37-06 -> 08: Riveting on the Roll Bar

The Roll Bar

The roll bar itself was riveted on in a fairly easy manner. I riveted it on with the forward bushing and the canopy lock pin in place, to make certain there was no misalignment of this pin which may have caused binding later. Since i painted the roll bar prior to installation, it means there are a few rivets which will not be painted - i think at this stage i will not worry about these. They acatually look pretty good in their natural state - but i can always touch the heads up with a brush later on if i choose. 

Van's really is clever - this flap of side skin was not riveted way back in Chapter 30 (aft fuse attach). This was becuase they knew i would need to pull the skin back here, in order to set the pull rivets. 

The locking pin bushing and the locking pin were in place when riveting on the roll bars, to make sure everything stayed in alignment and there would be no binding of the pins later.

The finished roll bars. I think the un-finished rivets look ok. Both pins are very free and ride in the bushings easily.

Roll Bar Brace

The roll bar brace was clecod in place, then i used the rotisserie to rotate the whole fuselage onto its side. This gave excellent access. The forwrad most rivets were easy - all pull rivets, inclusing some cherry rivets. 

You can see how the locking ring is in place in each rivet, locking the steel mandrel in position.

Below is a video of the cherry rivet setting process - as the rivet is set, the stem is pulled into the rivet head, deforming it into a bulb. When it is fully set, the shear ring on the stem breaks (the first click). Further pulling then drives the locking ring down into the rivet, and locks the stem into position. The stem them breaks off flush with the top of the locking ring (the second click). The anvel ring and the stem them shoot across the shop trying to get into your eyeball, but ending up in the toolbox. 

The rear end of the roll bar brace was a little more challenging - the rivets between the skin and the brace side brackets were fine, and i used a squeezer for these. The rivets between the roll bar brace / brackets and the aft bulkhead were some of the most challenging of the project so far. My very long straight cupped set was invaluable here. These would have been almost impossible without the rotisserie.

My long straight set was the only one which i could get to fit here.

The rivets between the roll bar brace side brackets and the skin were done with the squeezer.

Skin Stiffners / Skin

The final step was to rivet the side skins onto the fuselage longerons, and attach a skin stiffner to the skin. I used the squeezer for the stiffner, and the gun and bar or set the skin to longeron rivets. 

That's the roll bar Chapter 37 complete - next up is to work on the forward skins, and the canopy frame.