Rivet gun

[mimiandrews]

There might be two kinds of Cherry rivet pullers out there. The older Cherry rivets had a knob on the stem which engaged a special puller. The newer CherryMax rivets have a serrated stem and can be pulled with a pop rivet puller. CherryMax rivets are expensive, and are probably overkill for an Airstream.

CherryMax are a full-strength substitute for aircraft "AD" rivets. The solid rivets in our Airstream appear to be "A" rivets (no mark on the head), which are softer, not as strong, and much easier to set than the "AD" rivets (single dimple in the head) most commonly used in aircraft.

FAA has a pretty good discussion of solid (bucked) riveting principles in their Advisory Circular 43.13 (and whatever the current letter suffix is now). faa.gov will let you download it for free. Look for the sheet metal section of that publication, which covers almost all aspects of aircraft maintenance.

[markdoane]

Originally Posted by mimiandrews

. . . CherryMax are a full-strength substitute for aircraft "AD" rivets. The solid rivets in our Airstream appear to be "A" rivets (no mark on the head), which are softer, not as strong, and much easier to set than the "AD" rivets (single dimple in the head) most commonly used in aircraft.
. . .

Could you double check that? All the rivets in my '59 Ohio Tradewind are AD rivets.

It would be interesting if your '66 had soft rivets, and to know when the switchover happened.

[Aerowood]

My 71 was put together with "A" rivets, I have looked at several trailers and it looks like 69 was the change over year but I wouldn't bet any money on it. I have however used "AD" rivets on 75% of my restoration/rebuild. I have used "A: rivets to reinstall my window frames because the frames are so soft.

Kip

[Aerowood]

Originally Posted by mimiandrews

There might be two kinds of Cherry rivet pullers out there. The older Cherry rivets had a knob on the stem which engaged a special puller.

You're showing your age here, or maybe I am. I haven't seen the Cherry Rivets with the bulbed stem since the 70's, are those still floating around?

[CAPTNDAVIE]

Hopefully I will be getting or at least get a look at the Cherry guns he has today. I will try to get a pic and will post it when I do.

[mimiandrews]

I haven't seen a single AD rivet in our '66 Safari. Don't know when they switched, because we're still really new to this Airstream thing. (Aircraft sheet metal with no FAA--lovin' it).

Age isn't a bad thing. Getting older is a privilege. Lotsa people in the graveyards who aren't getting to do it!

[CAPTNDAVIE]

Here they are.

[Aerowood]

I've never used one of those, actually never seen one either. Give it a try and see what happens.

[CAPTNDAVIE]

I figured out that it is a Cherry GH780. They even had a manual for it online.