Installation tooling, gauges and removal

It depends on the maker. Monogram's catalog comparison chart gives a "minimum required" preload for its 3/16" blind bolts, stated as a fraction of min UTS: Visu-Lok 20% of min UTS (280 lb at 3/16" Ti), Composi-Lok II 40% (560 lb), Ti-OSI 50% (800 lb), and Radial-Lok a per-size table from 700 to 2,000 lb. The Maxibolt class publishes minimums in MIL-F-81177E / MIL-F-8975B / PS-CMB-7000. Cherry's rivet lines (CherryMAX, CherryLOCK, SST, 1900) publish no preload figure at all; acceptance is geometric. Hi-Lok and Hi-Lite publish collar torque-off ranges rather than preload force, and Magna-Grip publishes installed clamp directly. Where no number exists, you verify geometry; Composi-Lok and Visu-Lok also have a seating-torque resistance check ("if desired" in MBF2003 §10.2). (Sources: Monogram catalog comparison chart; Radial-Lok brochure; Howmet Magna-Grip brochure; MBF2003 / PLT5002.)

The visible side tells you. Check stem break flushness against the per-diameter limits (for CherryMAX, .010" above to .015-.025" below the head depending on dash), confirm the locking collar or ring is seated flush within its tolerance, and confirm the grip marking on the head matches the callout. CherryLOCK's documents state it directly: if stem and collar are within flushness limits, blind-head inspection is unnecessary. (Sources: Cherry PS-CMR-3000 Table VIII; CA-1013.)

A grip gage measures the stack through the empty hole before install so you pick the right grip dash. Cherry: "measure the material thickness with a Cherry 269C3 selector gage ... Always read to the next higher number" (CA-1011); Maxibolt uses the 269B12 (CA-1039). Monogram: "Prior to installation, the grip length should be checked with a grip gauge", the Composi-Lok grip gage BFS-1 with grip scale slide GSS-1 (assembly BFS-1A), and where the grip "is a borderline condition or varies due to tolerance build-up ... a maximum grip condition be favored (i.e. a 0.250 reading uses a -250 grip part)" (MBF2003 §6.1, §6.3, Figure 12). Where a zone straddles a grip boundary in the planner, that is a per-hole measurement.

Only if the break was within protrusion limits to begin with. Cherry's process manual allows shaving the stem down to the top of the sleeve for aerodynamic smoothness, but shaving into the head is not allowed, and a stem that broke outside limits is a rejectable installation, not a finishing problem. (Source: Cherry CA-1015 process manual.)

Where a document gives a number, it is a feeler-gage check. Maxibolt: a .002" gap is permissible over up to 40% of the head circumference and must not reach the shank (Cherry CA-1039). Eddie-Bolt 2: a .002" feeler gage must not enter to the shank (Howmet process manual). Monogram addresses seating at the hole instead: a slight head-side chamfer, "equivalent in size to 50% of the maximum head to shank fillet radius", "to insure proper seating of the bearing surfaces" (MBF2003 §5.1.1). Cherry lists slanted or misaligned holes, a countersink not concentric with the hole, and a cocked pulling head as causes of poor head seating (CA-1013).

Cherry publishes GO/NO-GO hole gages (T172 series) per diameter (CA-1011) and ties hole size to the break: for CherryLOCK, a rivet "installed in oversize hole" is a listed cause of the stem pulling through or breaking high, and an undersize hole a cause of a low break (CA-1013); for Maxibolt, "oversize hole" is a probable cause of a high stem break (CA-1039). Monogram requires Composi-Lok holes "drilled straight and perpendicular (within 1½°)", "reasonably round and free from burrs (metallic structure) and delamination (graphite/epoxy type structure)", with the recommended hole sizes in Table 11 (MBF2003 §5.1).

By the driven head dimensions. Cherry's E-Z Buck catalog specifies a minimum upset diameter of 1.3D and minimum height of 0.3D for its Ti-Cb rivets, checked directly with calipers, plus a pre-drive protrusion window of 0.8-1.5D to ensure enough material to form the head. (Source: Cherry CA-1032.)