Installing Pop Rivets for the first time

Perhaps I should add some pics of the tools and rivets to this post to provide a better understanding of what pop rivets are and how they are installed. This pic shows the finished result after the pop rivet has been installed to the center rib section of the HS. Pop rivets have a long stem that sticks out from the top of the rivet about an inch and half or so, which fits into a specially designed, manually squeezed rivet gun. The stem of the pop rivet slides into the end of the rivet gun, then you insert the rivet into the holes of the pieces you are joining together, and then you start squeezing the handles together until you hear a "pop." The reason you need to use these rivets instead of the other type of rivets is that certain areas become closed off and are no longer accessible on one side of the part, so you can't get a bucking bar on the other side to drive the rivet. Such is the case once you have riveted both sides of the skin to the nose rib, and the front spar has been installed.

This method provides a way to install a strong rivet without having access to the other side of the part. As you squeeze the handle of the gun, the shaft pulls on the rivet, effectively mashing it up against the blind side of the part, until the rivet is fully set. This is when the stem gives way and breaks or pops out of the hole in the center of the rivet head. It's a bit startling when it happens, and it only takes a couple of pulls of the rivet handle to make it happen.

The "pop" is the sound of the rivet stem separating from the actual rivet. There are three pop rivets that had to be installed to attach the center nose rib, forward spar, and the main rib together. the tricky part was that all this had to be done by sliding the rivet and rivet gun into the small opening in the back of the HS skin. As usual, it's all about fitting large things in very small openings, and trying not to damage anything in the process. If you look close you can see where the rivet gun contacted the web of the rib and scuffed it up a bit. This just proves that I need to take my pop rivet gun and grind down the shaft so that it will not interfere with the part that is being riveted. You have to make these kinds of modifications to your tools from time to time.

The installed pop rivets have a small hole in the middle where the stem was located. It's easier to show someone than to explain how this process works, so I'll take some pics of the rivets and the gun to help understand this process.