Carter Shore wrote:
>
> Epoxy, and (stainless pop) rivets.
>
> Hey, it's what holds airliners together.
Too many differences between airliners and
cars for this to hold water.
Airliners are made of thin aluminum.
Cars are made out of thick(er) steel.
Airliners have few if any tight curves or especially
stressed areas made this way. Wing leading edges are
an example, control surfaces, and so on. It's the long
flat sections that are done this way.
Cars have many tight curves, and the steel
body varies between unstressed and very stressed
areas over short distances.
Airliners only have to look pretty from afar. The
panels can be wavy and the rivets can be visible.
Cars have to be smooth, so any rivets have to
be buried in filler. Yech. As well, the panel
cannot wave up and down between the rivets.
Airliners have to be inspectable. Rivets are
inspectable in-situ.
Cars do not have to be inspectable, if nothing
is showing nothing is wrong. Welds are not inspectable
in situ without big dollar equipment.
Airliners have to be serviceable. A panel has to be
removed, refitted, and replaced, then inspected, in
situ and in budget. Rivets work well for this.
Car bodies almost never have to be removed of
sectioned for service. They only need to be disassembled
if and when they have major problems, so being able
to take apart a working section without distroying
it (something you can do with rivets) is of no value.
Airframes are large items assembled from a series
of smaller panels. You can't take a machine like a spot
welder to close a large section of airframe, the
machine isn't portable enough and the surfaces are
not always accessible.
Cars are small items that can be stamped out in a
short number of operations and can be moved to
welding machines on assembly lines where specific
joining welds can be made quickly and easily.
Basing what is BEST for you car based on what is
"Industry Standard" for airframes is illogical.
--
Trevor Boicey, P. Eng.
Ottawa, Canada, tboicey@brit.ca
ICQ #17432933 http://www.brit.ca/~tboicey/
Any part can be removed with the careful application of too much force.
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