Rivits

RE: Rivits

Thanks much! I was a sheetmetal /fabricator for United Airlines but was laid off last week. I have been told I’m good at making tools and fabricating parts from scratch. That information would be very helpfull in the future. Where did you get it? I did airline stuff as a job but my love is doing warbird work. Why work on a Airbus when you can work on a Mustang!

RE: Rivits

Charles

All you ever need to know about aircraft rivets !! (as soon as I can get my scanner working !)

I have in my library a General Manual for Structural Repair (dated 1 July 1944) Its American in origin but has an eleven page section on rivets…types, full descriprtion, equipment,diameters, lengths, countersink dimensions, dimple countersinking,pre-riveting, guns,blind rivets, cherry rivets, chobert rivets,special rivets…I’d like to point out at this stage I know naff all about rivets!

The book covers the main element of aircraft structure, general working practice, materiels and identification, heat treatment, rivets, bolts screw nuts, fasteners, cable splicing, structural tubing repair, repair of transparent plastics, repair of wood aircraft structures, repair and fabrication of fabric covering, anticorrosion precautions, repair fheat exchange equipment, repair and replacement of fluid hose and tubing and tire changing and repair.

Its a cracking little book.

Cheers

Gary

RE: Rivets

Well there are mixtures of rivet types in all the types I’ve worked on. Spits have mostly 100 degree heads but there are lots of snap head rivets on the rear fuselage (harking back to the split-pea scenario) and if any repairs were made during the a/c’s service it might have been repaired using 120 deg rivets as the holes can get ‘enlarged’ somewhat. As for the Tempest the skins are usually fitted with 120 deg head rivets, with the rest of the airframe having a mixture of 100 and 120s, believe me it can be a REAL pain in the proverbial! I haven’t worked on a Hurri so I hope our friend Mr YAK11FAN will help us out with that 😉 Hope this helps.

Tom 😉

RE: Rivets

I was trying to remember where I’d read about the split peas.
It’s obviously too long since I read Jeffrey Quill’s book.

However, I think Wrenchbender’s being a bit more technical than that and asking about the angle under the head.
Put a rivet with a 100 degree angle in an 87 degree hole and it wouldn’t fit too well. Apart from vaguely remembering that a drill is ground to 121 degrees, (strange angle, why?), I haven’t a clue.

RE: Rivets

In Jeffrey Quill’s autobiography, he mentions that the Spitfire was originally flush rivetted throughout. They then did tests to see whether ordinary rivets could be substituted by sticking split peas over each rivet head and gradually stripping them off.

They found that quite large areas did not need flush rivetting – like the rear fuselage, which saved a considerable amount of time during production.

My uncle who was a Supermarine inspector told me that they could always tell a Castle Bromwich Spitfire because the flush rivetting was not up to the standard of the Southampton ones, as the workers had come from the motor industry and were not used to working to such fine tolerances.

YR

RE: Rivits

I’ve been tying for years to avoid getting a reputation as a ‘rivit counter’, but…..

I’m pretty certain that the Sunderland is completely flush rivitted. I’m not 100% sure about the rear fuselage. It’s just possible that it changes just behind the wing. As someone who’s been on the Sunderland crew at Duxford since 1982 you’d think I’d remember wouldn’t you!!

I’m fairly sure that the Lancaster is flush rivitted as well.

I’ll check tonight when I get home and get back to you tomorrow.

Willow