Panther Sport Aircraft Forums

Thanks for the link. The rivet squeezer is the way to go !

Bill,

Here's a link to the Sonex method: http://www.sonex604.com/riveting_spar.html

You have good knees?

Tony

Bill,

You know any Sonex builders that built their own spars? Get one to show you how they did it. Three pound hammer, 1/2" bolt with the head polished, and a bucking bar of some sort. And earplugs. Sonex spar rivets are 5/32" and Panther are 3/16", so it would most likely take a few more licks to set a rivet. And if you're into more noise than a hammer will generate, look into borrowing a 4x or 5x rivet gun.

I've heard rumors that Dan was going to do a lightweight version of the bottle jack squeezer and make them available to builders for a nominal fee.

Tony

I don't know, that rivet squeezer looked a little intimidating. Is there not a cheap hand tool that could be bought? Or, what about using a hammer and bucking bar? (Potential new builder asking.
Thanks, Bill

Stephen,

Having a double-ended outrigger would most likely save a bit of setup time.

There are folks a lot smarter than I that will be building a squeezer. It's going to be interesting to see what they come up with.

Things to remember:

1. A bottle jack won't work upside down, so it has to go on the bottom. There may be a way to spring load the check valve so the jack will work upside down, but I didn't feel like taking the time to find out.

2. The spar needs to be kept reasonably level end-to-end. Trash cans and shims worked fine.

3. Once the rivet set on the bottom makes contact, without the outrigger it will tilt the spar. Not good.

4. Lot of force required to set a 3/16" rivet. The set holders must be lined up exactly. If things are off by a little bit, it will only get worse as force is applied.

Tony

That's a smart idea for using this "waiting time" effectively. I think I'll start this weekend. Your instructions are clear enough as is, but is there anything if you were building your squeezer a third time? You mention at one point doing a double-side outrigger that lifts bolts on both sides simultaneously. Then later, you show using your single-side outrigger outside the middle plate. Which design would you recommend?

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Stephen

For those of you planning to build, it won't take much time to blow thru the tail kit. Next comes the wing. And the wing spar. It's not too soon to start thinking about how you plan to squeeze those 3/16" rivets. Have a look at the rivet squeezer here: https://picasaweb.google.com/tonyboytoo

Tony