Messerschmitt rivets

[ThomasA]

This thread makes me confused. Are you talking about the rivet head diameter here? Or the diameter of the rivet shaft? It is the shaft diameter which is the designated rivet diameter.

For clarity in technical terms:
The rivet diameter is the diameter of the rivet shaft. Reason: It is this part of the rivet which is the actual load carrying part. The rivet head and the crushed end is "just" holding the panels together. Also the visible countersunk rivet head can be machined after assembly in order to have an absolutely smoth surface in which case the visible rivet head diameter is changed. This does not apply to round headed rivets of course. Anohter problem is that there is something called oversized rivets. These are rivets which are slightly larger (~0,2-0,3mm) than nominal size rivets. They are used when you repair the structure and have to drill out old rivets. When a rivet is drilled out the hole normally becomes a little larger and therefore a slightly larger rivet is used.

I would guess that what you call 7mm rivets is actually 3,5mm rivets and 8,5mm is 5mm.

/Thomas Adamsson