Dimples-O-Plenty

This afternoon the two 120 degree female dies that Bob Avery of Avery Tools made custom for DOG Aviation were delivered by UPS. Both dies were cut down a little on a lathe so they don’t interfere with the inside corner of the bend on the ribs at the web to flange transition.  One die has the standard shank for inserting into a rivet squeezer or C-frame dimpler. The other die is the type that has a hole drilled in the center for use in close quarters with the hand pop rivet puller.

As you can see the new female die now clears the web to flange transition although just barely, which is what I wanted.

I used the pneumatic squeezer all evening and dimpled all the ribs, spars and miscellaneous parts of the vertical stabilizer. The new dies Bob Avery custom made worked marvelously and left no mars on the inside corners of the parts.

                                     About to make the first dimple using the new custom female 120 degree die.

Note: Setting the pneumatic squeezer over edge of the work bench and clamping it down is a good way to use the squeezer when making lots and lots of dimples. The pneumatic squeezer gets heavy when doing lots of squeezing.

                                 All the internal parts of the vertical stabilizer dimpled and ready for primer prep.

All the vertical stabilizer parts are now ready to be sent off to the paint department for metal prep and a light coat of primer before final assembly.