Airplane construction method seems to be to overlap two panels, apply epoxy glue at the bond, then drill & rivet. Rivet’s job is only to hold the overlapped panels together until glue sets and bond reaches full strength. Are there obvious reasons the same method wouldn’t work for cars? Have cars ever been manufactured w/that method?
Money, George, money.
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In a sense, yes they have. There is weld thru adhesives that are applied then spot welded through. Spot welds are stronger and cheaper than rivets. Bonded and welded seams are very strong. Not all cars use this. Some just spot weld.
Different priorities-weight is much more important with aircraft, cost and impact absorption with cars.
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The Guild in Canada built a replica of the Bugatti Aerolithe about 10yrs ago in a method similar to aircraft that took several years and was partially documented on the show Restoration Garage. Went up for auction last year at an estimate of around $3,000,000 and didn’t sell.
I’ve seen the car in person when it was on display at the Art Museum in Portland Oregon several years ago and you could be forgiven for thinking it had been made back in the 1930’s instead of being less than 10yrs old when I saw it.
Aluminum body panel bonding does exist.
General Motors and others use a bonding technique to join cast aluminum strut or spring towers to steel body members.
Saab used aircraft techniques to build it’s first cars.
With adhesive body panel assembly?
My Plymouth has “fuselage styling” but has no aircraft assembly techniques.
There are a lot of ways to build airplanes. The Piper Cub had a steel tubing frame covered with fabric.
Not exactly. Have you ever noticed everything in aviation has redundancy? No way they would rely only on adhesive to hold a plane together. How would you feel about flying in that situation, especially with a pressurized cabin and/or a 20 year old fuselage? Plus, you can inspect a rivet and the surrounding metal for fatigue cracks. A blind resistance weld hides the connection.
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I’m guessing one reason to avoid overlapped joints on cars is b/c cars use steel panels, and overlapped joints could provide a place for rust to form. Less of a problem with aluminum.
Here’s some more info about the rivets and epoxy method used in 737 construction.
36 minute mark in this vdo about Aloha airlines accident: “rivets hold materials together while epoxy sets”
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I want to place a piece of protective glass in front of a flat screen TV. Where do I get all these fancy adhesives that they use in cars and airplanes?
McMaster Carr or Graingers to name two
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I think that’s a misstatement of how it works. I think it would have been better to say ‘rivets and adhesive both hold the joints together.’
Here’s an article describing the repairs mandated by the FAA, focusing on rivet replacement. That wouldn’t have been the case if the rivets were just a temporary item.
F.A.A. TO REQUIRE FUSELAGE REPAIRS IN OLDER 737 JETS - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
And here’s a video describing how thousands of rivets are installed in the 777:
Watch Meet the Giant Robot That Builds Boeing’s Airplane Wings | WIRED
Which plane would you rather fly on?
- Only rivets, no epoxy?
- Only epoxy, rivets drilled out after epoxy sets?
Tens of thousands of planes have been built this way.
But it really depends on the overall design. Much of the 787 is composite, no rivets in many parts.
Uh…why?
Idiots who shouldn’t be around fragile things.
Aside from the aerodynamic styling, I can’t find anything about aircraft construction techniques on the Saab 92.
I’ve heard said the early Saab engineering-design team originated in aircraft design industry.