Industry
Tools for Homebuilt and Experimental Aircraft
Kit builders and experimental owners, buying the right tool once rather than the wrong tool twice, without an import bill on top.
Building an aircraft in Europe means most of the tooling advice you can find was written by somebody buying from a US catalogue. The tools are right. The prices, the shipping and the duty are not, and neither is the assumption that everything arrives next week.
The import arithmetic, since nobody else publishes it
Here is the situation a European builder actually faces. A UK listing for a rivet gun kit with bucking bars and snaps in 2X, 3X and 4X came to around 432 EUR including VAT, plus 57 EUR of international shipping. That is 489 EUR before anything else happens.
Then duty and a customs clearance fee are payable before the carrier will release the parcel, and the carrier adds its own brokerage charge for doing the paperwork. None of that is visible at checkout, and it arrives as a demand for payment when you are expecting a delivery.
Buying inside the EU removes every one of those lines. No customs entry, no duty, no clearance fee, no brokerage, and the parcel is not held pending payment of a charge nobody warned you about. On a single hand tool the difference is a few euro and some irritation. On a full riveting and dimpling set it is a meaningful percentage of the order.
The full comparison is on the shipping and lead times page, and we put it there because it is the strongest honest argument we have.
What to buy, in the order you will need it
First, the drilling and clecoing kit. Drill, cobalt bits in #40 and #30, cleco pliers and a hundred clecos. You cannot start without these and you will use them on every day of the build.
Second, the riveting set. A 3X gun if you buy one gun, bucking bars in a couple of profiles and weights, universal and flush sets, and a hand squeezer, which will set more of your rivets than the gun will. Read choosing a rivet gun before you decide between 2X, 3X and 4X.
Third, dimpling. Dies in the sizes your plans call for, and a C frame if the build has long runs of flush rivets. A C frame is a real expense and it is the tool that most changes the finish on a wing skin.
Later, and only if you need it. A pneumatic squeezer, a bench dimpler, a second gun. These are shop tools, and a single build does not usually justify them.
Where tool control is worth it even for one aircraft
Everything else on this site is aimed at organisations with an auditor. A homebuilder has no auditor, and there is still a case, for one reason: a tool left inside a wing before you close it is not recoverable without undoing work you have just done.
You do not need a programme for that. A shadowed insert in the drawer of tools that go into a closed structure, and a count before every rivet line, is enough. Foam sheet is in the catalogue if you want to cut it yourself, and it is genuinely worth the afternoon.
Honest advice about what not to buy from us
If you are building one aircraft, do not buy a fleet tool control programme, do not serialise your tools, and do not buy the pneumatic squeezer until the hand squeezer has actually annoyed you. We would rather sell you three right tools than eleven tools of which you use four.
Questions from buyers like you
Will I pay import duty ordering from you?
Not on delivery to an EU address. We supply from inside the EU, so there is no customs entry, no duty, no clearance fee and no carrier brokerage charge.
Which rivet gun should I buy if I only buy one?
A 3X. It covers 3/32 in and 1/8 in solid rivets, which is the great majority of kit aircraft riveting. A 2X is gentler for thin skin and a 4X is for the heavy end, and neither is the one to own first.
Do I need a C frame dimpler?
Only if the build has long runs of flush rivets, which most metal kits do. It is a real expense and it is also the tool that most visibly changes the finish on a skin. A hand squeezer with dies will do the job more slowly and less consistently.
Is tool control worth it for one aircraft?
A modest version is. You have no auditor, but you do have closed structures, and a tool sealed inside a wing costs you the work you just did. A shadowed insert for the tools that go into closed areas and a count before each rivet line is enough.
Can I buy foam sheet and cut it myself?
Yes, two tone sheet in 30 mm and 50 mm is in the catalogue. Cutting it yourself with a sharp blade is entirely reasonable for a single build.
Do you sell single clecos or only kits?
Both. Clecos are sold singly with a minimum of ten, and in 50 and 100 piece kits with pliers and a case.
