Riveted aft bulkheads – RV-14 Build

Yesterday I worked on riveting the aft three bulkheads. Each of them are made up of several parts, including doublers.

I tried a few techniques to clamp parts, and to support the rivet squeezer. my first two rivets were perfect, but in the wrong holes! I got distracted for a minute, pulled out the wrong cleco, and set a rivet in the wrong hole. I set a second one before I suddenly realized my mistake. Fortunately I was able to drill and remove both without any damage.

Accidentally set two rivets in these holes. Drilled and removed them both.

I found it easiest to clamp the parts to the bench, with some carpet as padding, then hold the squeezer the two hands to set the rivets.

Clamping this way didn’t work very well. The parts were able to move and twist as the rivets were squeezed

Clamping to the bench with just the right tension worked better. Care taken not to bend the flanges by setting the clamps too hard

Today I was able to finish the job, the aft three bulkheads are ready to install now.