Going back over the parts of the construction that I have skipped to get the priming done on a bulk basis. The engine attachment blocks must be attached to the upper and lower longerons with solid rivets and a few specifically placed Cherry rivets. I have managed to set all the previous Cherry rivets with my standard blind rivet puller but I really struggled with the wider diameter rivets in the milled aluminium blocks. At times, I couldn’t get the stem to snap no matter how many times I pulled. When it did snap, I was left with a little bit of the stem showing on the shop side even though the “bulb” had formed. I drilled two out and tried again but with limited improvement. I checked the Cherry manual and it would appear that my “not so good” rivets were acceptable as the shop heads were formed.
Not wanting a repeat of this on the lower longerons I managed to borrow a proper Cherry Rivet puller from one of our very helpful sheet metal guys at work (the advantage of working next to aircraft engineers). What a difference! Two squeezes and the rivet is set. These pullers are about £120 so not something you really want to buy for about 10 rivets but definitely worth having the right tool for the job.
Here are the lower longerons and engine blocks with Cherry and solid rivets.
Hi Chris – happy new year! You seem to be getting on well with your build – I finally bit the bullet and ordered an RV14A
empennage kit. Went for the “A” after much deliberation but I can still get my tail wheel / vintage kicks with the Chipmunk!
Regards, Ian Condy (we met at Sywell)