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Old 30th August 2006, 13:31
Graham Boak Graham Boak is offline
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Re: Messerschmitt rivets

I was only a mere aerodynamicist, but I was a little surprised at the comments about the rivet head being only to hold the parts together. That is precisely the point of the rivets, they work in tension. As I understand it, a sheet of metal is at its strongest when there are no rivet holes, particularly counter-sunk ones; so a wider-shanked rivet is a bad idea, not a good one. However, that a wider shank is needed for thicker parts makes sense. So the ideal design will have a range of rivet sizes, tailored to the parts concerned. As we appear to have in the cases studied.
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