Correct sized Exterior Buck Rivets and where to purchase

[rowdyATX]

After a long battle with my '59 Flying Cloud, she and I are making progress

I am now reattaching the exterior shell. I've clecod the shell in place and I'm ready to rivet.

Where is a good place to purchase buck rivets? What assortment of sizes should I order?




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[rugjenkins]

Vintage trailer supply- new holes get 1/8 brazier heads. If using original holes get the 5/32 modified brazier head.

2 sheets thick of aluminum get 1/4 length. Anything thicker get 3/8 length.

They have a guide to help explain what you need!

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by rowdyATX

After a long battle with my '59 Flying Cloud, she and I are making progress

I am now reattaching the exterior shell. I've clecod the shell in place and I'm ready to rivet.

Where is a good place to purchase buck rivets? What assortment of sizes should I order?

Attachment 260813Attachment 260814


Sent from my iPhone using Airstream Forums

The correct buck rivet diameter is 1/8 (.125) of an inch. The drill size is a # 30 drill bit, .1285 inches in diameter.

You can use # 6 or # 8 in length.

Where you buy them, depends on how many you need.

Andy

[rugjenkins]

Not if you reusing the same hole. Get the modified buck rivet. It slightly larger to compensate for drilling out the old hole.

[Aerowood]

Not all rivets are the same alloy. Your trailer was originally riveted together with AD rivets made from 2117 aluminum. These are structural rivets. There will be a dimple in the head of these rivets. Rivets with no identifier on the head are an A rivet made from 1100 aluminum, very soft. I would be hesitant to use these at the shell to channel interface.

[SonOfAnder]

Aerowood. You bring up a very good point. I recall all of the rivets I drilled out around the C-channel on the shell having a dimple in the middle. It looks like VTS only sells the soft rivets. Where would you recommend searching for AD rivets? Would you use 1/8th, or jump to 5/32nd and not worry about the larger head size? I am getting ready to reattach my shell as well. I would not want to use a softer rivet just because it has a similar head size to the rest and sacrifice the structural integrity

[Aerowood]

Actually the head size of MS20470AD5-XX will have the a 5/16 diameter head head. I get mine from these folks http://www.gen-aircraft-hardware.com/ but you can get them from here too, http://www.aircraftspruce.com/ You will need 5-4's and 5-5's

[markdoane]

Another source is Aircraft Tool Supply.

[SonOfAnder]

Thanks guys! As always, the airforums makes life so much easier trying to figure everything out! I just bought everything I think I need from Aircraft Tool Supply. Their website was way easier to navigate and understand than the other two. Ordered a Rivet Gun Kit, lots of Clecos, and a half pound each of the 5-4 and 5-5 AD hard rivets. Should be fun.

[markdoane]

You'll discover that you enjoy making little aluminum knick knacks and art projects out of the leftover bits of aluminum.

[SonOfAnder]

Hey Guys... The order from ATS showed up. Their ATS-E3XRK Redbox Riveting Kit looks perfect for what I plan to use this for, but... The rivets I ordered showed up GOLD?? By the time I opened the box it was after business hours when I called. Do they have Silver and I just missed a part number or something?

[israndy]

Curious as I don't know. So you put an Airstream trailer together the same way you put an airplane together? One guy on the inside with a handheld anvil and you on the other with a rivet gun pounding the crud out of the head until it smooths out? So you have to remove the inside to repair the outside?

I have a fiberglass MOHO from Airstream, and though the few connections on the outside are rivets (holding on the awning rail for example) they are gonna be, like, pop rivets, there is no getting behind the skin. You are riveting into a 40 foot extrusion. I am actually about to replace a few that popped, hence the name. This makes me curious too about sizing and availability. I am guessing that I have to use a rivet tool to install mine. Is there a way to tell for sure? is there a way to measure the hole and depth? Perhaps I need a few clecos and they would be a specific dimension??

