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Setting -5 rivets

Rallylancer122

Well Known Member
Hi Guys, any tips or tools for setting dash 5 rivets? Can I do these with a squeezer?

Ok, I'll admit this isn't for my RV. But I figured if anyone would know it would be someone here. I'm repairing another plane and it's built like a proverbial brick ahem.... house.
 
I'd expect a pneumatic squeezer to set them just fine. If we're talking hand squeezers, a Main Squeeze would do it, but I wouldn't try it with any regular squeezer. They also set just fine with a 3x rivet gun - just make sure you raise the pressure a bit so you're not work-hardening the rivet by going too slow. I keep pressure to my gun high and moderate setting speed with trigger control, but that's personal preference.

I've set a few in my RV where holes got bunged up, using the latter two options. In the end there's nothing super dramatic about it.
 
You can use a squeezer just don’t expect to squeeze it all at once. Start with a small squeeze and adjust your dies.
 
We set many -5 rivets when we built our Xenos spars using an old squeezer body on a bench-mounted custom yoke/frame. Works just fine. The factory-recommended method was to use a big hammer…so there are lots of ways to skin that cat….
 
Thanks everyone. I don't think a big hammer will fit inside the nose of my Baron, but I have a pneumatic squeezer and an Avery squeezer so hopefully one of those is up to the job.

Btw, anyone who is fretting edge distance on their parts should check out a 70s era Beechcraft. You will come away feeling much better about yourself.
 
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