Paul offers this: "A very common question - thanks for asking! The truth is that there are many puled rivets that are as strong as driven rivets, but in general, pulled rivets are going to be heavier and larger. The majority of the flush rivets in an RV are -3s, and they create a very nice, aerodynamically smooth surface. Most pulled rivets are at least -4 size, and on curved surfaces, don't create quite as smooth a finish. Pulled rivets also leave a less than perfect head, which can be fixed by the application of a filler - which adds more work, but leaves a nice finish. I have built airplanes both ways, and am happy with the results because I was happy with the design of the aircraft. And if I was happy enough with the design to choose it, then I am generally happy to use the rivets that the designer chose for the project. Changing a pulled rivet aircraft to solids (or vice versa) generally creates a huge amount of work for little gain. Aesthetics aside, yes, flush rivets make a measurable difference when it comes to performance - at the expense, of course, of extra work to dimple and countersink. If you’re building something to go over 150 knots, then generally speaking, flush rivets are really worth the effort. For 120-knot airplanes….not so much. If you look at existing kits, you’ll see that they tend to follow this rule of thumb."

@@KitplanesMagazine Thank you very much!

Excellent suggestion. We wanted to offer the basics first and then tackle the more difficult parts of metal building.

Except for "oops" rivets, the rivet heads follow the shank size, and you do need to have the right rivet sets for the size you're using.

Paul says: "I’m afraid I have no experience with copper rivets, so I’m not sure I can help you out. Intuition tells me that a 10mm diameter rivet is going to be pretty big (a little less than half and inch?), but I have no idea how much energy it would take to drive it. Anytime I have a question over how to do something, or if a technique will work for some application, I always mock it up on a scrap and try it first - no use ruining an actual work piece until I have practiced on scrap first."

Paul says, "Stainless or Monel is what I’d use if I was worried about it….but honestly, Van’s uses all aluminum rivets on firewall-to-structure and has for years. It makes a difference if you were building a seaplane. But in general the dissimilar-metals corrosion is going to be a non-issue in the lifetime of the builder."

@@KitplanesMagazine Many thanks for getting back to me. Big 💕 from the UK 🇬🇧🇺🇲

I also would like to know. Did ever find out

@@richardlamm4826 do you use manly 1/4 rivets what kinda spring and rivets sets are you using because I'm also running the cp714

windy hammer, like they used on ships, you can also stretch meta using this on plate edges

@@stuarth43 you can also use it to cut collars off and chisel and so much more which makes it a pneumatic hammer that hits different types of sets. Okay