I started riveting the side skin stiffeners C, D and E in the same way I back riveted the bottom skin stiffeners. Working my way out from the center of the tail cone, I riveted each stiffener in sections of 12-13 rivets, completing both sides of the tail cone before moving on to the next section.
As before, riveting near the bulkheads was done with the 12" back rivet set.
Prior to riveting a line of rivets, I also made sure that the skin was sitting flush against the back rivet plate. I moved the carpet pieces around, and used rags where necessary, to ensure everything was in alignment. Doing this setup for every line of rivets took more time than actual riveting, but I was happy with how the rivets were set, and all rivets set flush on the outside of the skins.
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| Starting to rivet the side skin stiffeners to the skins and bulkheads |
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| Using rags to hold the tail cone at the correct angle so that the rivets and skin were flat against the back rivet plate |
Moving towards the rear of the tail cone, it became harder to back rivet due to the lack of space, so I moved the tail cone over to the saw horses and continued with bucking of the remaining stiffener rivets.
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| Tail cone on the saw horses, ready for bucking rivets |
Bucking the rivets was relatively easy with the tungsten bars, and the rivet gun air pressure dialed in to where the rivet was set within 2 - 3 seconds.
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| Top row of stiffener rivets are set all the way to the aft end |
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| Rags placed in the bottom of the tail cone to help prevent any potential mishaps with the bucking bar being dropped |
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| Using a mirror to check rivet shop heads |
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| Using a self-leveling laser to make sure that there is no twist in the tail cone |
Once I finished riveting the side skin stiffeners at the rear of the tail cone, I moved to the front and bucked the remaining stiffener rivets there as well. With minor adjustments to placement of clecoes, I was able to reach all stiffener rivets comfortably with the bucking bar.
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| Side skin stiffener rivets all set |
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| Skin exterior looking nice and flat on the left side... |
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| ...and on the right side after riveting |
Next I'll move on to riveting the bulkheads to the skins.
Build Hints
- Most of the back riveting time is taken up making sure that the back rivet plate is in the proper position, and that the skin is in contact with the plate. With a good setup, I got good back riveting results, with round shop heads and flush rivets on the skin.
- Even though bucking rivets takes a little longer that back riveting, by bucking I get a perfect shop head every time. Back riveting is very sensitive to keeping the back rivet set in line with the rivet shank. Being slightly off in alignment causes the rivet head to lean. I have learned to back rivet only if I can get perfect (or near perfect) alignment with the rivet, otherwise I will buck. However, if I can squeeze the rivet, I'll do that first every time!
Time Taken: 11.4 hours
Dates: May 6 - May 13 2023
Tail Cone Total Time: 121.9 hours
RV-10 Build Total Time: 377.9 hours
Priming Total Time: 41.2 hours (not included in build time totals)
