Section 10 - Aft Fuselage (Top side skins - riveting Left side)

I visited a friend in the RV community last week to help him attach the forward fuselage to the aft fuselage of his RV-14A, and afterward he gave me a few pointers about riveting (thanks, Ken!).  First, he recommended that I switch to the larger flush set with an articulating head and rubber sleeve.  I purchased this rivet set about 6mo. ago from Cleaveland Tools, but have been reticent to use it since I didn't know how to use it properly.  It takes at least ~20lbs of force to compress the rubber and thus have the set sit flush on the skin with no gaps - ah, that makes sense now. Second, he recommended that I switch to a 3x rivet gun (instead of a 2x) to get a more powerful strike. I have both guns, so no problem there.  Third, he recommended increasing the air pressure a little, to not work-harden the rivets. There is a sweet spot for the air pressure - too low, and too many strikes equates to more scuffing and premature work hardening.  On the other end of the spectrum, too high and there is a tendency to overstrike and thus overly compress the skin in areas that are thinner (e.g. skin-to-bulkhead zones, in which the bulkhead flanges are very thin and thus easily compressed). After playing around with the air pressure, the rivets we set today were some of the best driven rivets to-date ... and, the skin-scuffing around the rivets is at a minimum. I'll continue to play around with the pressure settings ... but, this was a big step in the right direction and I really appreciate the tips!

My wife had some free time today, and we were able to rivet the top left side skin to the aft fuselage assembly.  Here, she is checking a rivet she just bucked:

A couple hours later, and we finished riveting the left top side skin:

Clecoed the right top side skin to the aft fuselage assembly:

Cool shot of the inside of the aft fuselage:

Next weekend, we'll rivet the right top side skin, and the top skin the weekend following. Meanwhile, I'll continue to wait impatiently for the Wing Kit.  I paid the final payment to Van's this past Monday (early) hoping that I could get an earlier shipping date. I asked; no dice - they are swamped.  But, they said they are on schedule, so hopefully my wing kit crates before the end of the month.