So I hate my Pop Riveter. Its one of those basic types with the two arms that you squeeze together repeatedly to snap the mandrel. It's good
for small pop rivets but anything about 3.2mm or bigger the amount of force that's needed to break the mandrel is enormous. A while ago when
putting a rivet in the rear of the car, I was straining so hard to snap the mandrel that when it did go I smashed my knuckles together and head butted
the role cage! After that I bought a lazy tongue type which is great but it is two large for most car based panelling.
Last night I was crouched in the footwell putting the transmission tunnel paneling in and was attempting to do some pop riveting. I was straining to
snap the mandrel and when it did go the arms smashed together and pinched the skin of my thigh. Then came the swearing. Now I have two circular
bruises next to each other on my leg, it looks like I have been pinched by the Hulk.
Surely it can't be this bad? I must be doing something wrong. I only have a couple of panels left and maybe 30 rivets left so I am loathed to
buy another riveter.
I did all the ally panels on my car using a normal pop rivet gun , twice if you include the rebuild , I'm not the biggest guy in the world but I managed it without any bruising or other injury
I presume you've tried squeezing the arms together, letting go and pulling the tip of the rivet gun away from the rivet a few mm then squeezing again? Makes it easier when approaching the 'pop'
quote:
Originally posted by Irony
So I hate my Pop Riveter. Its one of those basic types with the two arms that you squeeze together repeatedly to snap the mandrel. It's good for small pop rivets but anything about 3.2mm or bigger the amount of force that's needed to break the mandrel is enormous.
Some lengths of steel tube over the arms to give some extra leverage maybe?
The first thing that jumps to mind is get a air powered gun as they make life so much easier but I know space doesn't always allow you to get the
head of the gun in.
+1 to Benzine's tip
Also, as simple as it sounds, I have a hand rivet gun where I've extended the length of the handles by about 50%......makes a big difference.
I'm sorry but I've read that in fits of laughter as it reminds me of me when I do any riveting… I'm with you on this one - I hate them
too! LOL
Put some work gloves on. Will increase grip and offer better control when it pops.
+1 on the riveter hate!!!
Yes, I have been bitten by mine too!
I invested in one of these air/hydraulic riveter for my build and well worth it. You get a perfect and consistant pull every time and no aching hands
at the end of it
Description
Welcome to borrow if you have a compressor. U2U me
[Edited on 15/6/15 by tims31]
When I read the 'straining in the floor pan' part I was expecting the next sentence to say you shat on your floor!!!
quote:
Originally posted by Irony
Last night I was crouched in the footwell putting the transmission tunnel paneling in and was attempting to do some pop riveting. I was straining to snap the mandrel and when it did go the arms smashed together and pinched the skin of my thigh. Then came the swearing. Now I have two circular bruises next to each other on my leg, it looks like I have been pinched by the Hulk.
Just take little bites with the rivetter. Push the rivet through the holes, then slide the gun down but not all the way to the head of the rivet. Squeeze to pull on the mandrel. With a bit of practice, you'll be able to guess how far away from the head the end of the gun needs to be. Once pulled-up, move the gun up the mandrel a bit further and give it another squeeze. So instead of hurning like a gibbon on each squeeze, you're just giving lots of little squeezlets. Pretty much how they're suposed to be used!!
Hateful things, I clench my teeth whenever I pick it up as the jarring hurts.... Get an air powered one, it's worth every penny.
tims 31, I could do with a perfect and consistent pull every time at my age. Any tips!!!!
quote:
Originally posted by myke pocock
tims 31, I could do with a perfect and consistent pull every time at my age. Any tips!!!!
benzine tip is what I do. Did 5mm ones with 5 to 7 squeezes. And gloves after some bruises.
Also, noticed a big difference when I moved from my cheap riveter to a more expensive one (and that had longer arms).
The old on top and new below
old and new riveter
Thanks for the replies! I riveted another panel on last night and I had much better results when I took smaller 'bites' as suggested.
Pulling the nose away from the panel a fraction helps lots. I was able to get the rivet teetering on the edge of popping and just giving a little
squeeze to pop it.
Cheers
quote:
Originally posted by owelly
Just take little bites with the rivetter. Push the rivet through the holes, then slide the gun down but not all the way to the head of the rivet. Squeeze to pull on the mandrel. With a bit of practice, you'll be able to guess how far away from the head the end of the gun needs to be. Once pulled-up, move the gun up the mandrel a bit further and give it another squeeze. So instead of hurning like a gibbon on each squeeze, you're just giving lots of little squeezlets. Pretty much how they're suposed to be used!!
Bruises....1st world problems...think rsi or terminal rivet hatred
tub from rear
Sometimes I use a plastic sliding clamp like this:
On the handles of the rivet gun. It seems to work quite well as long as you have the space.
Is there any scope for a 'rotary' type rivet tool? I'm thinking of something similar to the ones for rivnuts? Might be slower but a lot less effort?
I have seen little adapters for cordless drill chucks called 'rivedrill' but they have poor reviews on amazon. A decent engineer of company could make it work I think. Someone like memfast maybe.
I had a Huck rivet gun for big "Huck Bolts" that worked in exactly that way driven by a ratchet. In fairness better pop rivet guns are not bad at all if you use the bit by bit method
Had a rivedrill rotary rivet puller, worked OK if only doing a few, however, used to heat up if when pulling in quick sucession and drained a cordless
drill quite fast if pulling 4mm rivetts. It was OK for the 1/8" 3.2mm
Then went and bought a compressor, as mentioned air tools are cheap and the riveter is sooooooo easy apart from when in restricted space.
When I built my F 27 a few years ago , I got the whole car nearly complete using a £3.99 rivet gun from the local market.......it died with only a few to go , I then bought several cheap guns without much success . I have recently bought a YATO rivet gun off ebay....this is quite compact with relatively short handles but is very effective. might be worth a look.....
If you have space to work, these are dead easy and way less work than a squeezy type gun.