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Material separating during riveting

Turbo911

Member
Having a problem with attaching HS-904 to the front spar assembly. I have all the holes clecoed and remove one at a time and rivet. The material separates a small amount. I can easily stick a paper thru approx .003” thick. I would think these need to be tight against each other. This is in the horizontal stab. I’ve also tried using cleco clamps as well. What am I missing?
 

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Use a little piece of tubing (like plastic aquarium style tubing) on the rivet shank while riveting these pieces together. It will push them together as the rivet is driven. Some people use rubber grommets for this, but I like cutting a bunch of little pieces of tubing so I have plenty handy when riveting pieces like this.

Example tubing I'm talking about (get a size that has ID appropriate for rivet size): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00W6QHI7O/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 
Rubber hose

Try using a short, like 3/16", piece of rubber fuel hose or windshield washer hose with inside diameter 1/8" or smaller, over the tail of the rivet. The rubber hose helps to hold the parts together while you set the rivet, and can then be easily removed.

Edit: whoops I see two of us responded at the same time with the same suggestion!
 
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The key requirement is that the materials are tight together at the location of the rivet. If there are slight gaps out between the rivets it has no influence on structural strength.
 
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