The Murphy Builders Site

My rivets were not dipped in primer before assemble. How important is it to
fill all the mantral holes before painting? This seems like a lot of work.
Will they leak water inside? Can I just fill the top surfaces? What is the
best method of filling them?

Bruce G



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Bruce.......G'day from wet & NOT sunny Sydney...

I filled ALL the outside rivets in our Rebel with two pack epoxy....
I filled up syringes (no needle) and just worked my way along each row,
squeezing the syringe between the first & second fingers and my
palm....while
pushing the tip (no needle) over the mandrel hole.

I found that after about an hour the epoxy started to thicken....and made it
real hard to compress the plunger...so throw it away , mix up a new batch &
start again !

It probably took three days in total...but the plane looks GREAT....and
there
will be NO ingressing of water to cause stains, corrosion or such at a later
date....plus I suspect that each rivet hole acts like a little turbulence
generator...and theres LOTS of 'em....

Wendy and I also dipped every rivet in two pack epoxy chromate, stuck 'em in
& popped 'em while they were wet....this Rebel is deffinitely not going to
corrode away !!! :-)

It's quite a buzz to see the look on peoples faces when they realise that
the plane is done in pop rivets and not solids as they first thought :-)

Like Bob , Wayne & everyone says....

KEEP working on it,...you'll LOVE it when you get it airborne !!!

Rick & Wendy Harper
541R

----- Original Message -----
From: <Legeorgen@cs.com>
To: <murphy-rebel@dcsol.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2002 4:19 PM
Subject: Re: Filling rivet holes

My rivets were not dipped in primer before assemble. How important is it

to

fill all the mantral holes before painting? This seems like a lot of work.
Will they leak water inside? Can I just fill the top surfaces? What is the
best method of filling them?

Bruce G

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Hi Bruce !

It's really unfortunate that the rivets weren't dipped -
it is a bit of effort that really pays off, in added security,
sealing, and corrosion proofing (It's especially important for
the stainless steel rivets, as you will get bi-metal corrosion
around them !). Long term, this effort really pays off, as the
rivets are sealed under the head and along the shaft, and some
of the epoxy is pulled up inside to seal the stem.

However - you have little to worry about as far as water
leaks go, IF you can paint the primer coats with a HVLP spray
setup. Because this system uses low pressure, the epoxy primer
can flow into the small holes without being blown out again,
and the rivets will be sealed. While this isn't quite as good
as putting a drop of epoxy into each rivet head, it IS a LOT
easier. Since the rivets weren't dipped anyway, it's not worth
the effort to do them all individually, even for appearance.

As far as aerodynamics go - I've long contended that
the rivets are "built-in vortex generators" that <improve>
performance ! ;-)
(They save you the expense and work of installing separate
VG's !! ;-) :-) )

Actually, we've seen a <reduction> in cruise speed
(only 2-3 mph ...) on a Super Rebel with flush rivetted
leading edges - so maybe it really <is> true !!! :-)

......bobp

---------------------------------orig.--------------------------------
At 12:19 AM 2/17/02 EST, you wrote:

My rivets were not dipped in primer before assemble. How important is it to
fill all the mantral holes before painting? This seems like a lot of work.
Will they leak water inside? Can I just fill the top surfaces? What is the
best method of filling them?

Bruce G

** To unsubscribe, send e-mail to list-server@dcsol.com with **
** UNSUBSCRIBE MURPHY-REBEL in the message body on a line by itself **
** Archives located at http://rebel:builder@www.dcsol.com:81/default.htm **
** To contact the list admin, e-mail mike.davis@dcsol.com **

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Hi bob,

Thanks for the input on the rivet filling. You too Rick. I did epoxy the
stainless steel rivets in the tail section, around the saddle for the tail
spring, because I took that part of the fuselage apart for the mods. I have
to assume there must be other areas that have stainless rivets, like the wing
and lift strut attach points. This kit was bought in 93 and I don't know if
MAM or anyone else at that time made a big deal about dipping the rivets. But
if they don't leak water I'll probably just paint it and not mess with
filling up the rivets. 6061 T6 aluminum will out last my life time and
certainly my flying career.

Rick, your plane must really stand out, especially up close and personal. It
sound like you have put in a lot of extra effort and done a great job. I'll
look forward to seeing it in person someday.

Bruce G



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