Thread: Best way to remove oem rivets

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Here's what the aircraft assemblers do - rivet for living.

Grind off the head, gently, don't overheat the adjacent material. DO NOT torch as some may suggest (with all do respect, since I've received far more knowledge than I can contribute). Rivets by design are SOFT. That's how they expand in the hole when bucked, so torching to anneal is unneccessary and what you'll actual do is anneal the adjacent material, which is a bad thing. You don't want soft material holding a structural rivet.

Punch through the cylindrica remains. If neccessary, drill a small hole through the center - easy enough given the temper of the material (SOFT).

This will leave a clean hole ready for the new rivet, or whatever, and with the adjacent material still at the original temper.

Originally Posted by runway1

Here's what the aircraft assemblers do - rivet for living.

Grind off the head, gently, don't overheat the adjacent material. DO NOT torch as some may suggest (with all do respect, since I've received far more knowledge than I can contribute). Rivets by design are SOFT. That's how they expand in the hole when bucked, so torching to anneal is unneccessary and what you'll actual do is anneal the adjacent material, which is a bad thing. You don't want soft material holding a structural rivet.

Punch through the cylindrica remains. If neccessary, drill a small hole through the center - easy enough given the temper of the material (SOFT).

This will leave a clean hole ready for the new rivet, or whatever, and with the adjacent material still at the original temper.

In my case i either welded the holes up (with brass behind), or welded a flanged nut inside of the frame where I needed to use the hole, so annealing the rivet (or surrounding material) is a mute point, the welding is going to do the same anyways. Probably the case in most builds...