Thorp Air Command - T18.net

Hi guys! Prior to painting, I would like to double up the 10 or so inner wing skin main spar rivets where the original ones are smoking. Since I don't want to pull the wing, I thought I would use some pop rivets. Cherry rivets were recommended to me, but I don't know what size or specific type. Can anyone advise on this please and thank-you, as well as how best to stagger them?

You'll need one of these to answer that.

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/ ... rygrip.php

You'll want to go with oversize Cherry Max CR3242

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/ ... rymax3.php

I will mention that this will may not keep them from smoking ... it's just a T-18 thing.

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Lee Walton
Houston, TX
N51863,N118LW
KEFD

I use a cherry rivet gauge to make it easy. Slight thread drift, but I have thought about this issue several times, and I wonder how one would get the drilled aluminum chips out from between to spar cap and the skin.

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/ ... kkey=46813

There really shouldn’t be any chips in between if the joint is tight enough and drilled at high speed with light pressure. The idea is to keep the skin from lifting from the spar. If a person has access to the bay, a chip chaser might pull any chips but I have my doubts that close to another row of rivets.

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/ ... gK5pvD_BwE

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Thorp T18
O-320-B3B (160 HP)
68x74 Sterba Propeller

"The joke in aviation is, 'If you want to make a million, you'd better start with £10m.' " -Bruce Dickinson

Or you can do the math. The flange is .250. The skin should be .025. You can check that at the end. Any rib will be .025 except if you have fuel in the wings. But those will be nose ribs only, so should not be a factor.
Best practices calls for 3x rivet diameter between rows at a minimum.
Cubes