Riveted the Aileron Hinges to the Wings - 6 hours

I was battling between wanting to get the aileron hinges on and holding off. I do not like setting rivets through thick material purely because if you mess up, it's murder getting them out. I finally worked up the nerve to give it a go.


I used the gun and bar on the inboard hinge. Everything was going well. I used the pneumatic squeezer to set most of the rivets on the outboard hinge.





And then the other wing.


And then disaster stuck. I notice on the first wing that I had mashed the factory head on one of the rivets with the rivet set. It happened because there is very tight clearance between the shop head of the one rivet and the rivet set. So ultimately I choose to drill out the rivet and try it again. So drilled of the head, and do you think it would punch out....heck no. So I had to drill it out. this ended up with not a perfect hole...not bad, but not perfect. Tried to set another rivet, but it folded over. Crap...Here we go. Again, drilling off the head, it wouldn't punch out. Had to drill it. this time the hole was just not right....sigh. I have to go to an AN5 rivet. So I drilled it and then tried to buck the AN5 rivet. And it began to fold....CRAP. so I stopped. Of course I noticed that I put a smiley in the work. Oh man this is going downhill fast. So, I dug out my dremel with the buffing wheel and tried to smooth out the smiley. I then spot primed the area. Dug out the alligator squeezer and tried to set another AN5 rivet. It set....not perfect, but good enough. This was a very stinging experience and my stomach was a bit in my throat.


I sent pictures to an AME friend and he agreed, its not perfect but it will do just fine.
Ahh...Tough day in the shop!!