Ivan's RV-7

Countersinking and deburringTimer icon2h

April 2, 2023

More countersinking and some deburring today.

No photos of the actual progress, it was mostly countersinking some more parts, plus deburring of other parts.

However, while reviewing the plans, I found the following note that the bottom rivet attaching the gear web must be flush inside. After checking with the F-7114 gusset I found that indeed it needs to be flush.

The note about bucked head being flush.

So, without doing any thinking (impulsivity at its best, "not so fast"!), I countersinked the F-704 part from the inside.

The countersinked F-704 part.

And then I realized, that it's not the F-704 that needs to be countersinked, but rather the F-7101 web! The countersink is not too deep, so I was considering upsizing the hole half-size for the NAS1242AD4 rivet. However, the issue is that the edge distance on the F-7101 is already too small, and I will need to countersink it, too!

Another alternative I considered was to manufacture a small conical washer to sit in the countersink. But again, given the small size of the countersink, it would be hard to make a washer.

Finally, I thought about just ignoring it, but then I got concerned that the "thin" countersinked F-7101 hole will bend into the countersink under the pressure of a rivet shop head being bucked. And then it dawned on me that I can dimple the F-7101 instead, and treat this joint as any other flush rivet joint (dimpled outside and countersinked structure under it)!

The F-7101 is quite thick, it is 0.063", but a test on a scrap piece showed that it dimples okay.

The dimple on the F-7101 web gear attach. The other side of the dimple.

So I think I dodged this one. Moreover, it seems I will be able to put the AN426AD4 shop head on the inside, making it completely flush (which is desirable -- the F-7114 gusset sits flat to the gear attach web!). The outside shop head doesn't matter as it was supposed to be a universal head on the exterior anyway. I might go fancy and buck it with the universal set to make it a shop-made universal head.