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Your Go-To 3/32" and 1/8" rivet?

claycookiemonster

Well Known Member
I'm getting to the point in the build where I'm going beyond the kit per se, and adding a few things beyond Van's. Heated Pitot Tube, Roll Servo, etc. There will be more. In doing so, I have to have my own stock of rivets for these extracurricular activities. So, you experienced builders, what 3/32 and 1/8th rivets do you keep around for your own use?

I'm not sure there are round head 3/32" rivets, so I assume all of these will be blind rivets. And the world is full of solid 1/8" rivets, so I guess I'm asking, "If you were going to keep a box of 100 spare rivets around, in #40 and #30, for your next excursion beyond the plans, which ones would you have?"
 
I'm not sure there are round head 3/32" rivets

There are.

I was fortunate to buy out a hangar with an old soul's collection still in it and have a zillion of these little things. They're a nice cosmetic touch and I plan to use them select places on the interior of our -7.
 
If you have to only have one size, make them very long, and plan to go through the hassle of trimming them to the right length before using. A bit of a pain.

Or you might choose to buy a selection of sizes. Rivets aren't expensive at Van's; I store mine is empty 8 oz. plastic water bottles that I've removed the labels from and marked for the rivet size.

And yes, there are universal-head -3 rivets, if you feel a need for some.

Dave
 
In my experience there are more than enough rivets in the Vans kit for any extra or do-over work; they are quite generous. So it's just a matter of working out what size you may need that is not in the kit... which could be not very much at all! I did purchase some round head 3/32 solid rivets but I don't think I have actually used any of them yet. I also bought a mixed bag of "floor sweepings" rivets at the Oshkosh fly market and have scratched through those occasionally when I need to find an unusual length, before resorting to the rivet cutter.
 
I’m with David - I keep four bins of long (1”) rivets in flush and round head style, AD3 and AD4 - that way, I can trim them to whatever length I need. If I am doing something that requires a lot of a specific length, then I’ll buy that length, once I figure out what I need.

I do a lot of mods on the various planes I build, so I am frequently cutting rivets to length.

Paul
 
Spruce to the rescue

Others trim, which works, but I’m slow enough as is, so I bought 0.1 lbs of each size from -4s on up to -8s of the 3/32”. I don’t use enough 1/8” ones for small projects to have bought any and I have some from a different project around that I just cut. Have them on the wall in one of those hardware organizer things with the pull out containers that are about 1.5” wide. Here’s a tip that’s worth mentioning if you do it this way: make sure each size has its own container, I used to keep rivets in one of those Plano multi compartment plastic bins, but too many rivets of one size ended up in the compartment of another size.

If you’re going off-plans, you may also want to consider purchasing extra screws, washers, nuts, and even a few nut plates. You’ll get screwed on shipping for all that $0.02 hardware if you buy it piecemeal, plus you’ll have to wait a few days to get it. Spend $100 on that stuff and you’ll be glad you did…. I am.
 
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"Screwed on Shipping" should be my middle name. My bad since I nickel and dime on this stuff. Which is EXACTLY why I'm asking this and trying to get ahead. Yes, tonight I opened up a nice box from Paul at FlyLEDs and found some round head 3/32's, so I stand corrected.

I guess in the solid realm, there are few enough options that I could keep a selection around.

I was curious about blind rivets which seem to come in staggering variations. My -8 project is old, so it included some MSP 3-2 blind rivets. They seemed handy, so I set out to get more, and Van's doesn't even stock them anymore. What about, for example, the closed end blind rivets used on fuel tank baffles? Useful in other applications, or toss them unless you need to rivet a tank?
 
I’d keep them

If they don’t take a lot of space, I’d keep them. You can toss them when your project is done. I can’t specifically say I know what they are (mine is a QB, so I didn’t build the tanks), but I’ve tossed stuff I wish I hadn’t. I guess at this point I’d rather spend money on organizational systems that last a lifetime vs a one-time shipping fee or re-ordering things I already bought. Just my $0.02, but I doubt this -8 will be my last project (I like building too much), do I tend to keep thing around and have more than I need.
 
I wouldn’t throw any rivets away. Get one of those small parts bins cabinets dedicated for rivets and get a good supply of each. I have a whole row of just various pulled rivets, labeled on the bin drawer of course. The most common pulled rivets I’ve used on the four RV’s I’ve built are LP4’s, and CS4’s. You’ll also need a collection of the AACQ-4 soft pull flush rivets if you plan to install the canopy according to plans, but your kit should include plenty of those. For the AD3 round head solid rivets, you’ll need a different cupped rivet set to set them. If you use the same rivet set you used on the AD4’s you’ll get a nice smile around the set manufactured head in the surface of the metal. These rivets are small and set very easily (low pressure), and in a pinch, when I didn’t have my new cupped -3 set yet, I’ve used a regular flush set if I only had one or two in a non-critical part. I ended up with a slightly flattened manufactured set, but it wasn’t that noticeable. I would suggest getting the correct rivet set. I don’t remember where I used any of them in the RV8 airframe, but there are some on the RV6 I’m building, and they are structural airframe parts.
 
In general I'd just buy a small quantity (1/8lb or so) of each size, up to around -7 or so. With some you'll probably already have some extras left.

For AN470AD3 (little round-heads) I just got -4 through -6 or so. Found a few places they're useful, like attaching wire brackets and building little customized fixtures.

I'd also grab some NAS1097AD3 rivets, especially in -3, -3.5, and -4. I like them for installing nutplates--a little countersink and they fit flush even in thinner materials without knifedgeing, and you don't need to dimple the nutplates or the parent material. Also used a handful in the middle of the belly skin where I couldn't reach with the dimpler.

A few NAS1097AD4s are good to have for "oops" purposes too.

I bought a smattering of pull rivets; CCC32s are nice for installing nutplates in places you can't get a squeezer or bucking bar, and BSP-4X is nice for putting in cable tie pads and wire support brackets in odd places.


Finally, a small handful of "soft" rivets - AN426A4 and AN470A4 - can be useful for attaching plastic parts. I used them as "chicken" rivets for my NACA scoops, for the plastic shoulder strap cable guides on the baggage bulkhead, and for installing some cable tie pads, among other things. Be very careful not to mix them up with your regular AD rivets.

These guys are great for organizing hardware:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000LDH3JC/
 
Building on previous comment

1097 rivets are great. Another very good option are 1241 rivets. They are 1/64” over sized versus 1/32. Blake at Flyboyaccessories sells them by the oz. No need to buy a little assortment if one size runs low.

I’ll admit to having to utilize both. Just a thought/another option.
 
"Screwed on Shipping" should be my middle name.

LOL same here. I just paid over $80 for about $35 worth of do-over parts from Vans. Not their fault, and I knew what I was in for when I had to order long, skinny parts that had to be mailed in a tube. Kudos to Vans for shipping the parts packed in a way that kept them safe. Now if only I could figure out how to turn this massive tube into some kind of missile launcher ;-) ...

Back to the question at hand, I do like Sam_B mentioned and just toss in a few tenths of a pound of extra rivets of the sizes I use the most any time I order something extra from Vans. Especially since it's pretty routine for shipping to be a significant portion of the total cost of an order. An extra bag of each of the most common sizes and lengths costs next to nothing when they're riding along with a bigger order.
 
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