Loading…
5
Hit 10,000 rivets on a single job and it hit me different
I've been working on this fuselage panel for a C-130 at the depot for the last 3 months. Yesterday I counted up my rivets after finishing the last row and it came to 10,487 exactly. That just blew my mind because I never thought about how many individual actions go into one plane. Did anyone else ever reach a number like that and just stop for a second?
4 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In4 Comments
bell.jessica3mo ago
Did counting the rivets change how you look at the plane now when it rolls out, or do you just see the finished product again? 10,487 is a lot of individual moments where one bad grip or misdrill could set you back. I'd be curious if that number made you respect the whole process more or just appreciate finally being done with that panel.
6
michael8033mo ago
Is it weird that I actually kind of miss counting them now? I feel like @bell.jessica nailed it with that whole "one bad grip" thing, because I swear I remember this one time on a different job where I missed a single rivet and spent an extra two hours fixing it. It definitely made me see the finished product as this fragile thing for a while, but now I just see a plane again.
5
craig.parker3mo ago
Not to nitpick, but I think you might be mixing up two different things there. Missing a rivet altogether is usually caught during inspection before it ever becomes a two-hour fix - that kind of mistake is more about a bad layout or a skipped step than a grip issue. A "bad grip" is when the rivet itself gets set wrong, like it mushrooms or the bucktail is crooked, and you have to drill it out and replace it. Those can stack up fast if you're having a rough day, and before you know it you've spent half a shift chasing your own tail on a single row. The real headache is when you get a run of bad grips in a tight spot and have to contort yourself to get a drill in there without damaging the surrounding metal. Just a small distinction, but it makes a difference when you're trying to explain why that panel took so long.
7