Patching holes with flush rivits?

malconium · 08-11-2004, 04:36 PM

I have a couple of places on my AS exterior skin that could stand repairing. One place in particular is a spot that has a tear on one of the curved end panels. I think I am going to eventually paint my AS so I have been thinking about ways to repair the hole that would be fine for painting but not necessarily for polishing. It occurred to me to wonder if anyone has done any patching of their AS skin using flush rivits. I remember seeing aircraft surfaces that were rivited with rivits that were flush with the skin surface rather than raised like the typical rivits on my AS. So here is the questiion:

Would it be possible to cut out a piece of the body, cut a new piece to fit, put in a backing piece and rivit it to both the patch and the body panel around the patch? If so what type of rivits would I need? Would they need to be bucked?

Thanks,

Malcolm

Tinsel Loaf · 08-11-2004, 05:35 PM

This issue has been addressed on these forums. Some have made false doors to cover damage using a frame & olympic rivets. Do a search for your fix.

malconium · 08-11-2004, 05:53 PM

Tinsel Loaf,

A false door is one of the options that I am considering for one opening where I am moving the water heater. Putting a false water heater door there would be fine. The other one is not in a good location for a false opening to look right. I am looking for an approach that will result in an invisible patch once a little bondo is applied and the trailer is painted. I have thought about a couple of other approaches:

1.) Find a large decal that will cover the area.

2.) Paint on a fake massive looking hole. People will look a second time, realize it is a fake hole, laugh about the artwork and not notice that there really is a small hole concealed in the artwork.

Malcolm

markdoane · 08-11-2004, 07:28 PM

Might be tough to use flush rivets because the sheet is pretty thin. You would want to 'dimple' the holes rather than using a countersink.

malconium · 08-11-2004, 08:55 PM

I don't mind a dimple at all. The trick I guess would be that the material behind the patch would have to allow a dimple - perhaps by being thick enough to allow a counter sink? How does this work for the flat head rivits? Is the aluminum skin thicker than on an AS or is the taper of the rivit head just very shallow?

Malcolm

markdoane · 08-11-2004, 10:05 PM

Here is a set of dimple dies. Beyond that, the tools are basically the same as regular bucked rivets. http://www.rivettools.com/rivet_sets.htm