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I've riveted to fiberglass before. I tried
both but I found soft rivets do a better job. The rivet body swells in the
hole before the shop head is formed- not a problem with aluminum or steel, in
fact it's what you want for a tight connection. I think a hard rivet pushes too
much on the surrounding fiberglass and can fracture it. Fiberglass is
relatively weak in compression- experiment with some scrap
pieces.
Would it work to embed flat-head screws?
I'd suggest stainless screws, notched so they wouldn't rotate and set in
flox or microglass. Cover the heads with a layer of fiberglass as previously
suggested and the result would be studs on the inside. Then if you needed
to replace the latch, just remove some nuts. Again, try it on some scrap and see
what you think. -Bill
Wade
From:
rwolf99@aol.com [mailto:rwolf99@aol.com]
Sent: Saturday, January 29, 2011 11:37
PM
To:
lml@lancaironline.net
Subject: Oil Door Latches and
Rivets
I'm using a standard
Hartwell latch for my oil door -- just like a Wichita spam can. My question is
whether to attach it to the door with rivets or screws. If I use screws,
I can replace it easily and it's easier to paint. If I use rivets (which
would have to be 5/32 rivets due to the hole size in the latch) then it's
harder to replace, but you can't see the
fasteners.
My wife says to use
rivets, since I told her that I'd probably never have to replace the latch,
but if so, I could drill out the rivets and then use "those shiny stainless
screws".
For those of you
using these latches -- what have y'all
done?
FYI, I'm using a
gooseneck hinge from an RV (Vans), so the actual hinge is not visible.
Just the latch is visible. I'm not interested in using one of those
elegant hidden actuators that some of you have, although they definitely look
nice.
Next question --
since I'm not a sheet metal guy and know nothing about rivets, would I use
soft rivets to attach the latch and also the hinge, or would I have to use
hard rivets. Normally I'm using the soft rivets for
nutplates.
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