Hit 500 rivets on a single wing panel and it stopped me cold

I was working a flap track fairing on a 737 last Tuesday and counted my rivet gun hits out of boredom. Normally I just zone out and go, but realizing I had set exactly 500 rivets on that one panel messed with my head. That's a LOT of holes to drill, deburr, and dimple by hand in a shift. It made me think about how much precision goes into something most passengers never even see. Has anyone else ever counted their rivets on a big job and been surprised at the number?

2 comments

2 Comments

willowc6020d agoMost Upvoted

One time I was putting together a filing cabinet from IKEA and got so into counting the screws I forgot which drawer went where.

joelthomas19d ago

willowc60 I feel you on this. I once spent twenty minutes sorting Allen wrenches by size for a bookshelf, then realized I put the top panel on upside down and had to take it all apart again. It's like the counting puts you in this zone where the bigger picture just floats away. You're not alone in that cabinet chaos.