liamtnelson
Well-Known Member
Hi All,
I have been doing heavy research about the rivet types to use for a home design *ultralight* and had settled on the stainless steel cherry rivets that are used on a Sonex, figuring if they're good enough for Sonex they're appropriate for an ultralight. However, I started assembling my ailerons, and found that every so often the steel will be able to pull right through the aluminum ribs (0.04" 5052). This is with a #30 drill, and they all were accurate based on my caliper. For other non-aviation purposes, I've always found that Aluminum multi-grip rivets create a very wide bulge on the back and also fill irregular holes very well. Is it common for stainless cherry rivets to pull through Aluminum, and is it really necessary to be using steel?
I'm using solid rivets for the main wing spar, and the plan was to use the stainless cherry rivets on the wing skin/rib connections, but I'm starting to rethink the steel after the ailerons and I'm inclined to use the aluminum multigrips instead to not risk damaging any holes... I can't imagine the rivets even coming close to the 472lbs tensile or 292lbs shear for aluminum multi-grip rivets (nor do any of the FEM studies) and I was mostly just using steel as a precaution.
I have been doing heavy research about the rivet types to use for a home design *ultralight* and had settled on the stainless steel cherry rivets that are used on a Sonex, figuring if they're good enough for Sonex they're appropriate for an ultralight. However, I started assembling my ailerons, and found that every so often the steel will be able to pull right through the aluminum ribs (0.04" 5052). This is with a #30 drill, and they all were accurate based on my caliper. For other non-aviation purposes, I've always found that Aluminum multi-grip rivets create a very wide bulge on the back and also fill irregular holes very well. Is it common for stainless cherry rivets to pull through Aluminum, and is it really necessary to be using steel?
I'm using solid rivets for the main wing spar, and the plan was to use the stainless cherry rivets on the wing skin/rib connections, but I'm starting to rethink the steel after the ailerons and I'm inclined to use the aluminum multigrips instead to not risk damaging any holes... I can't imagine the rivets even coming close to the 472lbs tensile or 292lbs shear for aluminum multi-grip rivets (nor do any of the FEM studies) and I was mostly just using steel as a precaution.
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