Help in setting rivets

[Tony Wells]

Do you have a pneumatic hammer, such as body men and muffler shops have? They can be outfitted with a slightly concave tool for setting rivets. You still need to back it up, but they are pretty slick for that. No manual hammering.

 

[Tony Wells]

Probably just a regional thing, but I've not heard them referred to as that. I sacrificed a chisel I figured I would never need for a rivet setter. Used a ball nose end mill to give it the head profile I wanted. Seems like it was a 3/4" EM. Just watch that you don't leave a sharp edge on the OD of the "chisel" so as not to damage the panel if you happen to get a little crooked. As long as you aren't peening them down all the way, you can work the hammer around in a small circle and control the shape pretty easily.

 

[pdentrem]

Do you have an aircraft repair shop near you? They can help you the best. Here in my area we have many old Bell (aviation) employees and a few subcontract assembly plants for Boeing, NG etc. They deal with rivets all day.

Due to the local aircraft industry I have over 1000 rivets of various types, alum, Ti, steel, selfseal etc. plus the tools to install using the rivet gun. These I have pickup at yard sales and/or been given over the years. I will never have to buy a rivet for a very very long time.

 

[Tony Wells]

"Soft" rivets are fabricated from 1100-grade aluminum and have a tensile strength of 16,000 PSI. "Hard" rivets are fabricated from 2117 aluminum and heat treated to the T4 condition. They have a shear strength of 26,000 PSI and a tensile strength of 38,000 PSI.

For your application, I believe you'll be ok with 1100