June 19, 2007 ...  This tool is a Rivet Squeezer/Dimpler. It is not absolutely necessary to have one of these to build a Sonex. After practicing on some scrap material, I have concluded that it is not that great for squeezing rivets. For that, I like the hammer and bolt method (more on that later.) But this tool works fantastic for dimpling! It comes with a variety of dimple die sets for both countersink rivets, and screws. It has a 3 inch throat depth, so I plan to use it for the wing spars, and the perimeter rivets on all of my wing and fuselage skins. The field rivets on the skins will still have to be dimpled with the dimple die, and rivet puller method.

June 19, 2007 ...  These photos show the practice piece I used to test my riveting skills. After I dimpled the mock-up spar web, and re-stacked the layers, I noticed that the spar web layer did not lay flat when applied to the countersunk center  web doubler; there was a little bit of a gap (See top photo, "A"). However, after de-burring and riveting the pieces together (using the hammer and bolt method) the layers snugged right up. (See top photo, "B").

I went one step further and cut down the center of the rivets with my bandsaw to see how my rivet joints looked from the inside. This is an idea I got from Dave Koelzer's website. Rivet "A" is the very first rivet I set and if you look close, you will see that it is canted to the right. Rivet "B" is the second rivet and it turned out much better. I am extremely happy with the way that the layers snugged up and the rivet completely fills the hole. This has been a worthwhile exercise, as it bolstered my confidence with "bucking" rivets, and it has given me a good preview of how solid the wing spars are going to be once they are fully assembled.