Ribbit Rivet...

[Gary Dillard]

Have you tried this? My first impression is that the diameters aren't going to be right. Normally holes for .250 fasteners are not .250 in diameter, they are a standard clearance hole (in aerospace we use .286 plus or minus .005 for structure) to accomodate machining and position tolerances for parts that are drilled in detail. I don't know what they are on the kitbot - I would guess they are punched so probably even larger size and position tolerance. For rivets, the holes are usually line drilled at assembly, not in detail, close tolerance (pretty close to .250) and immediately assembled either with the actual rivet or temporary fasteners ("Cleco's") to keep all the holes aligned. This is because a rivet depends on interference with the hole when it is bucked (swaged). If the hole is too large, you will not get the shear capability, and tensile capability will be next to nothing.