And so it begins......

Mike Smith said:
Dale, I am resigned to the fact that I will have about as much in tools as I do airplane.
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Maybe so... but when you're done building, those tools that you think you will no longer need will see quickly, and for a substantial percentage of what you paid for them. Especially if you bought them used, from another builder. I kept my hand squeezer, rivet gun, countersink cages, and a few other odds & ends. The expensive stuff like the pneumatic squeezer, tungsten bucking bar, Sioux air drill, etc. sold quickly. The tools are really a good investment, really.
 
DaleB said:
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No such issue with the massive 10-pound or so pneumatic squeezer, but your arm gets tired after a while with one of those.
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It's relatively easy to devise a counter-balance for a heavy tool, and likely worth while.
 
I agree, those rivets are under set. I've never squeezed a rivet, just banged them with a rivet gun. I spent 2 or 3 hours a day, M-F for three months banging rivets, and got pretty good by the end of my first semester of Air Frame and General while getting my A&P.

I've heard, it takes about an airplane worth of riveting to rivet consistently well, and a lot of RV builders end up drilling out all of their first rivets and re-driving them, so they essentially build the plane twice.

I guess the moral of the story is to practice on scrap metal until you can consistently drive good rivets. If I was going to build a plane that requires a lot of rivets, I'd get a recoilless rivet gun.

I used to have a lot of half-moons on my rivets, until the instructor said to keep the head on the rivet for a second or too after I release the trigger, because the gun keeps hitting for a while after you release the trigger. Once I started waiting, the half moons went away.
 
One other thing. Invest in a bunch of Cleo’s. They are a kind of clamp you insert into a drilled hole to hold the pieces together You’ll also need Cleco pliers.
 
Friends don't let friends buy new clecos. Watch the classifieds on VAF for batches of used ones, and be prepared to jump... they go FAST.
 
Mike Smith said:
BUT..........I can’t rivet for ****. This sucks.
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FWIW: Very few born riveters. Some get the knack after hundreds of practice rivets, other 1000s of practice rivets. But don't practice on your real parts until you get more comfortable physically and mentally with your finished product. All of the sheetmetal guys on the floor at previous job started in the shop for the 1st 6 mos making small parts before they would turn them loose on an aircraft. Some never left the shop though. Even after rebuilding a number of Cessna wings, it take me a day or so to get back into the groove before I attempt any real production. Good luck.
 
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