Any hints for nailing aileron ribs?

[mhorowit]

The nail holes for attaching ribs to the aileron spar are inside the rib so I cant put a hammer head directly on the nail. I'm thinking of a variety of Rube Goldberg approaches. Anyone care to share how they approached the problem? - Mike

[Robert Lees]

Re: Any hints for nailing aileron ribs?

I used a punch.

[mhorowit]

Re: Any hints for nailing aileron ribs?

I used a punch.

with an offset? - MikeH

[VictorBravo]

Re: Any hints for nailing aileron ribs?

C-Yoke Rivet hand squeezer with flat (flush rivet) sets installed !

[Robert Lees]

Re: Any hints for nailing aileron ribs?

with an offset? - MikeH

No...but a 6" long punch will be pretty straight.

[astjp2]

Re: Any hints for nailing aileron ribs?

I used a 8oz ball peen to start the brads with that micro size pair of needle nose pliers from sears to hold it, then a punch that is used for setting brads below the surface of trim boards(you can identify it because it is recessed at the tip) to keep from slipping off when putting the last couple of taps in. I also dipped the brads in Varnish, I have also used epoxy to keep them from coming out. Tim

[Len Petterson]

Re: Any hints for nailing aileron ribs?

If you need a long hard punch find a long 5/8 - 3/4" Allan wrench and cut it they have a good grade of steel and can be had as surplus from ?
makes a good bucking bar as well for places not so accecable.
Len

[mhorowit]

Re: Any hints for nailing aileron ribs?

If you need a long hard punch find a long 5/8 - 3/4" Allan wrench and cut it they have a good grade of steel and can be had as surplus from ?
makes a good bucking bar as well for places not so accecable.
Len

In my collection of heat sinks (my welding practice) I have a piece of 3/4" rod with a 90* bend; one leg is 1.5" and the other about 4". I find that I can get into the rib with that and either use that as a mini-hammer or simply set this 'tool' in place and hammer on it; seems to be doing OK transmitting the force to the nail head without bending it; of course I was at my second rib before I started getting concerned that the rib slot might not be laterally centered on the spar and that I needed shims between the spar and the top/bottom of the ribs (to avoid bending the rib when the top/bottom nails were put in place); so another day spent making and coating shims. The second aileron will go much faster!- MikeH