[VAC] Re: Removing rivets and runst screws

[Robert Gill]

Jeff You can almost disassemble the whole thing with a good air drill, drill bits, 1/8 and 5/32 punch, an E-Z Out, vise grip pliers, and a hammer. Oops, don't forget the safety glasses! You want a varible speed reversable drill. The rivets are aluminum but the screws are steel. On the screws you may want to use a rotary file to remove the cross point (Phillips head) from it before drilling. This will allow your bit to stay sharp longer and will also reduce the possibility of breaking the tip. Drill you a hole in the screw head with a #30 (1/8") drill bit, then take a #2 EZ-Out holding it with vise-grips or cresent wrench, then hammer the EZ-Out and rotate it at the same time. This will allow it to grab the screw shank. Some people hit very hard, but I find that it works just as well to hammer lightly and slowly/gently turning at same time, if it (ezout) does slip tap harder or drill deeper. Hole shole be at least 3/8" deep. Removing rivets- Most are AD rivets, put tip of bit in the dimple on the rivet drilling straight as possible. You dont want to drill completely through the fastener. Use a 1/8 or 5/32 punch depending on fastener size then knock the shank out. You can take the punch and break of the rivet head first before punching the shank out, this will help prevent you from rolling on top of a sharp object, plus you want have to remove from punch shank later. Have fun!! Bobby Gill '66 Ambassador Valdosta, GA ----- Original Message ----- From: Jeff Griffin Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2001 12:50 PM To: Multiple recipients of VACList Subject: [VAC] Removing rivets and runst screws Hi everyone: Could you please advise me on the best tools and procedures for removing rivets and rusty screws in order to remove the skins from the belly of my AS. Thanks in Advance   Jeff Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com To unsubscribe or to change to a daily Digest, please go to http://www.airstream.net/vaclist/listoffice.html If replying back to this message, please delete all the unnecessary original text from your reply.