was from setting the capstrip rivets. I was having an issue with the shop head squishing out. I tried different pressure settings with some success. After setting a bunch of rivets I was somewhat concerned about what is acceptable. I started doing some research but I couldn't find much info. I went back to the Tony Bingelis article that I have on riveting and found my mistake. I need to put masking tape on the shop head. I went back out and tried this and it worked perfectly.
This is the method used in Eric's manual but I thought it was just to keep the rivets from jumping out, but it actually protects the head too. I didn't do that on my rear spars because I used pneumatic squeezers.
I talked to someone that said that these rivets have to be perfect so I started drilling out rivets. I don't know how many, but it was a bunch. The good news was that they all came out with clean holes. I'm not sure if it is a good or a bad thing that I'm more proficient at drilling rivets out than I am at setting them! :-)
I loaded all the rivets in the holes and taped the shop head with masking tape. I set a few and called it a day. My education continues! Lesson learned and I'm back on track.
