Cleco fasteners

[Emmaggy]

I am about to put up my interior walls and was reading that it’s a good idea to use cleco fasteners in order to make sure everything fits perfectly before riveting

Anyone have experience with these?

What size? 1/8”?

Thanks 😊

[Bubba L]

If you originally drilled out 1/8” rivets to remove the interior skin, you should go back with 5/32” pop rivets due to the original holes being stretched out. So, 5/32” clecos. #20 drill bit is what’s recommended to prep the holes to receive the 5/32” pop rivets. We set the panels in place, drilled through the original holes and used clecos as we progressed. Pretty simple once you get the hang of it. Good luck

[Belegedhel]

Yes. So, are you reinstalling your original skins, or are you putting in brand new skins? If you are using your original skins, then I suppose it is debateable whether you really need to cleco it in place before riveting, but it certainly doesn't hurt. If you are doing brand new skins, and holes haven't been drilled yet, then I would say clecos are a great help. You will need 1/8" clecos If you intent to install 1/8" rivets (which is what I did, and it worked fine--afterall, the rivets do expand a bit as you install them), and a pair of cleco pliers. You can find both at places like Vintage Trailer Supply, Aircraft Spruce, The Yard, ebay, etc.

good luck

[SeeMore]

Many posters here have experience and have left insights which you can find using the SEARCH function found in the blue bar above. I supplied two sample threads below that you can locate using the term "cleco" with Search:

In short, you will want both C1/8 (drill size #30) and C5/32 (drill size #20) size clecos to start. Best performance requires the use of the correctly sized drill bits and rivets. Here is a link to a cleco set at Walmart:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/25-each-C...ouch/803776251


https://www.airforums.com/forums/f7/...ml#post2494063
https://www.airforums.com/forums/f38...ml#post1967672