Tyson “T-bone” Brown is building an RV-14A project at home in Georgetown. He’s currently working on the empennage, and it’s coming along nicely. He demonstrated how he dimples the pre-drilled holes in the aluminum panels used to cover the tail section of the plane.

Tyson & tools

 

Tyson uses a compression dimpler with dies to manually make dimples in the pre-drilled holes. It squeezes the hole into a shallow little dish just deep enough to accommodate the head of a solid aluminum rivet with a tapered head. He also can use his pneumatic rivet squeezer with special dies to dimple holes.

You can get these tools from Cleaveland Tool as part of a tool kit when you order a kitplane, saving money (they are each $300 to $600 retail).

 https://www.cleavelandtool.com

There are two sizes of rivets, AD3 and AD4, in the RV-14A. They are small aluminum rivets that you squeeze or drive. Sometimes they are driven with a pneumatic rivet gun against a bucking bar, especially in tight places where the squeezer cannot reach. All of this makes for a beautifully smooth airplane. Sometimes pulled (pop) rivets are used in especially tight spots.

Photos and videos on Dropbox at

Dimpling with Tyson Brown

Bill Elliott, April 19, 2023

Lew Adams passes this along:

Rather than removing, repairing, and/or replacing the leading edge skins (expensive) I tried a local Austin guy advertising "Dentless Body Repair."

He showed up with all kinds of specialty tools, suction cups, rollers, lights, etc., and within a few hours the dings and flat spots were gone! No drilling rivets, pulling sheet aluminum, re-painting, downtime, etc.

I figured... what do I have to loose? Cost a few hundred$ and it was done!

Evidently he has been doing this a long time. Would probably work well on any hangar rash too. His info is below. Perhaps this will help others.

Best,
Lewis

The Ding Company.com
Oscar
512-441-9999

Who

Us! If you can build it, you can paint it. You may not come out with a Grand Champion finish, but you can get a respectable, go-to-a-fly-in-and-say-I-Painted-It finish!