On Aug 21, 2:00*pm, Michael Horowitz wrote:

Bob - thanks for your reasoned response. I'd like to hear more about
how you lined the drift along the rivet axis so that you got a
symetrical mushroom head - Mike

Just like anything, it takes a bit of practice. If your rivet is
something like the right length (I will often cut rivets so they're on
the short end of the range suggested in AC43.13) and you hit it
something like straight on you'll get a reasonably good shop tail
after a couple of strikes. If the shank tends to bend over the rivet
is too long. If it bends just a little bit you may still be able to
skoosh it into an acceptable shop tail with a little drift correction.

One of the main points of riveting is that the range of acceptable
variation is actually pretty wide. AC43.13 shows several minor defects
that are acceptable. On the Vans Air Force forums I've seen tests
cited that showed that MS20470AD rivets develop full strength even
with some pretty heinous-looking defects.

Thanks, Bob K.