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I have a question. I have just purchased the final .025 sheet metal for my scratchbuilt project, and went ahead and ordered the standard fuselage hardware kit form aircraft spruce that was about $400. Upon receiving my hardware and doing inventory on the items. I found a package of solid aluminum rivets .13 of a pound for the cost of $20.90. The rivet part number is AN470AD-4-5. My question is Does anyone know what these rivets are for? I thought I completed the only solid rivets needed with my spars and these are a smaller size than any rivets on the spars. Are there any solid aluminum rivets required on the fuselage?
Thanks for any help.

You'll need 6 of these rivets on the spar tunnel, that's it. I guess .13lbs is the minimum quantity you can get.

Have a look at drawing F02 (I believe it is), you'll see these rivets are the outer top rivets on the spar tunnel (3 on each side).

The reason they are solid is because they will need to be bucked flush in the spar tunnel to avoid interference with the spars. The seat pan will rest on top of the factory heads.

I see, Thanks Rizzz. The music wire was similar experience. Kit calls for only a small amount, but minimum they sell is a pound, but that is only $4. no big deal.

Those rivets should have only cost a couple bucks, $20.90 sounds way high. You sure 20.90 isn't the per-pound price?

I asked Sonex about alternate methods for these fasteners and they had none. The rivets as called in the plans in all they recommend.

I have extra piano wire, rivets, and phenolic sheet for the very same reason.

And yes - it appears this is due to minimum orders from spruce for these items (the phenolic sheet being a notable exception)

Robbie Culver
Sonex 1517
Chicagoland
Tails and Wings complete - finishing fuselage.
N1517S reserved

They sent me two tailwheel kits. Maybe I will use one in the hummelbird.

Rynoth wrote:Those rivets should have only cost a couple bucks, $20.90 sounds way high. You sure 20.90 isn't the per-pound price?

I asked Sonex about alternate methods for these fasteners and they had none. The rivets as called in the plans in all they recommend.

The ACS price for those rivets is $22.50/pound now. Minimum order is 1/8th lbs (.13) So the extended price for them should have been around $2.95.
But you will find uses for the extras. I used them everywhere on my panel and glare shield that I would look at while flying. Gives it a more finished look than the pulled rivets.

rizzz wrote:You'll need 6 of these rivets on the spar tunnel, that's it. I guess .13lbs is the minimum quantity you can get.

Have a look at drawing F02 (I believe it is), you'll see these rivets are the outer top rivets on the spar tunnel (3 on each side).

The reason they are solid is because they will need to be bucked flush in the spar tunnel to avoid interference with the spars. The seat pan will rest on top of the factory heads.

I'm getting close to this part of the build and began reading old posts about these rivets.

I still don't get it. Why is it necessary to these when all the other rivets inside the spar tunnel use CCC flush rivets? Unless it is for the higher strength of solid rivets.

This is an educated guess on my part, but I think it is due to clearance in those holes where the spars slide in. Pulled rivets may be too long.


Robbie Culver
Sonex 1517
Chicagoland
First flight 10/10/2015
N1517S
Turbo AeroVee
Taildragger

Darick wrote:I still don't get it. Why is it necessary to these when all the other rivets inside the spar tunnel use CCC flush rivets? Unless it is for the higher strength of solid rivets.

It's not for strength. The CCC flush rivets you refer to are all on the vertical pieces. The 6 solid rivets are used on the horizontal piece, along the outboard edges of the upper aft spar tunnel angle. The idea is that you have a rounded head on top (so they don't poke into your pant legs/seat pan) and a flush finish on the bottom (to clear the wing spar mating blocks.)

If you think about it, they want those outer rivets flush inside the tunnel, but if you used CCC rivets you'd have a sharp pokey bit sticking up from under the seat pan/your leg. So you countersink the bottom side, insert the rounded-head solid rivet from the top, and squish the shop head into the countersink on the bottom.

Don't let it intimidate you, those 1/8" solid rivets are way easier to drive than the 5/16" ones in the main spar. I used a cheap air hammer with a rivet set.