Continuing with the tail cone riveting, I riveted the bulkheads to the side skins using the tungsten bucking bars.
The bulkhead rivets next to the stiffeners proved to be somewhat challenging as I could not fit my tungsten bars easily over the rivet head. I tried using the footed steel bucking bar that I purchased a while back, and while it fit nicely over the rivet shank, the rivet did not set as well as those done with the tungsten bars. I also had to turn up the air restrictor a couple of notches before the rivet would start to set.
I decided to instead order another tungsten bar with a greater angle at the end. Once that arrives, I will use it to set the rivets behind the stiffeners.
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| Attempting to rivet behind the stiffener with the steel bucking bar |
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The end result is just okay... the shop head has the correct diameter, but doesn't look as good as those set with the tungsten bars
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I continued riveting all bulkheads down to where the skin starts to curve. Bucking the rivets was relatively straightforward, but a mirror came in handy to view shop heads of bulkhead rivets down in the aft of the tailcone.
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| Left skin aft bulkhead riveting complete down to the aft bottom skin |
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| F-1008 bulkhead riveted to left skin |
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| Right skin aft bulkhead riveting complete down to the aft bottom skin |
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| F-1008 bulkhead riveted to right skin |
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| F-1008 bulkhead rivet shop heads |
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F-1012B bulkhead riveted to side skins
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F-1012A bulkhead riveted to side skins
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| F-1011 bulkhead riveted to side skins |
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My new tungsten bucking bar (ordered on EBay from reddottool) arrived so I decided to finish setting the side skin bulkhead rivets behind the stiffeners. These went in much more easily than my earlier attempts using the steel bar, and I can already see additional uses for the bar when I rivet the bottom skins to the bulkheads.
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| New bucking bar taped and ready to use |
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| Bucking bar fits nicely over the stiffener to set the rivet behind |
Next up was riveting around the side skin bends. The only way I could tackle these myself was to back rivet. Working on one rivet at a time, making sure the tailcone was supported at an angle that placed the rivet head flat against the back rivet plate, I used my long back rivet set to drive the rivets. Once I figured how best to place the back rivet plate (see build hints), the rivets set well with the back rivet set holding the bulkhead tabs tight to the skins.
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| Bulkhead tabs held tightly against the side skin after riveting |
While getting ready to rivet the bend around the F-1010 bulkhead, I noticed that my 12" back rivet set was too long for the space available, and my short 3.5" back rivet set interfered with the bulkhead web. I decided to order a
5.75" back rivet set that would allow me to get in to that space, and work on other tasks while waiting for that to arrive.
Taking a short break from riveting, I finished dimpling the top skins (be sure not to dimple the hole in the aft corners of the aft top skin as those will be used to attach the empennage fairing).
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| Dimpling the aft top skin with the DRDT-2 |
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| Forward top skin also dimpled, except for the holes at the front |
I also worked on fabricating attachment brackets to hold the static lines for the static ports that I will be attaching soon.
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| 3 attachment brackets marked and ready to be cut and drilled |
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| Attachment brackets cut, drilled, bent and deburred... ready for priming |
My new 5-3/4" back rivet set arrived, and I was able to continue riveting around the bends of the F-1010 bulkhead. The set fit nicely into the tight spaces, and I was able to set the rivets easily.
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| Rivets set around all the skin bends back to the F-1010 bulkhead |
I also was able to rivet the bends around the F-1011 bulkhead, bucking the first 2 rivets on each side while using the rubber hose technique to keep the tabs tight against the skins. The third rivet down was easily back-riveted.
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| F-1011 bulkhead after bucking the first two rivets around the bend, and preparing the third rivet for back riveting |
Build Hints
- Use tungsten bucking bars when possible. In my experience, steel bars take much longer to set the rivet and shop head looks nowhere near as good as those set with a tungsten bar.
- Back riveting the rivets around the skin bends works well just by holding the tail cone at the correct angle. I did, however, find it better to place the back rivet plate so that the longer side was in line with the bulkhead flange. This meant the skin rested along the shorter side of the plate, and the rivet was held tighter against the plate.
- Do not dimple the holes in the aft corners of the aft top skin as those will be used to attach the empennage fairing. These holes are easy to miss due to the plans only having a blanket statement of not dimpling any skin holes associated with the empennage fairing. If accidentally dimpled, the dimples can be flattened one time using the squeezer and two flat/flush dies (don't ask me how I know this! 😉).
Time Taken: 11.2 hours
Dates: May 14 - May 23 2023
Tail Cone Total Time: 133.1 hours
RV-10 Build Total Time: 389.1 hours
Priming Total Time: 41.2 hours (not included in build time totals)
