September 15th 05, 05:57 PM
Mess around with airplanes long enough, you'll get calls from strangers
asking for stuff. Hunk of urethane foam. Piece of tubing of a
particular diameter & wall-thickness. Quarter sheet of .012 2024-T3.
Various tools...
I no longer lend tools since they have a habit of not coming back but
if I've got it to spare I usually try to help out with materials, like
that twelve-thou aluminum.
So the guy shows up and he's brought his own personal Inspector, one of
those Designee-types slightly older than God and equally omnipotent. I
go to digging under one of the outside benches where there's a couple
sheets of .012 rolled up & sealed and the Great Inspector stands there
and gives us a lecture on how I've over-driven the rivets in the
structure laying on the table. The shop heads are okay he sez but I've
been reverse-setting the things (according to him) and the factory head
is all flattened out.
Which isn't too surprising because they happened to AN442's. And are
set strictly to spec.
I gave the guy the metal but told him if he needed anything else to
leave his idiot 'inspector' at home. I don't have any time for fools.
-------------------------------------------------------------
AN442's are flat head aluminum rivets.
When you get most of your fasteners as new-surplus you're liable to run
into just about anything. Nowadays, most homebuilders (and homebuilt
'inspectors') are only familiar with AN470 'Universal Head' rivets and
countersunk head rivets having a 100 degree angle (ie, AN426's). But
there's a few hundred (!) other types of aluminum rivets out there and
if you've got the tools and sets to use them, there's no reason not to.
Indeed, you'll see a lot of round head rivets (AN430) on vintage
airframes, especially war birds, and it seems only fair to use the same
fasteners when making a repair.
You can still buy sets for round-head and brazier-head rivets. When
fabricating interior components such as bulkheads or the firewall,
where aerodynamic drag isn't a factor, there's no reason not to use
AN430's. And if you happen to be making a thermostatically controlled
vent for a greenhouse, it's the perfect opportunity to use-up some of
those Reynold's 6061 AN442's that have been taking up shelf space since
Jonah was a seaman-deuce. But don't let one of them Designees see you
doing it or the greenhouse will never get off the ground.
-R.S.Hoover
asking for stuff. Hunk of urethane foam. Piece of tubing of a
particular diameter & wall-thickness. Quarter sheet of .012 2024-T3.
Various tools...
I no longer lend tools since they have a habit of not coming back but
if I've got it to spare I usually try to help out with materials, like
that twelve-thou aluminum.
So the guy shows up and he's brought his own personal Inspector, one of
those Designee-types slightly older than God and equally omnipotent. I
go to digging under one of the outside benches where there's a couple
sheets of .012 rolled up & sealed and the Great Inspector stands there
and gives us a lecture on how I've over-driven the rivets in the
structure laying on the table. The shop heads are okay he sez but I've
been reverse-setting the things (according to him) and the factory head
is all flattened out.
Which isn't too surprising because they happened to AN442's. And are
set strictly to spec.
I gave the guy the metal but told him if he needed anything else to
leave his idiot 'inspector' at home. I don't have any time for fools.
-------------------------------------------------------------
AN442's are flat head aluminum rivets.
When you get most of your fasteners as new-surplus you're liable to run
into just about anything. Nowadays, most homebuilders (and homebuilt
'inspectors') are only familiar with AN470 'Universal Head' rivets and
countersunk head rivets having a 100 degree angle (ie, AN426's). But
there's a few hundred (!) other types of aluminum rivets out there and
if you've got the tools and sets to use them, there's no reason not to.
Indeed, you'll see a lot of round head rivets (AN430) on vintage
airframes, especially war birds, and it seems only fair to use the same
fasteners when making a repair.
You can still buy sets for round-head and brazier-head rivets. When
fabricating interior components such as bulkheads or the firewall,
where aerodynamic drag isn't a factor, there's no reason not to use
AN430's. And if you happen to be making a thermostatically controlled
vent for a greenhouse, it's the perfect opportunity to use-up some of
those Reynold's 6061 AN442's that have been taking up shelf space since
Jonah was a seaman-deuce. But don't let one of them Designees see you
doing it or the greenhouse will never get off the ground.
-R.S.Hoover