-Randy

[Iott03]

Originally Posted by SonOfAnder

Hey Guys... The order from ATS showed up. Their ATS-E3XRK Redbox Riveting Kit looks perfect for what I plan to use this for, but... The rivets I ordered showed up GOLD?? By the time I opened the box it was after business hours when I called. Do they have Silver and I just missed a part number or something?

Ad rivets come gold. After install a little buffing will rub the anodizing off. They polish up great. When you are installing make sure that who ever is on the inside keeps good pressure on the bucking bar. If you notice that some trailers have indents at all the rivets, this is caused by not having enough support on the back side. Take some painters or masking tape and put 6-7 layers on your new rivet sets. The edges of new sets are extremely sharp and will make smiley faces easy. It can also damage your shiney new aluminum if you don't stay perpendicular to the skin. If you are careful on the removal of your original rivets a 1/8" rivet will be plenty. The rivets will swell to fill a little slop in the hole. And also the proper drill size for the 5/32 is a #21. I have no idea if you had these questions but I hope it helps.

-Brian

[Iott03]

Originally Posted by israndy

Curious as I don't know. So you put an Airstream trailer together the same way you put an airplane together? One guy on the inside with a handheld anvil and you on the other with a rivet gun pounding the crud out of the head until it smooths out? So you have to remove the inside to repair the outside?

I have a fiberglass MOHO from Airstream, and though the few connections on the outside are rivets (holding on the awning rail for example) they are gonna be, like, pop rivets, there is no getting behind the skin. You are riveting into a 40 foot extrusion. I am actually about to replace a few that popped, hence the name. This makes me curious too about sizing and availability. I am guessing that I have to use a rivet tool to install mine. Is there a way to tell for sure? is there a way to measure the hole and depth? Perhaps I need a few clecos and they would be a specific dimension??

-Randy

Randy,

Pop rivets are not structural and are usually used just for attaching things together. Pop rivets run in the same sizes as regular rivets. Also pop rivets are not water tight, so if you replace some where you don't want water to get in put a little silver silicone inside the hole. You will need a pop rivet gun which can be picked up from harbor freight for fairly cheap. I think they even have a kit that comes with some aluminum rivets that should work for your application.

-Brian

[SonOfAnder]

Originally Posted by Iott03

Ad rivets come gold. After install a little buffing will rub the anodizing off. They polish up great. When you are installing make sure that who ever is on the inside keeps good pressure on the bucking bar. If you notice that some trailers have indents at all the rivets, this is caused by not having enough support on the back side. Take some painters or masking tape and put 6-7 layers on your new rivet sets. The edges of new sets are extremely sharp and will make smiley faces easy. It can also damage your shiney new aluminum if you don't stay perpendicular to the skin. If you are careful on the removal of your original rivets a 1/8" rivet will be plenty. The rivets will swell to fill a little slop in the hole. And also the proper drill size for the 5/32 is a #21. I have no idea if you had these questions but I hope it helps.

-Brian

Hey Brian, those are all great answers to questions I didn't even know I had! Thank you for the reply. I didn't want to open the bags of rivets in case I had to send them back, and that was depressing! But now I feel like I can go out to the garage and play around a little with my new tools!

[Iott03]

You are welcome! I would recommend taking a few pieces of scrap aluminum and practice shooting a few rivets before you move on to the trailer. Button head rivets can be difficult to shoot without marring the heads or the skin. You can also place a whole row of rivets in the skin and run masking tape overtop to hold them all in, Which also helps to prevent nicking the heads.

Also one thing I forgot to ask what size cleco's did you use to hold the skin on? If a 1/8th cleco will bite in the hole it is properly sized for a 1/8th rivet. You don't want to oversize if you don't have to.

-Brian

-Brian

[SonOfAnder]

Brian, I am doing a full monte. My trailer has been split in half for 6 months. I have made all new c-channel to reattach my shell to, so they will all be new holes in that, but the holes in the shell may or may not be the same size at 1/8th. A lot of the rivets on my shell to channel were already popped loose when I went to drill them out. I planned to upsize all of the rivets I removed, so I only bought the 5/32 AD rivets.