Dimpling for 3/32" flush rivets

[wlarson861]

The minimum thickness you can countersink is .040. Anything thinner should be dimpled. For a few dimples you can use a rivet. Make a back er to form the rivet into by countersinking some thick s of either hard aluminum stock or steel. drill deep enough to accommodate the shank of the rivet/die and countersink for the rivet and material to dimple. test on scrap till you're satisfied with dimple formed. The method is slow and takes time to fabricate the tooling, the rivet/die will dimple a few holes and have to be discarded. A squeezer and dies for solid rivets is much easier, a flush rivet set dies can be used to set the solid rivets for the nut plates. I'm with Bryan, I like the solid rivets for nut plates, they seem to fit better than the pulled rivets and are easy to squeeze or drive.

[mwhatley]

For nutplates, I typically use the NAS 1097 "oops" rivets. They have a reduced countersunk head, all you have to do is a few more more cycles on deburring in the nutplate holes and they will sit flush : http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/h ... kkey=89700

[Bryan Cotton]

Those look cool. We used to call them Martin rivets, not sure why.

[Spaceman]

One of the main purposes of the hobby is to buy tools.

And to develop the interpersonal skills to convince the wife of the tool's necessity.

This is accurate!!!

Thanks for all the good info. I still haven't gotten around to attaching those nutplates yet... I've been building other parts. But I did find a few other tools that would probably work too:

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/t ... ckkey=6499
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/t ... ckkey=6499

And here's a cheaper source for the pliers that Dale Williams tipped me off to:

http://www.skygeek.com/aircraft-tool-su ... 3-32.html#

[Bryan Cotton]

I made my own vise grip dimplers. I ground the jaws of old vise grips flat, cut off the shank of the dies, clamped down on them and welded them up. I have both 1/8" and 3/32" ones.