1956 Cessna 182

[Bacho]

Yesterday I spent some quality time in the tail cone bucking rivets. Not very comfortable, but it was doable with throwing a bunch of shipping blankets in there as suggested.

As a result, the new tail skin is about 50% riveted on before we ran out of time. I’m hoping to shoot the rest of it on this week. It’s also going to need a handful of blind rivets installed back there.

We need to drill and reshoot a handful of these, but my wife did pretty well with the gun.

 

[Bacho]

Been having one heckuva time trying to lineup for the two person operations that need to happen. Had the wife over yesterday to shoot these rivets so I could complete the tailcone myself. Unfortunately, it didn’t go as well as hoped, and a couple of these rivets will need replaced.

I’ve run into an issue where the hockey stick parts do not match the height of the skin that needs to go on next. I think I’m gonna be able to make it work, but it’s less than ideal.

Coincidentally, I found a YouTube video from Bentley on rebuilding all of this. He approached this in an entirely different manner, obviously from experience. All of the tailcone with hockey sticks was built bolted to the vertical stabilizer off of the airplane, and then that entire assembly riveted on at the bulkhead and the hockey sticks. Right now I feel pretty good about the vertical stabilizer, fitment and alignment, but that will need to get checked in short order.

 

[WaterH]

Not sure if it’s possible there, but I try not rivet anything unless I have a cleco (or a rivet) on both sides.

 

[Grendel]

Why not Huck bolts? Boeing uses them, must be aviation approved?

 

[Donk]

Why not Huck bolts? Boeing uses them, must be aviation approved?

Things like Huck, Cherrymax, Hilok, etc are $$/each, solids are $/lb
Also depending on his SRM it'll likely specify the fastener types to be used.

 

[Bacho]

Why not Huck bolts? Boeing uses them, must be aviation approved?

As much as I can I would prefer going back with OEM stuff. That said the SRM is pretty open to substitute fasteners. The AN525 screws noted by YJLOPES earlier in the thread probably make the most sense on this airplane in most locations. As a matter of pride (no good reason really) I have been trying to avoid going there so far. In this example though I have created a lot more work for myself avoiding them.

Cherrymax rivets are also something I have in quantity. Plenty will need used on this, though I only want to use them where I really have too. I loved them working on big airplanes with thick skins. After removing A LOT of them from this plane with thin skins, I still have a bad relationship with Cherries. Eventually I will get over that. Cherries do have the advantage of oversized sizes to help with hole quality as notes below.

The other stuff like Hi-loks, Hucks, and even Cherries need pretty tight hole dimensions for proper install. There are a lot of variables when it comes to ordering hi-loks. They are also pricey. So far I am unaware of a good vendor to order them in small quantities. This brings me back to the AN525 screws as noted above.

 

[YJLOPES]

What's the problem? The rivet pattern on the hockey sticks doesn't match the horizontal skin?

2 easy options. You can make a new horizontal skin. Only copy the pattern from the parts that fit, then match drill from the hockey sticks.

OR, just offset the rivet pattern between the holes that don't line up, not as pretty, but way faster, plus nice tight virgin holes to put original sized rivets in.

There's also the possibility that I completely misunderstood the problem...

 

[Donk]

Have you tried LAS for hiloks? That's where we usually buy ours.
The last batch of -4s I used we bought direct from Textron and iirc we could buy the pins and collars individually.

With cherries and thin skin I like to whizz the head down with a roloc sanding disc on my die grinder at least until the locking collar disappears sometimes a bit more, the pin will then come out with a gentle tap (I use a sharp punch ground to around 60deg) then drill off the head as normal. Smaller countersunk ones are a dick, Dremel sized grinder with a small ball carbide burr and a steady hand are about the only way with those.

 

[Bacho]

What I have run into is that the horizontal skin going on top of the hockey stick is not at the same plane as the top of the hockey sticks. It’s lower, but I’m not exactly sure how much. I believe I can still get it together.

I also learned about Bentley’s video is that the bulkhead that I installed from my parts airplane is not original to an 50s 180. A whole lot of time has gone by for changes have been taken place.

 

[YJLOPES]

I see what you're dealing with. something may be a bit wonky...

How did you locate the TW spring bulkhead fore/aft? Is it possible it is too far forward, moving it down in relation to the skin/hockey sticks?

 

[Bacho]

I see what you're dealing with. something may be a bit wonky...

How did you locate the TW spring bulkhead fore/aft? Is it possible it is too far forward, moving it down in relation to the skin/hockey sticks?

Everything is based off of the old skin. I use the hockey sticks to locate the very most after aft bulkhead. I don’t think the tail spring bulkhead in between these bulkheads is causing this issue.

When I drilled for those hockey sticks, I pretty much had the very most aft bulkhead bolted to them in place with the skin supported, and drilled the skin for the sticks where they wanted to naturally lay.

There was still a rivet missing From where the fwd bulkhead attaches to the hockey sticks and we are all of the skin comes together. Though I had a Cleo in it on very close examination I can see that the hockey sticks are laying a little bit high inside of that hole.

I was able to get a skin pin into that rivet hole for that horizontal skin to go to the hockey sticks I should’ve taken a picture for what that looked like

 

[YJLOPES]

Drop me a line tomorrow if you want to chat about it. I'll be babysitting a wife recovering from anesthesia, so I'll be bored.